It’s time, for round three of the Intercontinental GT
Challenge. A month or so after the 24
Hours of Spa, for the first time, the IGTC is racing in Japan, at the legendary
Suzuka circuit, for the running of the Suzuka 10 Hours. After Bathurst, and Spa, comes Suzuka. On pole position, is the #28 HubAuto Ferrari
488 GT3 in the Pro Am category. British
driver Nick Foster took the car to pole, and he will share the driving chores
with David Perel of South Africa, and Hiroki Yoshida of Japan. We have a smaller, but still great entry for
this inaugural race in Japan for the Intercontinental GT Challenge. 35 cars will take the start of this motor
race.
Oh dear. There are
problems for the aforementioned pole sitting car #28, however. A mechanic is checking the car, on the
grid. Nick Foster manages to start the
car, but he is not in the pole place, and is out of sequence on the grid. Foster and company could incur a penalty for
having the mechanic working on the car at the start of the formation lap. What will the marshals have to say about
that? Foster is back in position with
the rest of the field, but drama even before the lights go out, here in
Japan. Some really good drivers are
entered in this race, and throughout the highlighted coverage, they will be
mentioned should they play a vital part in this motor race.
This race, is essentially, the best of the European drivers
and teams, meeting the best of the local Japanese drivers, and is a star
studded field. Suzuka is fast, with long
straightaways, but there are also a lot of corners, and the extreme heat is
definitely going to play a part, with 35 GT3 cars out there racing. The race runs into darkness as well, so there
is a bit of that element, although it isn’t nearly the same as starting the
race in the dark at Bathurst, or, running from day, to night, back to day, as
at Spa. Tom Blomqvist who was part of
the winning team, Walkenhorst Racing, at Spa, is in another BMW M6 GT3, here at
Suzuka.
Blomqvist is sharing the #91 Singha-Team AAI BMW M6 GT3,
(the lone BMW in this field), with Akira Iida of Japan, and Thai driver, Piti
Bhirombhakdi. We’re ready to race in
Japan. The Honda NSX safety car pulls to
piut lane. Nick Foster leads the field
to the start/finish line. Red lights are
on. Green lights, are on! Go!
Miguel Molina is going up the center in the #27, the sister HubAuto
Ferrari 488 GT3, in red. Molina is
trying to split team mate Foster, and the #888 GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3. Miguel Molina is trying to get alongside Maro
Engel in the GruppeM car, the German sharing with Raffaele Marciello of Italy,
and rapid Frenchman, Tristan Vautier.
Nick Foster is your leader, and for a number of years was a
Porsche driver, now associated with Ferrari.
Foster, used to race in the British Touring Car Championship, but then,
decided to make his move into sports cars/GT racing. No drama so far and Nick Foster is beginning
to eke out a lead over everyone else.
This is a long race, even though it is shorter than some of the other
IGTC races we’ve seen this year. Don’t
make any silly moves on the opening lap and pitch the car out into the tooleys
on lap one of a ten hour race.
Through the hairpin they go with Foster leading Engel and
Molina. Fourth place is the new for 2018
Bentley Continental GT3 with Jordan Pepper currently at the controls. Pepper, the South African, is sharing with
Brit Steven Kane, and Frenchman Jules Gounon.
The sister car, (Bentley’s numbered #07 and #08), has Spaniard Andy
Soucek, Vincent Abril from Monaco, and Belgian Maxime Soulet sharing the
driving chores. Bentley, this year, has
been focusing on the endurance races in the Blancpain championship instead of
the sprint rounds, which serves them well for this race, and they have also run
Bathurst and Spa so far this year.
There’s a good battle forming between three different cars. The #11 Gainer Nissan GT-R GT3 with Hironobu
Yasuda, the starting driver, is chasing the #175 SunEnergy1 Pro Am Mercedes AMG
GT3, while being pursued by the #911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3R.
This is a battle between Yasuda, Romain Dumas, in the
Porsche, and the Mercedes whose lineup is Australian Kenny Habul, the team
owner, Luca Stolz from Germany, currently in the car, and Canadian driver
Mikael Grenier. Nick Foster is extending
his lead as the HubAuto Ferrari’s are currently sandwiching the #888 GruppeM
Mercedes AMG GT3, the Engel, Marciello, Vautier car. The Bentley is fifth overall, and the Manthey
Porsche, who won the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, earlier this year, is
ninth. Incidentally, yours truly has
wanted to cover the Nurburgring, but has not had time lately. But, stay tuned, as there could be a report
on that race, coming in the not too distant future.
Romain Dumas, meanwhile, wants to get by Hironobu
Yasuda. Laurens Vanthoor has moved up a
spot. For this race, Vanthoor is in the
#991 Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, and the Belgian is sharing with
fellow Porsche factory GT driver, Kevin Estre from France, and rapid French
rising star in GT3, Matthieu Jaminet.
More great battles around the track as Frederic Vervisch, for Audi Team
WRT battles Alexander Imperatori, driving the #18 KCMG Nissan GT-R. Laurens Vanthoor also makes his way by Stuart
Leonard, in another Porsche vs. Audi battle.
Vervisch is sharing the #06 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi
R8 LMS with countryman Dries Vanthoor (both Belgians), and also, Christopher
Mies, the German, a regular Audi GT3 driver.
Oh wow. A good scrap for 15th
place as Vincent Abril in the Bentley, car #08, has his hands full with the #44
Strakka Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, with Oliver Rowland at the wheel of it,
currently. Roland is sharing the third
of three Strakka entered Mercedes’ with Maximilian Buhk of Germany, and
Frenchman Adrien Tambay, whose father, Patrick Tambay, was a Formula 1 and
sports car driver.
Diving into turn one, look, Abril has the preferred line and
goes past Oliver Rowland. Not much has
changed in the top three but check this out.
There’s a challenge for fourth in the overall. The #23 KCMG Nissan GT-R wants by the #27
HubAuto Ferrari. Italian Edoardo
Liberati is at the wheel of the Nissan, sharing with co-drivers Richard Bradley
of England and Oliver Jarvis, also of England.
Jarvis, will be familiar to IMSA fans as he has been racing a lot with
the Mazda team, and Richard Bradley used to do a lot of driving with KCMG in
the FIA World Endurance Championship, before the team refocused it’s efforts to
GT3 competition.
Whoops! Action on and
off the track, as we have a spin. Ben
Barnicoat, in the McLaren has been turned around. Barnicoat is sharing the only McLaren 650S in
the motor race, (essentially, the factory car for Garage 59), with regular team
mates Andrew Watson (his fellow Briton), and Come Ledogar of France. Barnicoat is back in the race, and he had
some assistance from one of the Honda NSX GT3’s, the #34 of Hiroki Otsu. Otsu, is driving the #34 Modulo Drago Corse
entry, sharing with countrymen Ryo Michigami and Takashi Kogure.
Otsu tries to make an inside pass, hits the curb, and tips
the McLaren into a spin. Barnicoat takes
his turn on the whirligig as other drivers scramble to avoid him. No damage for Barnicoat, and he continues in
the race. Vincent Abril, meanwhile,
takes the Bentley for an off course excursion, but stays out of the gravel
trap. Tom Blomqvist in the sole BMW M6
GT3 is moving through the field, and likewise for Ben Barnicoat in the McLaren
that spun earlier. Hironobu Yasuda and
Romain Dumas continue their scrap for eighth overall, and also, Alessio
Picarielo has his hands full with Luca Stolz.
Picarielo is the young Italian Audi GT driver, who is
sharing the #21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama R8 LMS with Ryuichiro Tomita of Japan,
and Britain’s Richard Lyons. Stolz keeps
pushing, and makes the pass on Picariello.
Stolz moves into the top six with that pass. The Gainer mechanics seem a bit chagrined as
Hironobu Yasuda is under pressure, look, from Romain Dumas. Some off road racing, and speaking of off
road, Nick Leventis has thrown one of the Strakka Mercedes’ into the gravel
trap. Poor old Nick Leventis has no one
else to blame but himself, for that error.
Leventis, the Brit, is sharing the car with David Fumanelli
of Italy, and Felipe Fraga of Brazil.
Leventis just loses traction, spins off the road, and plows into the
gravel trap which catches the car, and throws a ton of dust in the air in the
process. But, that’s exactly what the
gravel trap is designed to do. Local
yellow flag at that corner, as two of the Japanese drivers are racing for position. For 25th spot, it is the #8 Team ARN Racing
Ferrari 488 GT3 vs. the #18 Team UpGarage 86 MC Super GT prototype. Hiroaki Nagai is at the wheel of the Ferrari,
and in the 86 MC, it is Takashi Kobayashi.
Nagai shares the Ferrari with Koki Saga, and Kohei
Hirate. Yuki Nakayama and Takuto Iguchi
are the co-drivers with Kobayashi in the 86 MC.
Kobayashi makes the inside pass for 25th place. Nick Leventis has made it to pit lane and out
of the gravel trap. A full service stop
for Strakka, including fuel, tires, and a driver change. A good stop, for Strakka, 36 minutes into the
race. Also pitting is the #88
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for JLOC, the Japanese Lamborghini Owners Club. JLOC has two cars entered, one Pro and one
Pro Am. Pitting, is the Pro entry,
shared by Kazuki Hiramine of Japan, and Italian Lamborghini regulars Marco
Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli.
Otsu in the #34 Honda, has been dinged by the stewards and
will have to serve a drive through penalty for the argy bargy with Ben
Barnicoat earlier. In a battle for third
between Nissan and Audi, Alexander Imperatori improves his position over Stuart
Leonard. Imperatori, the Swiss driver,
he shares the first of the KCMG Nissan’s with Japanese drivers Tsugio Matsuda,
and the very quick Katsumasa Chiyo, or Chiyo-san as he is known, because he’s
such a great driver and admired by his fellow racers in Japan, especially after
a performance he put in to win the Bathurst 12 Hours a few years ago.
Stuart Leonard in the #17 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS
has his hands full, in a car he is sharing with regular co-driver and fellow
Brit, Jake Dennis, and the rapid South African Sheldon van der Linde, brother
of Kelvin van der Linde, also an Audi pilot in this race, for a different
squad. Gainer and Manthey still scrap
nose to tail for eighth place. Nissan
vs. Porsche. It’s still Hironobu Yasuda
vs. Romain Dumas. We see in replay, the
pass Imperatori made on Leonard, but there is no use in defending your position
as we are barely 45 minutes into a ten hour endurance race.
Dumas is trying to attack Yasuda and has an Audi, a
Mercedes, and another Porsche for company.
The Balance of Performance, as dreaded as it is in sports car racing
today, is definitely playing its part in the race as the organizers want it to,
with another of the Strakka Mercedes AMG GT3’s in the lane for service. Luca Stolz in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes is
eating up the KCMG Nissan, #23! Stolz
makes his move for fourth, up the hill, as the Nissan runs wide, look. Edoardo Liberati is still right with
him! Gently, boys! Pit stop time for Maro Engel in the #888
GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3.
There is a driver change, and that’s crucial as the rotation
is keeping the driver’s fresh. It is
either Raffaele Marciello or Tristan Vautier stepping into the car now. Also, pit stop time for the Craft Bamboo
Porsche 911 GT3R. Laurens Vanthoor could
be making way for Kevin Estre to run his stint.
Wow. The battle is on as Luca
Stolz is applying the blowtorch to Miguel Molina. It’s Mercedes vs. Ferrari. Luca Stolz makes the move and says, “so long,
sunshine.” Romain Dumas is still all
over Yasuda. Will he have the chance to
make a move stick this time? Dumas is
going for it, but again, he fails and Huronobu Yasuda slams the door in his
face.
Dumas wants to get away from this Nissan. The Le Mans winner, who was also quickest in
the hill climbs at Pikes Peak in Colorado, and at Goodwood in England, he wants
by the red and white car. They’re still
nose to tail, look. Dumas right on the
Nissan’s gearbox. Dumas is ahead, but
he’s off the road! Miguel Molina ducks
to pit lane to service the Ferrari, wearing the legendary #27 which saw so much
success in Formula 1 in the hands of Gilles Villeneuve, and later on, Alain
Prost and Jean Alesi. Dumas runs wide
off the road! He goes off, then back on,
and maintains seventh, with the Nissan bearing down on him, and one of the
Bentley’s in hot pursuit.
In the background, look, it’s Vincent Abril. Dumas lunged at the Nissan and ran off the
road, abusing track limits to a certain degree, something the stewards are no
doubt looking at. Dumas realizes his
mission and hits the afterburners and get away from Yasuda san. Now, it’s the turn of Vincent Abril to give
Yasuda all he can handle. Closing up into
the hairpin, it’s turbo V8 vs. turbo V6.
Yasuda has so much experience here at Suzuka he’s able to keep the
Bentley at bay. It’s a slipstream drag
race and Vincent Abril, he’s going to make this move no matter what. Vincent Abril, with that move, inherits
seventh spot.
Nick Foster in the #28 HubAuto Ferrari continues on his way
in the lead of the motor race. As the
race goes on the temperature cools, some cars may perform better. But not performing better right now is the
Manthey Porsche! Romain Dumas drops from
sixth to eighth overall. He is sharing
the car with regular team mates Fred Makowiecki of France and German Dirk
Werner, both also Porsche factory drivers.
There may not be an issue with Dumas, as he’s back under power, look,
trying to re-pass his competitor.
Dumas stumbles momentarily, and Yasuda makes the pass, but
then, the Porsche man is able to come right back. These two blokes still run in seventh and
eighth place with nearly an hour of racing on the board. We see Dumas, eager to make another pass on
the Nissan. Will Godzilla budge? Dumas has the preferred line on the inside of
turn one and takes the spot away. Drama for the race leader! Nick Foster has been handed a drive through
penalty. This is for that mechanic doing
checks on the car, 15 seconds before the green flag for the formation lap. The car will get a drive through penalty,
which Foster is serving. Correction,
ladies and gentlemen, this is the first routine pit stop for the #28 HubAuto
Ferrari. So, Foster will need to serve the drive through penalty
separately. David Perel, the South
African will take over, and Luca Stolz in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3
inherits the race lead for now.
Just over an hour into the race, and the #28 Ferrari
completes its pit stop but must still serve the drive through penalty. Perel is serving the drive through penalty,
now. Luca Stolz still leads, as another
Mercedes runs wide and off the road.
Stolz is in the lane, from the race lead, for a scheduled pit stop. Nissan #23 moves to the lead, as the pit stop
sees routine service, and Mikael Grenier, the Canadian, taking over for Luca
Stolz. In the meantime there are more
problems for the #42 Strakka Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, with Nick Leventis at the
wheel of it. Felipe Fraga may be at the
wheel now, but nonetheless, the car comes to grief out on the circuit, again.
The #888 GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3, has taken over the race
lead. Maro Engel, Raffaele Marciello,
and Tristan Vautier, are the drivers of course.
Vautier is behind the wheel right now.
He is building up the advantage over the second place #27 HubAuto
Ferrari 488 GT3 of Miguel Molina, sharing with Davide Rigon and Matt
Griffin. In the meantime, the sister
car, #28 has made it’s way back to the top ten.
The #88 JLOC Lamborghini runs wide into the dirt, momentarily, with
Marco Mapelli at the controls.
He loses a place to David Perelle. The battles in the race continue to simmer as
we have just gone over one hour of ten in this inaugural GT3 race in
Japan. Kohei Hirate, meanwhile, slots
into 20th spot in the #8 ARN Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Nobuteru Taniguchi in the #00 Goodsmile
Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 is side by side with the JLOC Lamborghini. Taniguchi is sharing that car with Tatsuya
Kataoka and Kamui Kobayashi, current Toyota LMP1 racer in the FIA World
Endurance Championship. Taniguchi has
the horsepower in that Mercedes with its large displacement V8, and he moves
around the outside of the Lamborghini.
No substitute for cubic inches, there.
That purple Lamborghini is dropping like a stone, isn’t
it. Wow.
Not having a good race so far, are the JLOC team. Now we return to the Porsche vs. Nissan battle,
still steaming right along. Fred
Makowiecki is now at the wheel of the yellow #911 Porsche 911 GT3R. The Gainer #11 Nissan GT-R is beginning to
fall down the order. After Hironobu
Yasuda’s stint, it is either of the other two drivers, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, or
Kazuki Hoshino, currently in that Nissan.
That car, too, has fallen like a stone into a lake, and is 18th in the
overall.
Good battle for second place. Matt Griffin in the Ferrari is the rabbit,
while Mikael Grenier in the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3, is the hound. Marco Mapelli loses another spot, to the
Bentley #08. The chase continues as
Grenier wants by Griffin, an hour and 20 minutes into the motor race. Marco Mapelli in the Lamborghini, he’s about
to lose another place, to Katsumasa Chiyo in the #018 KCMG Nissan GT-R. Chiyo moves to 13th place. Is there a mechanical issue for the
Lamborghini? Or, is the car being run at
a far more conservative pace? That’s the
question.
The Strakka Mercedes also gets past the JLOC entry. Christopher Mies in the #06 Belgian Audi Club
Team WRT Audi R8 also makes a pass on Mapelli.
Fred Makowiecki is about to do likewise.
Mapelli is a very good driver.
But, it seems the Lamborghini is having a problem, or the team is trying
to eke out more fuel mileage in order to save a pit stop later on in the race,
and that is why Mapelli seems to be running slower than everyone else.
Tristan Vautier has built up a considerable lead over the
rest of the field, as the McLaren makes its way off the road another time. We saw Ben Barnicoat put the car into the
spin cycle earlier. Andrew Watson and
Come Ledogar are the other pilots on the list, and yours truly does not know
who was at the wheel this time. Tristan
Vautier is building his lead as Matt Griffin is in hot pursuit in the #27
Ferrari. How iconic is a Ferrari with the
#27 on the door? Think back to Formula 1,
and the late, great Gilles Villeneuve, or even some other drivers who wore that
number. Jean Alesi also comes to mind,
even though he took his one sole F1 victory, with Ferrari.
BMW #91 is also off in the kitty litter once again. The car run by Team AAI from Japan, it just
didn’t want to turn. Matt Griffin is
keeping Mikael Grenier at bay, even though the Canadian is trying desperately
to reel him in. There are battles within
battles, here at Suzuka. We are at the
hour and a half mark in the race now.
Mapelli is down to 18th in the overall, and this has to be extremely
frustrating for him. More battles rage
on, here, look. Matthieu Jaminet has his
hands full with Alvaro Parente. It’s
Craft Bamboo Porsche vs. Strakka Mercedes.
Parente is in the second of the Strakka Mercedes AMG GT3’s, and the
Portuguese is sharing with Lewis Williamson and Maximilian Goetz, who may have
already had stints in the race, the Brit and the German.
Parente makes the pass, but poor old Jaminet is forced wide
and has other cars swarming him. Use
this technique. Pounce, pass, and pull
away. Action all over the track! We have the #17 WRT Audi challenging Marco
Mapelli’s Lamborghini, and here comes monsieur Jaminet again as well! Lamborghini splits Audi and Porsche. Italian salami between two slices of German
pumpernickel bread if you like. But,
remember, all three of these cars are made by the same parent company,
Volkswagen. Mapelli is being harried by
Tomonobu Fujii in the D’Station Porsche #7 he shares with Porsche regulars Sven
Mueller and Earl Bamber, from Germany, and New Zealand respectively.
Side by side and some argy bargy between Fujii and
Mapelli! Oh dear. The battle for second overall continues to
rage and rumble as Mikael Grenier fends off the pursuit of Matt Griffin. Grenier cut his teeth in the European
Lamborghini Super Trofeo series last year, and now, he’s fully stepped up to
racing thse mighty GT3 cars. The
Canadian is in hot pursuit again, of Irishman Matt Griffin, who is one of
Ferrari’s top GT drivers. Matthieu
Jaminet now has his hands full with David Perel, as the South African driver in
the yellow #28 HubAuto Ferrari is making a steady recovery.
Marco Mapelli in the “purple people eater” Lamborghini, he
wants a piece of this fight as well. Mapelli
wants the spot away from Perel, but the South African is going to slam the door
in the Italian’s face. Marco says “give
it up, David. You’ve got to earn it, you
can’t buy it.” An hour and 50 minutes in
and it’s still the Matt Griffin vs. Mikael Grenier story. Grenier turns in, Griffin brakes late,
Grenier slides the big Mercedes and these blokes are side by side another
time! Griffin barely staying ahead of
Grenier who has that monstrous front mounted V8 under his right foot. Finally, Grenier puts the welly down, and
gets past the red Ferrari. Yikes!
Good scrap for third place as well. It’s Nissan vs. Audi. Richard Bradley has the final podium place,
as of now, and Ryuichi Tomita, wants it.
Tomita is going for it as there’s dust in turn one as some hapless
driver goes off the road for a moment.
Hitotsuyama Audi goes ahead of KCMG Nissan. Bradley’s team mates in the #23 are of course
the very rapid Oliver Jarvis and Edoardo Liberati, two Englishmen and an
Italian. Pit stop time just before the two-hour
mark. One of the Strakka Mercedes AMG
GT3’s is in the lane for routine service.
Fuel, tires, and a driver change, as per usual. Likewise, the #06 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
Audi R8 makes a stop. Again, Christopher
Mies, Dries Vanthoor, and Frederic Vervisch are the ones sharing that car.
Vanthoor gets into the car, for the next stint. Nearly two hours of this race, done and
dusted. More and more action as the pit
lane is becoming a very busy place. The
KCMG Nissan is in for fuel, tires, and driver change. The #11 Gainor Nissan GT-R is also
pitting. HubAuto also has the yellow #28
Ferrari 488 GT3 in for service. Nick Foster
will retake the wheel, from David Perel.
Their bronze rated driver, Hiroki Yoshida of Japan, will drive later on. Also in pit lane is the #10 Honda Team Motul
Honda NSX being shared by the Japanese trio of Naoki Yamamoto, Hideki Muto, and
Daisuke Nakajima.
Mikael Grenier also makes a scheduled stop for the
SunEnergy1 Mercedes. Bronze rated
driver, and car/team owner, Kenny Habul of Australia, will take over the #175
entry, as he is the only driver who has yet to do a stint so far in the
race. Kenny Habul will indeed take over
this gorgeous blue Mercedes with the spectacular flames on the front. A hammer and tongs battle ensues for 22nd
overall, between Dries Vanthoor and Nick Foster. Audi vs. Ferrari, and this is classic GT3
racing at its very best.
Both these blokes have work to do, to climb up the
order. Foster, after his drive through
penalty, is starting to claw his way back.
Kenny Habul has his hands full with Lewis Williamson in a battle for
third. Habul has it, and Williamson
wants it. Habul also loses out to Kelvin
van der Linde in the #6 Audi Sport Team Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS he shares
with Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Haase, two rapid German Audi factory
drivers in their own right. #6 moves to
fourth overall. Kenny Habul, is losing
ground.
Habul is also passed by the #07 Bentley Continental
GT3. That’s the car shared by Steven
Kane, Jordan Pepper, and Jules Gounon.
Meanwhile, Dries Vanthoor goes back by Nick Foster, who finds himself
off in the gravel. He goes off and back
on, and is delayed even more. Ex-F1 and
current Toyota FIA WEC driver Kamui Kobayashi in the #00 Goodsmile Racing Team
Mercedes AMG GT3, has his hands full with the rapid #991 Craft Bamboo Racing
Porsche 911 GT3R. Kevin Estre is at the
wheel of it, currently. Estre runs wide,
and loses ground to Kobayashi.
Dries Vanthoor is gaining on Estre, and he is also dealing
with the third Strakka Mercedes, car #44.
That car, once again, is being shared by Adrien Tambay, Oliver Rowland,
and Maximilian Buhk. Estre loses a place
to the Mercedes. Dries Vanthoor and Nick
Foster, split the Craft Bamboo Porsche of Estre! Yikes!
Estre drops for 11th to 13th in the overall, and none of the Porsche’s
are really having a good race so far.
More problems for the #91 Team AAI BMW M6. Thai driver Piti Bhirombhakdi, is at the controls.
Will we need a safety car?
Bhirombhakdi is trapped in the gravel, hence the purpose of it, but he
needs to be rescued, which calls for a safety car. More trouble, as Earl Bamber in the #7
D’Station Porsche 911 GT3R is crawling out on the track, going very slowly. This is a double whammy for D’Station,
because their sister car, the #77 is also in the garage. That’s the car of Japanese drivers Satoshi
Hoshino and Tsubasa Kondo, sharing with New Zealander Jono Lester.
Fifteen minutes to go before the three hour mark and Fred
Makowiecki is dodging and darting his way, look, through traffic. Audi, Bentley, Nissan, and Porsche are all
represented here, as Makowiecki tries to work his way past the #54 Black Swan
Racing Porsche from the U.S. driven by Tim Pappas and Marc Miller, both from
the U.S., and rapid Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen. One of the Bentley’s, car #08 forces the #17
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8, wide.
Jake Dennis, Stuart Leonard, and Sheldon van der Linde share that car.
Kenny Habul has Kelvin van der Linde in Audi #6 all over
him, and we see a massive crash! Come
Ledogar in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren 650S has just clouted the barrier! He’s become involved with the #07 Bentley,
the Kane, Pepper, Gounon car, and it’s game over for the McLaren! Hard contact with the #7 Bentley, the McLaren
spins, and… bang! It hits the Armco
barrier with much force! The damage is
done. Thank goodness no one else was
involved, but indeed, Andrew Watson, Ben Barnicoat, and Come Ledogar, will have
to call it a day.
This latest incident brings out a full course yellow. Come Ledogar is checked by the marshals and
medics and says, “I’m OK”. Pit stop time
once again, under Full Course Yellow.
The #888 Mercedes is in the lane and so is another car we haven’t talked
much about. This is the #777 Carguy Racing
Honda NSX GT3. It is another Japanese
team with all Japanese drivers. Among
them, Takeshi Kimura, Naoki Yokomizo, and Kei Cozzolino. The #27 HubAuto Ferrari pits, and is pulled
back by the crew. It’s a bit stuck,
look. But, there’s no issue with the
car. It’s just a very crowded, congested
pit lane down there.
Get the pit stop out of the way now, as you’ll lose less
time than trying to do it under green flag conditions. The bulldozer pickup truck safety vehicle is
retrieving the busted up McLaren out of the gravel. The safety car comes out on course, and will
point the leader by, and pick up the rest of the field. The lights are now on, and this is the race
order behind the safety car at this point.
1. #888 Mercedes AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes
AMG GT3
2. #27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3
3. #43 Mercedes AMG Team Strakka Racing
Mercedes AMG GT3
4. #07 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley
Continental GT3
5. #23 KCMG Nissan GT-R
6. #21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8
7. #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3
8. #6 Audi Sport Team Absolute Racing Audi
R8
9. #911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3R
10. #08 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental
GT3
11. #17 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8
12. #00 Mercedes AMG Team Goodsmile Mercedes AMG
GT3
That is your top dozen, as we resume racing. The safety peels off. We are back green, three hours and nine
minutes into this ten hour race. Drivers
weave back and forth to clean and build heat in the tires, and one of the
Bentley’s picks up a spot. The #888
GruppeM Mercedes leads the motor race, shared by Maro Engel, Raffaele
Marciello, and Tristan Vautier, of course.
Up to third spot, on the podium as of now, look, is the #43 Mercedes. That’s the second of the Strakka cars, having
a very good run so far today. There are
plenty of cars left in the race, and the sheer brilliance of being able to see
these phenomenal GT3 machines racing, is a sight to behold.
After it’s excursion into the gravel trap, the #91 BMW M6
GT3 for Team AAI is back in the motor race.
There’s some argy bargy between the SunEnergy1 Mercedes and the JLOC
Lamborghini, #75 vs. #88 respectively.
There’s even more trouble for the Lamborghini! The car is smoking heavily. Now, that has to be bodywork damage, rubbing
on a tire. It isn’t mechanical. It’s bodywork damage rubbing on the left rear
tire. As it continues to rub, that will
cause the tire to deflate, and if he’s not careful, the whole tire could pop,
like a balloon. Andrea Caldarelli is at
the wheel, having taken over from Marco Mapelli and the third driver in this
car is Japan’s Kazuki Hiramine.
Caldarelli should pit when he gets to the front straight as
the last thing he needs to is to be pitched off the road and into the
wall. Bentley #08 picks up a place over
the Lamborghini with it’s tire issues.
It was innocuous contact between the Lamborghini and the Mercedes, but
Andrea Caldarelli got the worst of it, nonetheless. Caldarelli is indeed in the lane. It’s not worth it taking chances, and there’s
still a long way to go. Andrea
Caldarelli makes it to the attention of his pit crew and they change the flat
tire. But, there’s more trouble on
track, look. Edoardo Liberati is
stranded with a Nissan that won’t move.
Again, he shares this car with Richard Bradley and Oliver Jarvis.
Control, Alt, Delete, won’t work in this situation I don’t
think, and the snatch tractor is retrieving the stricken Nissan, now. Nearing the four-hour mark, one hour before
halfway, the #77 D’station Porsche is in pit lane for fuel and service. The car is back on track after being in the
garage earlier, as Audi R8 #21 runs wide and back onto the track. Briefly, the SunEnergy1 Mercedes takes the
spot, but dives to pit lane giving the place back to the Audi. Another pit stop has been made by the #888
Mercedes, the GruppeM machine.
Fuel, tires and a driver change, for the leading #27 HubAuto
Ferrari. Matt Griffin will hand over to
one of his co-drivers, either Davide Rigon or Miguel Molina. That car has completed 106 laps, 379.48
miles. Pit stop time for Bentley #08, as
the car comes in from sixth overall. The
Bentley Boys are not as quick, but they are staying on a good pace and in the
sharp end of the field. Andy Soucek,
Maxime Soulet, and Vincent Abril, the Spaniard, the Belgian, and the Monegasque,
share that car. The Ferrari rejoins the
race in eighth overall, car #27. Just
past the four hour mark now, and we have a spin.
That’s the #21 Audi off the road. Ryuichi Tomita has looped it, out on
track. He’s facing the wrong way but
should resume. Too much speed into the
corner, and Tomita simply spins the car, but doesn’t hit anything, fortunately.
Meanwhile, the #7 Bentley is charging through the field, closing for second
spot on the #43 Mercedes for Strakka Racing.
The driver's strength of Jordan Pepper, Steven Kane, and Jules Gounon
are working very well together. It's a
good German scrap going on here, look.
Porsche chasing Mercedes, chasing Audi.
Some argy bargy between the two of them, and the Porsche
runs wide onto the gravel. Matthieu
Jaminet is forced wide, and Maximilian Buhk goes through. Jaminet fights back and makes an inside
pass. A great scrap this, 20 minutes shy
of the halfway mark in the race. Four
hours and 55 minutes in, five minutes to halfway, in comes the leading Mercedes
from GruppeM for a pit stop. This car is
running like clockwork and has had zero trouble. No damage.
No wrecks. No pit delays. Now, teams are deciding that double stinting
the drivers is the best thing to do.
Cycle everyone through, keep them fresh, and read the
race. 134 laps, 480 miles, have been run
so far. Drivers could even take triple
stints if it were appropriate to do them.
Some cars are slow, including the KCMG Nissan and the Bentley is really
on its toes to exit the lane. Mercedes
#75 is into the pit lane as well, and Mikael Grenier gets out while Kenny Habul
gets in for another stint. Past the five
hour mark now, so into the second half of the race and the Bentley and Nissan
battle is still raging hot and heavy.
But, #18 is off the road and into the kitty litter. Andy Soucek passed Katsumasa Chiyo, but now,
Chiyo san is in the pit lane with smoke pouring out of the Nissan having
collected a lot of gravel under the car.
Stones getting into all the wrong places. Now, we are at five hours and 36 minutes into
the race and Kenny Habul loses a place to the #17 WRT Audi, the Stuart Leonard,
Jake Dennis, and Sheldon van der Linde driven machine. He is being hounded by Dirk Werner, look, in
the yellow #911 Manthey Racing Porsche.
Werner tries the inside of Habul, and Habul slams the door in his
face. Not so fast. Habul runs off the road! He loses two places after that little off
course excursion. We have a car stranded
on the front straight. It’s Kevin Estre
in the #991 Craft Bamboo Porsche 911 GT3R.
How has that Porsche come to a halt in such a peculiar spot, the last
corner?
Was there contact between two Porsches? Werner’s front bumper to Estre’s rear
bumper. Yellow flags wave, and now, at
five hours and 55 minutes, in comes the leading Mercedes, the #888 car. Fuel, tires, and a driver change, as per
usual. Maro Engel will get into the car. Also, the #991 Craft Bamboo Porsche is
pitting. Right at the six-hour mark, the
#43 Strakka Racing Mercedes makes it’s pit stop. That is the car of Lewis Williamson,
Maximilian Goetz, and Alvaro Parente.
Maximilian Goetz is far more at home in a GT3 car than he ever was
driving the tin tops in DTM, and is a former Blancpain GT Endurance champion.
Maro Engel is pressing on, giving it everything in the lead
of the motor race. Engel is working his
way through traffic, and continues in the lead as we are past six and a half
hours in. More off road adventures for
SunEnergy1, and it’s off in the dust. As
it comes back on, look, more damage to the bodywork. With ten minutes before the race turns to its
seventh hour, the #11 Gainor Nissan GT-R goes past the #17 WRT Audi. This is a battle, would you believe, for 14th
overall.
Nissan, Porsche, Audi, and Ferrari, all running
together. The Porsche tries the Audi on
the outside, making the pass, but the Porsche runs wide! The Audi pounces on that misstep and goes
back through on the inside. Seven
minutes before the seventh hour of the race, the WRT Audi makes a pit stop and
blasts its way back into the motor race.
The #66 WRT Audi R8 is now in the pit lane. That’s the Mies, Vanthoor, Vervisch car. The race leading Mercedes is back into pit
lane for a scheduled stop. Tristan
Vautier, Maro Engel, and Raffaele Marciello are all doing some superb driving.
Jules Gounon is being hounded by Dries Vanthoor, look. This is a really good scrap. Gounon runs wide over the curb and Vanthoor
takes advantage. There’s argy bargy and
the Ferrari is off the road! Matt
Griffin is off on the escape road, trailing a cloud of very expensive
smoke. Game over for the Ferrari, that’s
a bent right front wheel, look. The
suspension is broken. That’s surely the
end of the motor race for HubAuto. Matt
Griffin drags the car into the lane, but there will be a long stop to repair
the damage to the suspension and bodywork.
We are just past seven hours into the race, with less than
three remaining. Vanthoor goes inside
Gounon, Gounon runs wide onto the dirt, Gounon loses the place, comes across
the road, and… crunch! Straight into the
Ferrari he goes! Matt Griffin had no
place to go, and he couldn’t just push the disappear button. Jules Gounon is going to get dinged by the
stewards for that one. Suspension and
bodywork damage, as well as a punctured tire for the Ferrari, mean it’s game
over. The car is rolled back on the
dollies into the garage.
Jules Gounon is slapped with a drive through penalty for
that incident. The marshals warn
everyone of a slow car using a white flag, and the slow race car is the #18
Team UpGarage 86 MC of Yuki Nakayama, Takashi Kobayashi, and Takuto
Iguchi. Cars go by the stricken 86 MC,
but not the #911 Porsche! He runs very,
very wide into the gravel trap! He was
perilously close to hitting the tire barrier!
Yikes! The Porsche is loaded up
with gravel now. He is under attack from
the #21 Audi as the #7 Bentley is slow, limping. There’s got to be a fuel pickup or mechanical
issue with the car as all the tires are fine.
A small trace of smoke and the car slows down. Jordan Pepper is at the wheel of it, and
another car
is off the road, look.
That is the #2 Pro Am car of Kazuko Takahashi, driving the
CarsTokaiDream28 Lotus Evora ABA-122.
Takahashi is sharing with countrymen Hiroshi Hamaguchi and sports car
veteran Hiroki Katoh, former LMP prototype racer. He ran out of road and almost clipped the
barriers. Meanwhile, more problems for
Bentley #7. Jordan Pepper is off the
road another time. Did Pepper pull off
with mechanical trouble? Was he spun
‘round by another car? Pepper runs wide
and loses it on his own. The car will
not reignite. The engine could be
stalled. Mercedes #888 pits again from
the lead, absolutely crushing the competition.
Fuel, tires, and a driver change for #888 with just over two
hours to race. Bentley #07 has a
puncture. Now, this could be a legacy of
the earlier spin from Jordan Pepper. It
could have been a puncture that flicked the car off the road. The light is fading at Suzuka. It is dusk, and the race will end in the
dark. GruppeM is one of the leading
teams in Blancpain GT Asia, racing both GT3 and GT4 spec cars. Let’s have a look at the running order.
1. #888 Mercedes AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3
2. #43 Mercedes AMG Team Strakka Racing Mercedes AMG GT3
3. #6 Audi Sport Team Absolute Racing Audi R8
4. #66 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8
5. #911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3R
6. #00 Mercedes AMG Team Good Smile Mercedes AMG GT3
7. #44 Mercedes AMG Team Strakka Racing Mercedes AMG GT3
8. #8 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3
9. #11 Gainer Nissan GT-R
10. #21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8
11. #17 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8
12. #991 Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche 911 GT3R
Mercedes are running 1-2 now with GruppeM leading
Strakka. Audi runs third. Eight and a quarter hours into the race, and
the headlights pierce through the twilight here in Japan, as we will see a
couple hours of darkness at Suzuka, but of course, nowhere near the darkness in
the middle of the Ardennes forest in Belgium during the 24 Hours of Spa last
time out in late July. The sole
remaining Bentley, car #8 is stuck in traffic, losing time to one of the Honda
NSX’s.
As the sun sets, we experience the singular magic of racing
into the darkness. The race takes on a
different feel, pace, and almost a different sound, as dusk has fallen here in
Japan, Just an hour and 13 minutes left in the race as Dirk Werner looks to
challenge Richard Lyons in the #21 Hitotsuyama Audi. Werner brakes late, and boldly passes Lyons
for eighth overall. Mercedes #888
continues to lead. Mercedes run 1-2 here
at Suzuka. The GruppeM Mercedes has only
lost the lead on pit stop cycles, and it gains it back after the pit
stops. The team has been unstoppable in
this race.
Some teams are now making their final pit stops before the
end. The #6 Absolute Racing Audi R8 is
one of those cars, and it is being shared by Christopher Haase, Markus
Winkelhock, and Kelvin van der Linde.
They are third overall behind the two leading Mercedes’. Strakka and GruppeM both pit. Working lap 247, meaning we’ve covered 885
miles. Whoa! A flash fire out of the left hand exhaust for
the leading Mercedes! The mechanic, who
was polishing the number plate, puts the fire out with his rag. Keeping cool under pressure helps win
endurance sports car races. We have one
hour remaining at Suzuka.
Now for the final round of pit stops which sees the #66 WRT
Audi blink first. The #6 Audi pits from
the lead and will resume, around fourth spot.
The #75 Mercedes makes its last stop.
Mikael Grenier, Kenny Habul, and Luca Stolz have done very well in this
race. 48 minutes now remain, and the
Manthey Racing #911 Porsche makes its last stop of the race. The #00 Good Smile Mercedes is fifth overall,
and being cheered on by fans and the pit crew alike.
40 minutes to go now, and the last stop for the #34 Modulo
Drago Corse Honda NSX which got an early drive through penalty. Ryo Michigami, former Le Mans LMP1 racer,
sharing with countrymen Hiroki Otsu and Takashi Kogure, should get a good
finish. Just over 40 minutes remain, as
the #8 Bentley upholds the honors for Crewe and the British brand, in hot
pursuit of the Goodsmile Mercedes. The
team may be called Good Smile, but there are frowns and worried faces in their
garage. It’s Mercedes vs. Bentley. Tatsuya Kataoka vs. Maxime Soulet. Trouble for the #911 Manthey Porsche. Dirk Werner is slowing! Werner spins with just half an hour to go,
and that’s very unlike him to just spin off the road.
GruppeM are nervous, almost in a tearful way. They are nervous, but excited, because they
can sense a major win coming. Seven
minutes remain in the Suzuka 10 Hours.
Raffaele Marciello will bring the car home. The win beckons as we have gone over 10
hours, just slightly, and GruppeM is going to win the inaugural Suzuka 10 Hours
for Maro Engel, Tristan Vautier, and Raffaele Marciello! They’ve led 222 of 276 laps, dominating this
race! Strakka Racing will finish second
with Lewis Williamson, Maximilian Goetz, and Alvaro Parente. Markus Winkelhock, Christopher Haase, and
Kelvin van der Linde finish third for Audi.
276 laps, 989 miles. Just short
of breaking the 1,000 mile mark in this race.
Tristan Vautier, Raffaele Marciello, and Maro Engel are the
winners of the Suzuka 10 Hours!
#888 Vautier/Marciello/Engel Mercedes
AMG GT3
There is now just one race to go in the 2018
Intercontinental GT Challenge, as the cars come stateside to WeatherTech
Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on the Monterey Peninsula, at the
end of October. The first Suzuka 10
Hours have had a great entry and a great race.
It’s been all about Mercedes, winning a great race in great style. Sayonara, from Japan. So long, everyone.
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