Super GT UPDATE-Round 8 at Twin Ring Motegi is scheduled for Sun 24th with qualifying on 23rd. Due to cancellation of Fuji race, championship will be decided by total pts in all 7 events of the series. Flawless Rides sends out our deepest condolences to the families of Oyama Town
UPDATE! On Sunday afternoon, in the little town of Motegi, there’s gonna be a showdown. Wild West style. The 2010 Super GT championship will come to its conclusion with a 250km race that will decide the champions for both categories. The weight penalty system has done its job this season, along with the unexpected cancellation of the previous race at Fuji thanks to a mighty typhoon and no less than 9 teams in GT500 and 6 teams in GT300 will arrive in Motegi with a shot at glory. With no weight penalty and a short track distance to contend with, pure speed will win the day in what promises to be a great race. Before we head to the circuit, let’s have a look at the contenders in both categories. In GT500, the current leaders are Loïc Duval and Takashi Kogure in the number 18 Weider Honda HSV-010. Arguably, the fastest pairing in Japan, they are in top form and Honda has always done well at Motegi, their own backyard. They are the ones to beat but they will have to stay out of trouble; something Kogure has occasionally had difficulties achieving when the pressure mounts. Only a single point off the lead, the other top contender is the number 6 Eneos Le Mans SC430 of Daisuke Ito and Bjorn Wirdheim. They’ve done well all season long, raking in points and podiums race after race, but haven’t managed to reach the top step of the podium yet. If they want to be champions, they will need to pull off the win in Motegi. With a 10 points gap to the front comes the number 17 Keihin HSV-010 of Kaneishi and Tsukakoshi who famously won the Sugo race this summer by only 25 thousands of a second from the Weider HSV. Tsukakoshi is the local boy at Motegi and he will want to do well, and Kaneishi can be very fast when needed. Tied with the Keihin Honda are the 2009 champions André Lotterer and Juichi Wakisaka in the number 1 Petronas Tom’s SC430. They did not show this season the strength they had last year, on occasion clearly off the pace but salvaged solid points at each round. Never underestimate TOM’S, still one of the very best teams in the field. Then we find 2 GT-Rs; the number 12 Impul Calsonic of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, and the works outfit number 23 Nismo car of Satoshi Motoyama and Benoît Tréluyer. The Nissan struggled during the first half of the season with a new engine (and new Michelin tires for the Nismo car) so their points tally is not as high as it could have been. They showed much better form in the second half of the season and they should not be far from the front-runners in the race this weekend. Both of the teams will need serious luck to land the title, but count on them to go for glory in any case. With similar odds, come the last 3 teams with a mathematical possibility to take the championship Sunday afternoon – firstly Ishiura and Oshima in the number 35 Kraft Lexus…followed closely by Tachikawa and Lyons in the number 38 Zent Cerumo Lexus…and then the youngsters in the number 100 Raybrig HSV, Izawa and Yamamoto. As with the GT-Rs, the title is pretty much a pipe dream for these guys, but all of them showed enough speed at some point during the season to be able to play some role in the final scenario. Over in the GT300 category there are plenty of potential champions as well. The GT300 perennial stalwarts Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi and their good old number 43 Garaiya are leading the pack with a 6 point advantage but they will have to secure a podium finish to get the title. Behind them, another almost classic car, is the number 7 Amemiya RX-7 of Nobuteru “Nob” Taniguchi and Ryo Orime, never very far from the top of the sheets. Then we have a tight group lead by the most impressive pair of Toyota young guns Takuto Iguchi and this years Japan F3 champion Yuji Kunimoto in the mighty Corolla Axio number 74. They also have the momentum with a win and 2 podiums in a row. A pair of Nissan Z’s are within striking distance, with the number 3 Hasemi Tomica Z of Yanagida-Hoshino and the number 46 Upstart Mola Z of Yokomizo-Abe. The Hasemi team has been very consistent this season, thanks to the level of its ex-GT500 drivers, but not close enough to the podium to have a real chance in the championship. And the last car to be mathematically in the running for the GT300 championship is the number 2 Shiden of Katoh and Hamaguchi, always fast but often registering a DNF. Still, on a good day they can storm the field like no other car. Stay tuned this week-end because we will be updating this Motegi report as the events unfold and ready to bring you the names of the 2010 Super GT champions as soon as they cross the line!
***Taken from 7Tune.com***
Super GT Rd. 8 Twin Rings Motegi
