Super GT
Sugo: Series qualifying report
MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wins its first pole position of the season! On July 24, the qualifying for the "SUGO GT 300KM RACE," Round 5 of the 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at Sportsland SUGO circuit (one lap: 3.704 km) in Miyagi Prefecture.
Published: Jul 24, 2010, 7:29 PM
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MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wins its first pole position of the season!
On July 24, the qualifying for the "SUGO GT 300KM RACE," Round 5 of the 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at Sportsland SUGO circuit (one lap: 3.704 km) in Miyagi Prefecture. In the GT500 class, the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Benoit Treluyer took pole position and will start from the front position in the race on the 25th.
In the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, Treluyer ran the fastest lap in the first qualifying session with a time of 1 min. 16.627 sec. Then in the Super Lap, competed by the eight fastest qualifiers in the first session, he again drove the fastest lap time, improving to 1 min. 16.178 sec. to beat out the 2nd-place RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa) by 0.444 sec. and claim the pole position. Treluyer had also run fastest time in the morning practice to make it a perfect sweep of the day's three sessions.
For Treluyer, this is his first pole position since round eight of the 2008 season. For the Nissan GT-R, this is the second pole position of the season, following the last round at Sepang (Malaysia).
In the GT300 class, the Apple.K-ONE.Shiden driven by Hiroki Katoh turned in the fastest time of 1 min. 24.082 sec. in the Super Lap to take the class pole. With this, Katoh extended his own record for most class poles for a driver to 10.
+Pole Position Winner Comments
No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R [GT500]
Satoshi Motoyama: This time everything went well with the tires, the engine and the new aerodynamic parts. The process of trial and error we have been through this season finally produced a 2nd-place finish for us in the last round and I think the performance was even better today. I am truly grateful to the whole team. And, even though Benoit is apparently suffering a bit from a cold, he ran a perfect time attack. I want to thank him too. In the early stages of this season, we weren't doing well at scoring points, so the last round at Sepang, this round at SUGO and the next one at Suzuka are especially critical for us if we are going to stay in contention for the title. In tomorrow's race I am going to drive hard to help us come through with the win."
Benoit Treluyer: "It was a perfect day today. I think I can say that the set-up went better than in any round yet this season. We have been struggling so far this season, but I think now we can say that we have "found it." It is the same feeling of assurance as when we won the title on 2008, so I'm feeling a bit relieved. There was just one problem today, but that was solved quickly, so I was able to run the fastest time in all sessions today. The Michelin tires are good in hot track conditions, so I am confident about our prospects for tomorrow as well. Although you never know how a race is going to turn out until the checkered is waved, but since the car is in such good condition, I personally am expecting good results tomorrow."
No.2 Apple.K-ONE.Shiden
Hiroki Katoh: "At Fuji (round 3) and Sepang (round 4) we had two disappointing results in a row, so I want to break that bad-luck streak here at SUGO. If we can win here we can stay in contention for the title, so the whole team has come here with our focus on winning. For this round Yokohama has prepared a higher-spec version of tires for us, and its proved to fit the Shiden machine very well. I want to thank them for this. SUGO is a course where passing is difficult, so this pole position will be an important asset going into tomorrow's race. I think we will be able to run a good race."
Hiroshi Hamaguchi: "Katoh-san was even more serious than usual today, and I could tell from the way he was running that he was pushing hard. So, I was certain that he was going to get us the pole position. This is only my 13th race since I started competing, so I am lacking in experience. So, they gave me a lot of running time in the practice session. Katoh-san's settings and tire matching had gone so well that I was able to get more running time on the track than usual. In the end, I was able to get better results than most of the other B drivers, and that has given me confidence. I didn't begin racing until I was 30. So I want to make a contribution to motor sport as a representative of late-blossoming drivers."
-source: super gt
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