While the weekend was all about Formula One and the inaugural drama-extravaganza Korean GP, we shouldn’t forget that Super GT was also having Round 8 of its race calendar at the Motegi Twin Ring Circuit for the Motegi GT 250km race.
Qualifying took place under fair skies that were perfect for racing, much better conditions than the Formula One boys got over at neighbouring Korean. The Weider HSV-010 took pole for the GT500 class with Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval behind the wheel in the title-deciding final race.
Normal Super GT qualifying is run in a Super Lap format, much like the time attack format, with one car out at a time. This time however, they took a leaf out of the Formula One book and ran a knock out format.
Three time trial sessions were run and the slowest qualifiers in the first two sessions would be knocked out and the final session would see the top grid positions decided.
The Weider HSV-010 was always leading the time sheest but the Eneos SC430 gave it a good run for its money, narrowly missing out on pole by just 0.057 seconds, behind the top time of 1:43:583 seconds posted by Kogure.
Turn 1 is going to be an exciting affair as these two teams are also locked in a battle for the season title, with Weider currently leading the standings by a single point over Eneos. To shake things up even more, the third ranked team in the championship, the Keihin HSV-010, qualified third as well while fourth spot on the grid went to Calsonic Impul GT-R, that’s sitting fifth in the table. Finally, the fifth spot in the grid was made its own by the Petronas Tom’s SC430 that is currently sitting fourth in the table.
With the top five teams in the top five grid spots, the only thing missing would be popcorn as you sit back and let the drama unfold.
In the GT300 class, the Tomica Z driven by Kazuki Hoshino and Masataka Yanagida took top spot on the grid. It’s a similar storyline in the GT300 class too with most of the top title contenders lining up on the top part of the grid, ensuring a race that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
Source: Super GT
