Super GT season finale at Twin Ring Motegi10/11/2009

The final round of the 2009 Super GT Championship took place at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi on Sunday 8 November. The Autobacs Racing Team Aguri pairing of Ralph Firman and Takuya Izawa started from pole position to storm to their second win of the season. However, it was Jyuichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer of the Lexus Team Petronas Tom’s that were victorious, by finishing second in the event they claimed the 2009 Super GT Driver’s title.   

The Toyota Lexus teams dominated the first and second qualifying sessions on Saturday, though it was Firman that eventually clinched pole position closely followed by Lotterer in to second position. The Lexus team LeMans Eneos pairing of Daisuke Ito and Bjorn Wirdheim took the third spot.  

Sunday saw Lotterer make a great start to overtake pole sitter Firman at the first corner. Lotterer however was equipped with softer tyres that Firman and pitted on lap 22, Firman continued for a further ten laps before returning to the pits.  Firman pushed hard while the Petronas Tom’s team made their stop, managing to regain first place. Izawa then increased the gap to second place by over 9 seconds to score the team’s second win of the year.  Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer were leading the championship standings after round eight, though their fifth place start and issues on track meant they were unable to hold on to the title.  

Autobacs Racing Team Aguri driver and race winner, Ralph Firman, said:
When I got into the car the tyres were cold, but it did not matter because I was able to increase my race pace when I got to the front of the pack. I set good lap times, faster than Andre Lotterer’s after my tyres warmed up and was able to lead the race. I would like to say thank you to Bridgestone for supplying great tyres.”  

Autobacs Racing Team Aguri driver and race winner, Takuya Izawa, said:
"I concentrated very hard as I wanted to win. I pushed very much from the start of my drive to the finish. Thank you Bridgestone for the tyres, they gave me a consistent performance during the race.”  

Lexus Team Petronas Tom’s driver and championship winner, Juichi Wakisaka, said:
“Surprisingly I feel very relaxed now after the race. Some races this year were good and some were bad but finally we were able to win the championship.  I would like to thank all of the team staff, the people that support us and especially Bridgestone.”  

Lexus Team Petronas Tom’s driver and championship winner, Andre Lotterer, said:
“I had a fantastic feeling in the car today. I was very happy to get my second championship with Juichi. Thank you very much to the people that support us and Bridgestone.”  

Bridgestone Tyre engineer, Yoshihiro Hosoya, said:
“It was great event for the season finale. I was sorry that Motoyama and Treluyer had trouble in the early stage of the race, but Bridgestone is proud to have supported the NSX team when they achieved a pole to flag win plus Wakisaka and Lotterer for their championship. We were able to show off our tyre supply superiority through the year.”