2016 Japanese Super GT

[Beryl]

Honda has built another GT400 car again. And one of them (ARTA car) is already broken.

Quintarelli text-book overtake on Caldarelli.

[J Jay]

The Michelins really work well in low temps - Ronnie has just lazered in on the back of Rossiter from some 7 seconds behind.

KeePer RC-F pits, Motul GT-R leads.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Baliwa

where I can watch it beside on BRZ Onboard Livestream?

vipleague.se in the motorsport section.

[Beryl]

Leon AMG in great position now. Jumped the VivaC 86 during the pit stop phase and should be comfortable from here.

[J Jay]

Looking good for the #1 as well, pulling away from #37 through traffic. They've both got a long way to go on this set though, so Hirakwa could still pull something special off like Chiyo is trying to do on Oshima right now!

Also, did anyone else hear someone opening a can of fizzy drink on the Japanese commentary feed?

[Monkey Head]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Also, did anyone else hear someone opening a can of fizzy drink on the Japanese commentary feed?

here,coughing too

[TF110]

Looks like Michelin has the long run pace advantage.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Also, did anyone else hear someone opening a can of fizzy drink on the Japanese commentary feed?

Can't say I have. That's probably a product of the recurrent choppiness of my stream, occasionally freezing. This sort of thing is really making me long for a return of the relatively stable Youtube-based Nismo stream.

[Baliwa]

Originally Posted by TF110

vipleague.se in the motorsport section.

I don't know what happen but I can't connect to their server

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by TF110

Looks like Michelin has the long run pace advantage.

Track temps have been 0 degrees all race, it could be that the Mics are better suited to the low temperature than the Bridgestones.

Originally Posted by Beryl

Can't say I have. That's probably a product of the recurrent choppiness of my stream, occasionally freezing. This sort of thing is really making me long for a return of the relatively stable Youtube-based Nismo stream.

I think it will be back in time for Fuji? I'll have to check RLM's Twitter feed again to be sure.

Edit - Comfortable wins for the Motul GT-R and LEON AMG. KeePer RC-F holds off S-Road GT-R for 2nd, GSR AMG finishes comfortably ahead of Studie M6.

[Beryl]

I think Quintarelli credited the Michelin tires in his post race interview.

Mercedes 1-2-4 in the AMG GT3's debut. If Gamou-Kurosawa can maintain this sort of pace, all three should be in the championship fight.

[J Jay]

He definitely did, and he's not wrong - they were the tyres to have, also evidenced by the S-Road coming in 3rd.

Chiyo doesn't look to happy with the result though!

[bentley speed 8]

Missed the race. Will it be uploaded somewhere at a later date?
Hope that Nismo tv will be back in time for the 2nd race

[MagVanisher]

Mercedes AMG GT almost dominated the GT300 class!

Meanwhile in GT500 class, it's sucks that Honda did worst than I thought in Okayama with ARTA crashing out!

[Monkey Head]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Sunday press conference Part 2
http://www.as-web.jp/supergt/8962
-There is a plan to do an inter race at China/Guangzhou by GT300 (10 cars) and the pro class of Blancpain GT (10cars) in January or February 2017.

do they say they are going to take place in Airport of Guangzhou?

[carbon_titanium]

with same bop and tyres, japanese GT300 drivers won't get a chance against european drivers like vanthoor, bleekemolen, buhk etc...

[MagVanisher]

So it seems that the rule unification is still on-going, huh? On the other hand, are they gonna change the chassis structure to accommodate both FR and MR layouts? That's how Honda is facing when making the NSX GT-Concept car.

As for GT300, the VivaC 86 MC car almost had it if the team stick their guns until the end. Meanwhile, the Toyota Prius aren't doing well over the weekend. Still, can't wait to see if the JAF GT300 teams can improve against FIA GT3 cars in next month at Fuji Speedway!

[carbon_titanium]

BTW, why super gt still sticks with gt500 and gt300 names?
with new 2L turbo, gt500 cars are in the range of 600hp, while gt3 cars in the range of 520-550hp

[Japanese Samurai]

Originally Posted by Monkey Head

do they say they are going to take place in Airport of Guangzhou?

Yes. It is plans by Chinese promoter.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

with same bop and tyres, japanese GT300 drivers won't get a chance against european drivers like vanthoor, bleekemolen, buhk etc...

So the BoP will obviously change. It will take more than a bit of wrangling, but unlike their relationships with ITR/ACO, JAF actually get responses from SRO so I would be much more confident that this could be sorted out.

I didn't see any specific mention of it in the article, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Japanese entries consist mostly of MC/GT300 cars, with perhaps one or two more reliable GT3 entries (Gainer, Leon, GSR, B-Max, Studie, etc.) to shore up the car count.

As for the legacy class names, that's probably it - nobody sees any urgent need to rename them as the reference to the power figures stopped a while ago.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

What we know so far from the Okayama race:

• Nissan dominated the whole race, but they couldn't get a 1-2-3 finish, as there was a big gap between #46 S Road GT-R and #6 WAKO'S RC-F.
• The #8 ARTA NSX was the only car to retire from the GT500 class.
• The rest of all Hondas were so disappointingly slow in the race, and the #100 RAYBRIG NSX was the only car to secure the 10th place.
• No GT300 cars have ever retired.
• The race was LEON Racing's first ever victory as an entrant. Previously, they débuted in 2012 (I think).
• The GT300 race results was with the German manufacturers: Mercedes, Mercedes, BMW, Mercedes. They went ahead of others as Ferrari, Toyota, Audi, Nissan and Lamborghini.

Let's get ready for the next race at Fuji on 4th May!

[Japanese Samurai]

Today, Kazuki Nakajima said in the J-sports broadcasting that because rolling resistance of Yokohama is low, it's not easy to overtake its user at straight line.

[Artur]

Originally Posted by TF110

Looks like Michelin has the long run pace advantage.

I'm not surprised after QLF. Hirakawa did his pole on his first timed lap, iirc, while the #1 and #46 were doing 2 or 3 timed laps to get to their best time.

I'm a little bit disapointed with Bridgestone. Michelin is commited to LMP1, P2(ok, this one very little), GTEs, WRC and now MotoGP(and this one has been a handfull in two ocasions, since the testings began). Bridgestone is only commited to SGT and Indycar.

Looks like #1 is going for the tittle again....

Not that Bridgestone was miles behind, but, you know, given Michelin's concerns with much more other series, one would expect Bridgestone to be performing a bit better.

Originally Posted by J Jay

Track temps have been 0 degrees all race, it could be that the Mics are better suited to the low temperature than the Bridgestones.

Do you remember during the Sepang tests that Japanese Samurai posted that Michelins were better in Malaysia's heat?

So, when will Bridgestone step up, on mid-temps? I hope so.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Artur

I'm a little bit disapointed with Bridgestone. Michelin is commited to LMP1, P2(ok, this one very little), GTEs, WRC and now MotoGP(and this one has been a handfull in two ocasions, since the testings began). Bridgestone is only commited to SGT and Indycar.

Not that Bridgestone was miles behind, but, you know, given Michelin's concerns with much more other series, one would expect Bridgestone to be performing a bit better.

Do you remember during the Sepang tests that Japanese Samurai posted that Michelins were better in Malaysia's heat?

Yeah, that does come to mind now you've reminded me of it. But what we have normally seen is that while the Michelins work better at extremes, neither they nor aren't too far away from each other. That's not what happened here, and I'm sure Bridgestone will be hard at work to turn things round for Fuji (although the RC-Fs are usually well suited to Fuji so we should see a more even race anyway).

I actually think that the performance disparity speaks more to just how seriously Michelin take their motorsport development rather than how much BS are off the boil. There's an excellent interview with their motorsport director Pascal Couasnon in this month's RCE* where he details that while exposure is obviously a key factor in supplying series, the opportunity for technology transfer and sheer competitive spirit are just as vital drivers in deciding where to tender.

*At this point I should just ask Sam for a retainer

[TF110]

Bridgestone used do motogp, so maybe another program on the horizon? We'll see how they respond. It could well be that Nissan put more work into the GTR (the factory car did win) than Toyota did the RC F. I wish they took the lmp1 program as seriously in terms of personnel and commitment.