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F-Nippon / Super GT News
Okayama International Circuit
18/04/2008
The second round of the 2008 Super GT championship took place on the 12th and 13th April at the Okayama International Circuit with 29,000 spectators visiting the venue on race day. Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer in the Bridgestone-shod Nissan GT-R made pole to win, making a Super GT record of two successive victories from the opening round.
The Nissan GT-Rs were again running strong in Okayama, just as Suzuka, but the Honda NSXs also showed good pace and both cars shared the top of the 1st qualify time chart. Then in the Super lap qualify run for the top 10 spots, Motoyama/Treluyer took pole position and Ralph Firman/Takuya Izawa with the Honda NSX(BS) took 2nd spot. Tsugio Matsuda/Sebastian Philippe in the Nissan GT-R took 3rd spot.
There was a possiblility that it would rain during the race but all cars were fitted with slick tyres at the start. Treluyer made a good start to lead the first part of the race. It rained in the middle stage but it did not make the track surface so wet that rain tyres weer needed. In these conditions, some cars spun while running wide on the slippery corner stone and went out at the corner with cold tyres. The race leader developed a very consistent pace, though Matsuda pushed very hard and closed in during the last part of the race.
Satoshi Motoyama - race winner, said:
“I am really happy. It was a difficult race that rained in the middle but I had such a good partner, good car and good tyres that they helped a lot. I just drove the car”
Benoit Treluyer - race winner, said:
"We fitted softer tyres that made the tyres warm quicker than others and it made a gap in the early stages. I would like to thank the team for preparing a nice car and Bridgestone for providing fantastic tyres”
Yoshihiro Hosoya - Bridgestone Tyre Engineer, said:
“The GT-Rs were strong in Okayama again. The winning crew of Motoyama and Treluyer’s tye choice was right and they managed the soft tyres very well. Motoyama made a good run while Matsuda push him in last stage, Matsuda got closer then stayed away”
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