Fuji: Series qualifying report

Young Lexus star Oshima qualifies fastest!

The qualifying for the FUJI GT 400km RACE, Round 3 of the 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4.563 km) in Shizuoka Pref. on May 1. The GT500 class pole position was won by Kazuya Oshima in the MJ KRAFT SC430. With this, the MJ KRAFT SC430 driven by Oshima and Hiroaki Ishiura will start from the front row in the race on the 2nd.

The clear skies and Japan's "Golden Week" holidays brought out a large crowd of spectators at Fuji Speedway. Driving the MJ KRAFT SC430, Oshima had recorded the fastest lap times in both the morning practice and the first session of the qualifying. Then in the Super Lap for the top eight qualifiers from the first session (running one machine at a time), he was the only driver to break the 1 min. 34 sec. barrier with a time of 1 min. 33.586 sec.

In his second year in the GT500 class and running on Toyota's home track here at Fuji, the 23-year-old Oshima ran faster than the older Lexus aces Andre Lotterer and Daisuke Ito driving the same SC430 machine to win his first PP since round six of last year's series.

In the GT300 class, the HANKOOK PORSCHE driven by Masami Kageyama qualified fastest in class with a time of 1 min. 43.165 sec.

+Pole position winner comments

No. 35 MJ KRAFT SC430 [GT500]

Kazuya Oshima: "So far this season the car has been running very well, but we have been unable to get good results in the first two rounds because of my mistakes. I had a lot of pent-up frustration as a result, and it looks like it all just exploded today [in my good performance]. Our team has done well here at Fuji before, so we came here with the intention of winning again this time. The flow has been good this week and I want to keep this momentum going into tomorrow's race."

Hiroaki Ishiura: "Before the qualifying, I was saying that I hoped we would get the pole position and, half jokingly, I said it would be good to run a time in the 1 min. 33 sec. range. I never expected [Oshima] to actually do it. That is just how amazing a time his 1 min. 33.5 sec. was out there today. The setting of the new aero parts and the balance of the car has gone well. I want to run clear from the pole position like last year when we won at Suzuka."

No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE

Masami Kageyama: "When I heard Tsuchiya's (car No. 25) time while waiting in the pit, I thought it would be hard to win the class pole. But, as a veteran, I was determined to give it my best shot. In fact, tomorrow is my birthday and I wanted to make it a good day. I think this time is due to the fact that we put everything into getting the pole position." Mitsuhiro Kinoshita: "I believed that since it was Kageyama out there driving for us, we would get a good result. Since round two at Okayama we have been using a new tire spec and that has produced good results for us. The car is in very good condition, so we only had a few slight adjustments to make. Also, it will be to our advantage if the temperature is high again for tomorrow's race."

Tomonobu Fujii: "I have just joined as a member of this team for the first time with this round. I don't have much experience driving the Porsche, but just from watching, I thought that Kageyama's run out there today was very good, with no mistakes. I thought it was a very well-run lap."

-source: supergt