Love thy Car and Queen

A slightly cloudy Sunday brought hope in terms of killing off the heat. It was never meant to be. A few ticks past four in the evening, a massive roar of 37 different exhaust notes combined, and the 300km/54 lap race was under way.

Everyone was subjected to the full brunt of the tropical sun that we Singaporeans and Malaysians are ever so used to. Air temperature then, was a sweltering 34 degrees centigrade, while track surface temperatures had risen to 48 degrees.

It was an unfortunate weekend for the NSXes. No. 32 (Epson NSX) spun at the last corner during Qualifying, despite clocking the fastest sector times of all GT500 cars.

Driver Loic Duval suffered from a punctured rear tyre, while the No.18 Takata Dome NSX, driven by Takashi Kogure, was forced into retirement as it suddenly slowed down halfway through the warm up lap.

While the No. 8 ARTA NSX driven by former Jordan F1 driver, Ralph Firman moved up the order from 2nd to pole, the lack of tyre grip meant Firman’s side mirrors were full of the No. 1, Houzan Tom’s SC430 driven by Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer’s No. 12 Calsonic Impul 350Z.

By the 10th lap, the ARTA NSX succumbed to both the Tom’s SC430 and the Calsonic Impul Z, where on lap 13, Treluyer went past Lotterer on the inside of the first corner.

A fierce battle ensued with the 350Zs. On the 13th lap, Michael Krumm’s No. 22 car went off the track while trying to pass the other Z, a No. 23 Xanavi NISMO Z driven by Richard Lyons.

Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira in the No. 24 Woodone Advan Clarion Z, siezed the opportunity, and conveniently slipped by Krumm and Lyons, gaining two places

Car No. 23 made an early pit during the following lap, where tyre wear was getting the better of it.

After a barrage of pit stops by everyone, the Yellow Hat Z had the lead, with the Woodone Z in 2nd and the Motul Autech Z in 3rd.

The Woodone Z began to show it’s claws on the 19th lap, where it mercilessly passed the Yellow Hat Z, leaving the rest for dead. Every lap was a time attack run for this Z.

Laps 20-30 saw teams with single-pit strategies making their stops. The Motul Autech Z. driven by Krumm, made its driver swap to Tsugio Matsuda on lap 25.

The Yellow Hat Z also pulled into the pits, swapping Sebastian Philippe with Yanagida and a new set of tyres.

Amazingly, the Woodone Z held on till the 32nd lap before making its way into the pit lane, where it was separated by a huge 40 second gap from 2nd. This gave it plenty of time for a tyre and driver change, where De Oliveira swapped his hot seat with Seiji Ara.

After a rather, 37 seconds, Ara rejoined the race in fourth, behind the Zent Cerumo SC430 (No. 38), No. 12, and a Forum Engineering SC430 (No. 6). The good news was that all three front runners had yet to pit.

After all pits stops were made, Ara was comfortably in the lead, while Yanagida followed in 2nd with the No. 22 Motul Autech Z on his tail.

A big surprise it was for that Z then, where out of nowhere, the No. 100 Raybrig NSX appeared in hot pursuit of Matsuda’s car.

Driven by Shinya Hosokawa, No. 100 hammered past both the No.22 and No.3 350Zs in just two laps, much to the delight of ardent Honda fans.

At this point, No. 22 was rapidly loosing ground, and was forced to change tyres with just 10 laps to the chequered flag. This meant that the No. 25 Eclipse Advan SC430 could move up the ladder into 4th.

Driven by Manabu Orido and Takeshi Tsuchiya, both drivers were running on a single-pit strategy.

All was good for Tsuchiya until the 48th lap, where he was passed by a revitalized Calsonic Impul Z, where it continued to overtake Yanagida on the 51st lap.

Now piloted by Treluyer, he had the ARTA NSX (now driven by Daisuke Ito) hot on his heels. Unfortunately, Ito was blocked by Tsuchiya after Treluyer’s succefull overtaking attempt on No. 25.

By the time the checkered flag was waved, the No.24 Woodone Z had shot far into the lead, bringing the Kondo Racing team their first Super GT victory since their virgin entry last year.

In a not too distant 2nd was the No.100 RAYBRIG NSX, while 3rd place went to the No.12 Calsonic Impul Z.

In fourth was the No. 38 Zent Cerumo SC430 driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Toranosuke Takagi, while the Eclipse SC430 managed a decent 5th. ARTA’s NSX completed the race in a disappointing 6th, while the dehydrated Yanagida finished 7th.

Meanwhile in the GT300 class, pole starter, No.101 Apr MR-S driven by Tatsuya Oshima, raced into the lead with the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Niita) right on his tail.

Tetsuya Tanaka in his No. 4 EBBRO 350R was fortunate enough to jump into 4th from 7th.

A valiant attempt to pass the MR-S in the last corner of the 7th lap saw Nitta loose his compsure. The Garaiya made an awesome spectacle, where it’s rear tires that were sliding, suddenly regained grip in full opposite lock, sending it right off the track.

Then, it hit a bump that saw it become airborne for a split second before smashing into the guardrail, forcing it into retirement.

Hence, the EBBRO car moved into 2nd, where it powered past the MR-S, which was loosing grip with it’s soft compounds on the 14th lap.

After making a pit for harder tires and swapping drivers (Ishiura), No. 101 returned to the race.

The EBBRO No.4 made its pit stop on the 26th lap, changing drivers from Tanaka to Shinsuke Yamazaki.

This restored the lead of No. 101, while the No. 2 Shiden driven by Hiroki Katoh dived into the pits on the 33rd lap. Kazuho Takahashi now in the driver’s seat.

The No. 4 car in was now running in 2nd and Shiden in 3rd, but it was not to last. The Shiden’s door popped right open in the middle of the race!

This caused the No. 46 Houzan Dunlop Z to move up into 3rd, after being enveloped in a tussle between the No. 47 Houzan Dunlop and the No. 13 Endless Advan 350Zs.

The order was set in concrete then, and the No. 101 MR-S scored its 2nd win of the 2007 season, while the EBBRO No.4 took 2nd and the No. 46 Houzan Z clinched 3rd.

Credits: Text and Photos by Amery Reuben