Having qualified third fastest for the OKAYAMA GT 300 Km race, the #37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy) went on to win the opening round of the 2017 Autobac’s Super GT Series in the GT500 class. In the GT300 class, the GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) took the win with Kiwi Jono Lester third for Gulf Racing.
“I still can’t believe that we won,” commented Cassidy. “But Lexus prepared a great car for us and it had been in good condition from the pre-race test, so I was hopeful that we could win.
“In my stint, I got a perfect start, so I was able to run with confidence. Our driver in the second half, Hirakawa, is very fast, and I knew that this is also a good circuit for him. But I still can’t believe how this race went just as I thought it would.”
Despite the cloudy skies, the feared rain never appeared as some 17,300 spectators gathered to watch the race. The one-lap formation run of the competing cars was interrupted when the pole position No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT and two other Honda NSX-GT machine came to a stop. This brought out the Red Flag to stop the race start.
This put the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima) at the front to start the race in the lead, but by the third lap it was overtaken by the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Nick Cassidy). After that, No. 37 was followed by two other LC500 machines.
At the end of the 37th lap in the middle stages of the race, the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 made its routine pit stop and changed drivers from Cassidy to Ryo Hirakawa. The No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 also made its pit stop and changed drivers from Oshima to Andrea Caldarelli.
In the latter half of the race, the two LC500 machines continued their battle for with the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 in the lead. As this contest continued, there was a crash by a GT300 class car on the 53rd lap. To ensure overall safety and recover the car, the Safety Car came out on the track to control the race. After the race was restarted, there was virtually no margin any more between the leading cars, which made the competition more fierce. Hirakawa’s driving in the leading No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 held off the attack by Cardarelli in the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 to the end and assured its victory in the season’s opening round. It was also a big first victory of course for the new LC500 in its debut race.
This was Hirakawa’s third GT500 victory and the first for his teammate Cassidy.
In the GT300 class, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) that had qualified 2nd managed to pass the pole-starting No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa) in the early stages of the race to take the lead. In the second half of the race, Nobuhiro Taniguchi maintained and then expand the lead for the GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG despite losing the team’s margin of lead when the Safety Car was called in to control the race and went on to win the team’s first victory since the second round of the 2014 season at Fuji.
Comments