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F-Nippon / Super GT News
Super GT News - Michigami And Kogure Finally Hit Gold
09/09/2007
The seventh round of the Super GT Championship took placed at Motegi’s Twin Ring in Tochigi in front of an enthralled audience of 38,000 motorsport fans. Ryo Michigami and Takashi Kogure in their Bridgestone-shod Honda NSX started in pole position – their fifth of the year – and got away from start to lead the race and go on to score their first win in the season, a welcome win after a run of bad luck that now puts them second in championship.
During qualifying the F1-style “knock down qualifying system” was introduced for the first time in the season. Michigami and Kogure took fifth on the grid in the new system, with Pole in new Yuji Tachikawa and Toranosuke Takagi (Bridgestone-shod Lexus SC430) in second spot, and Loic Duval and Fabio Carbone (Honda NSX) in third.
Michaigami and Kogure got away cleanly from the start with the Lexus of Tachikawa and Takagi following hard on their tail. In third was the Nissan Fairlady Z of Michael Krumm and Tsugio Matsuda.
Top three cars performed outstandingly, pursued by a hard charging Tatsuya Kataoka and Bjorn Wirdheim in their Bridgestone-shod Lexus SC430, who climbed from ninth to forth in the race.
On lap 59 of the 63 lap race, Tachikawa and Takagi dropped out with engine problems, handing Michigami and Kogure victory on top of their fastest lap record, to make a perfect weekend for the Honda drivers.
“A win at last!” said Michigami. “Our car crushed heavily in the last race, but Honda and the team rebuilt my car for this race. I wanted to pay them back for all their hard work!”
“I drove the first stint and we had a gearbox problem,” added Kogure. “I took care of it but I made to work the rear tyres very hard while I drove - the Bridgestones did a great job and I would like to thank all supporters.”
Kataoka and Wirdheim were equally enthused with their hard-fought podium finish. “I really wanted a good result this time, so I pushed really hard right from the start, coming from ninth to fourth in my stint,” said Kataoka. “We moved up to third after Tachikawa and Takagi’s car dropped out, so we were lucky, and I’m really happy!” said Wirdheim
“I am very pleased for the winning duo of Michigami and Kogure, especially after all their bad luck,” added Bridgestone Tire Engineer Yoshihiro Hosoya.
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