Super GT has always been one of the most coveted race events in Sepang – little wonder as it is the only Autobacs Super GT round that isn’t held in the land of the rising sun, Japan. We are unconditionally honoured, as a Malaysian and a fellow enthusiasts to witness one of the fastest race series in the world.
Being in its elements – the GT300 cars are more restricted, with regulations being amplified to keep the competition high. On the exterior, the GT300 cars resembles its road-going counterpart, but without a doubt that these cars mean serious business and even if they’re not as fast as the GT500 – it is just as exhilarating.
Saturday’s qualifying was breathtaking from the track-side – with the drivers all set and focused to get the best lap time possible for the day, and catching a good start on the grid. Qualifying day certainly felt familar, as it is like our very own TIMETOATTACK. 24 teams and 48 drivers took position and attacked Sepang, with all these cars stationed and ready.
After a whole qualifying session – it brought the spectators to a surprise, as there were two little hybrids taking 2nd and pole position on the grid. Rest assured that although it looks like the 125 horsepower CR-Z that we see on the road, it’s racing brother is a serious little racer. Powered by a 2.8-litre twin-turbo engine, backed by a racing hybrid system – the CR-Z GT was electrifying on the track – literally!
Third position on the grid went to Team Subaru BRZ R&D SPORT – driven by Tetsuya Yamano & Kota Sasaki, they managed a time of 2:03.8 around Sepang.
Wrapping up the whole day – we could see the enthusiasm from the drivers and teams, fighting for a good position on grid. And even as a spectator, we could feel the raging tension in the pits. It was going to be an epic Sunday.
Here are the results of the starting grid:
| PP | 55 | ARTA CR-Z GT | Shinichi Takagi | Takashi Kobayashi | BS | |
| 2 | 16 | MUGEN CR-Z GT | Hideki Mutoh | Yuhki Nakayama | BS | 38 |
| 3 | 61 | SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT | Tetsuya Yamano | Kota Sasaki | MI | 12 |
| 4 | 0 | ENDLESS TAISAN PORSCHE | Kyosuke Mineo | Naoki Yokomizo | YH | 2 |
| 5 | 88 | ManePa LAMBORGHINI GT3 | Manabu Orido | Takayuki Aoki | YH | |
| 6 | 52 | OKINAWA-IMP SLS | Hironori Takeuchi | Takeshi Tsuchiya | YH | 32 |
| 7 | 11 | GAINER DIXCEL SLS | Katsuyuki Hiranaka | Bjorn Wirdheim | DL | 50 |
| 8 | 33 | HANKOOK PORSCHE | Masami Kageyama | Tomonobu Fujii | HK | 6 |
| 9 | 86 | CRYSTAL CROCO LAMBORGHINI GT3 | Kouji Yamanishi | Shinya Hosokawa | YH | 22 |
| 10 | 10 | GAINER Rn-SPORTS DIXCEL SLS | Tetsuya Tanaka | Masayuki Ueda | DL | 2 |
| 11 | 87 | LA SEINE LAMBORGHINI GT3 | Hideki Yamauchi | Hiroki Yoshimoto | YH | 30 |
| 12 | 2 | EVA RT TEST-01 PETRONAS MP4-12C | Kazuho Takahashi | Hiroki Katoh | YH | |
| 13 | 48 | DIJON Racing IS GT-R | Hiroshi Takamori | Katsumasa Chiyo | YH | 4 |
| 14 | 31 | Panasonic apr PRIUS GT | Morio Nitta | Koki Saga | YH | 40 |
| 15 | 62 | LEON SLS | Haruki Kurosawa | Tsubasa Kurosawa | YH | 16 |
| 16 | 4 | GSR HATSUNEMIKU BMW | Nobuteru Taniguchi | Tatsuya Kataoka | YH | 34 |
| 17 | 3 | S Road NDDP GT-R | Kazuki Hoshino | Daiki Sasaki | YH | |
| 18 | 22 | GREENTEC SLS AMG GT3 | Hisashi Wada | Masaki Jyonai | YH | |
| 19 | 9 | NAC KOUKAKUKIDOUTAI ARISE DR PORSCHE | Shogo Mitsuyama | Hisao Shigeta | YH | |
| 20 | 5 | MACH GoGoGo SYAKEN Ferrari 458 | Tetsuji Tamanaka | Junichiro Yamashita | YH | |
| 21 | 360 | RUN UP GROUP GT-R | Takuya Shirasaka | Atsushi Tanaka | YH | |
| 22 | 30 | IWASAKI apr R8 | Yuki Iwasaki | Igor Sushko | YH | |
| 23 | 21 | ZENT Audi R8 LMS ultra | Akihiro Tsuzuki | Richard Lyons | HK | |
| 24 | 50 | Exe Aston Martin | Masaki Kano | Hideto Yasuoka | YH |
