Super GT Japan - Fuji: Lexus RC F and Honda CR-Z GT on pole

The Autobacs Super GT Series (Japanese GT Championship) continues this weekend with round 4 at the Fuji Speedway. A total of 44 cars took part in the qualifying rounds of the two classes – 15 cars in GT500 and 29 cars in GT300.

The fastest qualifier on the 4.5-km track in the GT500 class was the #38 Zent Cerumo Lexus RC F driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura. In the GT300 class, the fastest was #55 ARTA Honda CR-Z GT driven by Shinichi Takagi and Takashi Kobayashi. These two cars will start from the pole positions in tommorow’s race.

The Super GT qualifying is held in a 2-session knock-out format. In the GT500 class, only the top eight Q1 qualifiers of the 15 participating teams move on to Q2. In Q1 session #38 Zent Cerumo RC F driven by Hiroaki Ishiura recorded a fastest time of 1.28.929. The second fastest time was Tomoki Nojiri in #8 ARTA Honda NSX Concept-GT, just 0.023 seconds behind Ishiura.

In the Q2 session, Yuji Tachikawa took the wheel of the #38 car and increased the best laptime to 1.28.579.  Interestingly, Tachikawa is the record holder for the most pole positions in the GT500 class and a driver known particularly for his success on the Fuji Speedway.  No surprises the that this was his 21st pole position. ARTA’s NSX was the second fastest again, with Kosuke Matsuura at the wheel at a lap time of1.28.733.

In the GT300 class, the #55 ARTA CR-Z GT had the fastest time in Q1, driven by Takashi Kobayashi, and also in Q2, driven by the veteran Shinichi Takagi. For Takagi, this was his ninth pole position in the GT300 class, putting him in a tie for third place in a total GT300 poles. For the Honda CR-Z GT, this was its 5th pole position in GT300 class competition.