2011 SUPER GT : Weider HSV-010 team takes its first win of the season

2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round3 SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES MALAYSIA GT500 Winners : Takashi Kogure / Loic Duval - No.1 Weider HSV-010 - Honda HSV-010 GT

SEPANG, Malaysia : June 19, 2011 - The SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES MALAYSIA race, Round 3 of the 2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at the Sepang International Circuit (lap = 5.542 km x 46 laps) in Malaysia (on June 19). The GT500 class winner was the pole-starting Weider HSV-010 driven by Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval.

2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round3 SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES MALAYSIA GT300 Winners : Nobuteru Taniguchi / Taku Bamba - No.4 HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW - BMW Z4 GT3

To avoid Malaysia's midday tropical heat in, the race start was scheduled for 16:00 (local time) in the late afternoon. Starting from the pole position (1st position on the grid), the Weider HSV-010 driven by Loic Duval gradually opened up a lead of the 2nd-place S Road MOLA GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli). When Duval began to encounter GT300 class back-markers and lose time in passing them, the S Road MOLA GT-R closed in on his tail at one point. However, with its faster pace when running alone, the Weider HSV-010 (Duval) was able to maintain its lead all the way to the routine pit stop. Then the wheel was turned over to Takashi Kogure.

Next, the S Road MOLA GT-R made its pit stop. After quick pit work the team sent the GT-R back into the race with Masataka Yanagida in the driver's seat. From the pit exit Yanagida got out on the track in front of Kogure. At this point, however, Kogure was obviously running at a faster pace and he managed to take back the lead on the second turn of that lap. After that, Kogure never let anyone get close to him as he built up an impressive 14-second lead by the time he took the checkered to win the race. Despite being last season's GT champions, the Weider HSV-010 had not been able to come through with good results in either of the first two rounds of this season. Round three here at Sepang finally gave them their first win of the season.

This represented the fourth win for the Honda HSV-010GT since its debut last season. For Kogure this is his fifth career GT win, and for Duval it is his fourth.

In the GT300 class, it was also the class pole-starter, the HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Taku Bamba), that won its race. It was the team's first win in the fourth year since it began GT competition, and it was also the first win for the new BMW Z4 that has debuted this season. It was also Taku Bamba's second GT win, while it was the ninth career GT win for Nobuteru Taniguchi.

(Spectarors: 36,000)

Winner Comments

GT 500 - Podium

No.1 Weider HSV-010 [GT500]

Takashi Kogure: "The car's performance has been good this season but we just weren't able to get a good result until now. I am relieved that we finally were able to win. Sepang has a slippery track surface and it was hard on the tires too, but I think we were able to run consistently fast. I was surprised when car No. 46 came out of the pit exit in front of me, because I hadn't anticipated it. But, since it was its "out lap" (first lap out of the pit), I decided I had to make my move quickly [before its tires warmed up]. I saw a chance on the second turn and made my move past it then. I was able to build up a gap of 17 seconds over the cars behind me, but the wear on the tires was considerable, so I took it easy at the end."

Loic Duval: "The win this time finally puts us in the series title race. Now the season is just beginning for us, I feel. In fact that my lap times fell at one point was because I came up behind a group of GT300 back-markers that were batting with each other and that created a situation where I didn't have a chance to pass. In contrast, the car behind me was able to pass them right away, so I was like, "OK, I'm waiting for you!" (wry smile.) After that I was able to open up a margin of lead again though. Still, it was a tough race."

GT 300 - Podium

No. 4 HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW [GT300]

Nobuteru Taniguchi: "After winning the class pole position yesterday I really wanted to win today. In the race today, things developed ideally just as I had hoped they would, and I was happy when we took the checkered. But, in the second half it was different [as the competitors closed the gap on Bamba] (wry smile). I was so nervous watching Bamba's stint that I think it took a couple years off my life! And I even got a little upset. But I think Bamba did a good job for us out there."

Taku Bamba: "I am so happy. But I am also a little disappointed in my performance. Also, I want to dedicate this victory to the sponsors who have supported us for so long, and to everyone at my meny personal sponsors. The plan was that Taniguchi-san was going to go out and get us a big lead and then I was going to maintain it to the win. But I ended up losing the margin of lead. I lost time while I was being passed by the GT500 cars. Next time I want to show everyone that I can run as planned."

Race result : GT500 Class

Po.	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time/Diff	Lap
1	1	Weider HSV-010 Honda HSV-010 GT / HR10EG	Takashi Kogure Loic Duval	1:33'34.849	46
2	46	S Road MOLA GT-R NISSAN GT-R R35 / VRH34A	Masataka Yanagida Ronnie Quintarelli	0'14.198	46
3	17	KEIHIN HSV-010 Honda HSV-010 GT / HR10EG	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	0'32.487	46
4	24	ADVAN KONDO GT-R NISSAN GT-R R35 / VRH34A	Hironobu Yasuda Bjorn Wirdheim	1'01.541	46
5	38	ZENT CERUMO SC430 LEXUS SC430 / RV8KG	Yuji Tachikawa Kohei Hirate	1'03.887	46
6	36	PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 LEXUS SC430 / RV8KG	Andre Lotterer Kazuki Nakajima	1'06.762	46
7	100	RAYBRIG HSV-010 Honda HSV-010 GT / HR10EG	Takuya Izawa Naoki Yamamoto	1'07.242	46
8	6	ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 LEXUS SC430 / RV8KG	Daisuke Ito Kazuya Oshima	1'15.427	46
9	8	ARTA HSV-010 Honda HSV-010 GT / HR10EG	Hideki Mutoh Takashi Kobayashi	1'23.489	46
10	35	D'STATION KeePer SC430 LEXUS SC430 / RV8KG	Juichi Wakisaka Andre Couto	1'40.692	46
11	19	WedsSport ADVAN SC430 LEXUS SC430 / RV8KG	Tatsuya Kataoka Seiji Ara	1'45.332	46
12	32	EPSON HSV-010 Honda HSV-010 GT / HR10EG	Ryo Michigami Yuhki Nakayama	1'46.531	46
13	39	DENSO SARD SC430 LEXUS SC430 / RV8KG	Hiroaki Ishiura Takuto Iguchi	1'46.982	46
14	23	MOTUL AUTECH GT-R NISSAN GT-R R35 / VRH34A	Satoshi Motoyama Benoit Treluyer	1'59.885	46
15	12	CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R NISSAN GT-R R35 / VRH34A	Tsugio Matsuda J.P.L.de Oliveira	1Lap	45

Race result : GT300 Class

Po.	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time/Diff	Lap
1	4	HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW BMW Z4 GT3 / P65B44	Nobuteru Taniguchi Taku Bamba	1:34'10.601	42
2	11	JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP 458 Ferrari 458 GTC / F142GT2	Tetsuya Tanaka Katsuyuki Hiranaka	0'00.776	42
3	27	PACIFIC NAC IKAMUSUME Ferrari Ferrari F430 / F136GT	Yutaka Yamagishi Hideki Yamauchi	0'46.432	42
4	88	JLOC Lamborghini RG-3 Gallardo RG-3 / 07L1	Hiroyuki Iiri Yuhi Sekiguchi	0'51.312	42
5	43	ARTA Garaiya ARTA Garaiya / VQ35DE	Shinichi Takagi Kosuke Matsuura	0'57.763	42
6	74	COROLLA Axio apr GT TOYOTA COROLLA Axio / 2GR-FSE	Morio Nitta Yuji Kunimoto	0'57.951	42
7	87	RIRE Lamborghini RG-3 Gallardo RG-3 / 07L1	Atsushi Yogo Manabu Orido	1'16.093	42
8	62	R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 SUBARU LEGACY B4 / EJ20	Tetsuya Yamano Kota Sasaki	1'25.868	42
9	33	HANKOOK PORSCHE PORSCHE 911GT3 R MY2010 / M97/79	Masami Kageyama Tomonobu Fujii	1'33.709	42
10	2	EVANGELION RT TEST-01 IM·JIHAN Shiden Shiden MC/RT-16 / 1UZ-FE	Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Katoh	1'34.158	42
11	31	HASEPRO MA IWASAKI apr COROLLA TOYOTA COROLLA Axio / 2GR-FSE	Koki Saga Yuki Iwasaki	1Lap	41
12	5	Mach GoGoGo Syaken RD320R VEMAC 320R / M97/77	Tetsuji Tamanaka Haruki Kurosawa	1Lap	41
13	26	Verity TAISAN Porsche PORSCHE 911GT3 RS / M96/77	Hidedshi Matsuda Kyosuke Mineo	1Lap	41
14	86	JLOC Lamborghini RG-3 Gallardo RG-3 / 07L1	Yuya Sakamoto Takayuki Aoki	1Lap	41
15	69	ThunderAsia MT900M Mosler MT900M / XV	Melvin Choo Hiroki Yoshida	1Lap	41
16	22	R'Qs Vemac 350R VEMAC 350R / ZK348	Hisashi Wada Masaki Jyonai	6Laps	36

Drivers Ranking : GT500 Class

Po.	No.	Team	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	23	Satoshi Motoyama Benoit Treluyer	6	20							26
2	17	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	11	3	11						25
3	1	Takashi Kogure Loic Duval	4		20						24
4	46	Masataka Yanagida Ronnie Quintarelli	5	1	15						21
5	36	Andre Lotterer Kazuki Nakajima	8	8	5						21
6	12	Tsugio Matsuda Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira	20								20
7	100	Takuya Izawa Naoki Yamamoto	15		4						19
8	6	Daisuke Ito Kazuya Oshima		15	3						18
9	38	Yuji Tachikawa Kohei Hirate	3	6	6						15
10	24	Hironobu Yasuda Bjorn Wirdheim	2	4	8						14
11	19	Tatsuya Kataoka Seiji Ara		11							11
12	39	Hiroaki Ishiura Takuto Iguchi		5							5
13	8	Hideki Mutoh Takashi Kobayashi		2	2						4
14	32	Ryo Michigami Yuhki Nakayama	1								1
15	35	Juichi Wakisaka Andre Couto			1						1

Drivers Ranking : GT300 Class

Po.	No.	Team	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	11	Tetsuya Tanaka Katsuyuki Hiranaka	15	15	15						45
2	4	Nobuteru Taniguchi Taku Bamba	8	6	20						34
3	33	Masami Kageyama Tomonobu Fujii		20	2						22
4	66	Hiroki Yoshimoto Kazuki Hoshino	20								20
5	27	Yutaka Yamagishi Hideki Yamauchi	6		11						17
6	87	Atsushi Yogo Manabu Orido	11		4						15
7	74	Morio Nitta Yuji Kunimoto	5	4	5						14
8	25	Akihiro Tsuzuki Takeshi Tsuchiya		11							11
9	88	Hiroyuki Iiri Yuhi Sekiguchi		3	8						11
10	43	Shinichi Takagi Kosuke Matsuura		5	6						11
11	31	Koki Saga Yuki Iwasaki		8							8
12	62	Tetsuya Yamano Kota Sasaki	3		3						6
13	2	Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Katoh	4		1						5
14	41	Shinichi Yamaji Hiroshi Koizumi	2	2	-						4
15	86	Yuya Sakamoto Takayuki Aoki	1								1
16	34	Hiroshi Takamori Michael Kim		1	-						1

Team Ranking : GT500 Class

Po.	No.	Team	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	23	NISMO	9	23	3						35
2	17	KEIHIN REAL RACING	14	5	14						33
3	1	Weider Honda Racing	7	1	23						31
4	36	LEXUS TEAM PETRONAS TOM'S	11	11	8						30
5	46	MOLA	8	3	18						29
6	100	TEAM KUNIMITSU	18	2	7						27
7	6	LEXUS TEAM LeMans ENEOS	3	18	6						27
8	12	TEAM IMPUL	23	1	2						26
9	38	LEXUS TEAM ZENT CERUMO	6	9	9						24
10	24	KONDO RACING	5	6	11						22
11	19	LEXUS TEAM WedsSport BANDOH	1	14	3						18
12	39	LEXUS TEAM SARD	2	8	3						13
13	8	AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI	3	4	5						12
14	32	NAKAJIMA RACING	4	1	3						8
15	35	LEXUS TEAM KRAFT	2	2	4						8

Team Ranking : GT300 Class

Po.	No.	Team	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	11	JIMGAINER	18	18	18						54
2	4	GSR&Studie with TeamUKYO	11	9	23						43
3	33	HANKOOK KTR	3	23	5						31
4	27	LMP MOTORSPORT	9	3	14						26
5	66	A speed	23								23
6	74	apr	8	7	8						23
7	87	JLOC	14	1	7						22
8	43	AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI	1	8	9						18
9	31	apr	3	11	3						17
10	88	JLOC		6	11						17
11	25	SAMURAI Team TSUCHIYA		14							14
12	62	R&D SPORT	6	1	6						13
13	2	Cars Tokai Dream28	7		4						11
14	41	Team TAISAN CINECITTA	5	5	-						10
15	86	JLOC	4		3						7
16	26	Team TAISAN CINECITTA	3	1	3						7
17	34	HANKOOK KTR	1	4	-						5
18	22	R'Qs MOTORSPORTS	3	1	1						5
19	69	ThunderAsia Racing	1	1	3						5
20	14	Team SG CHANGI	3	1							4
21	5	TEAM MACH	1	-	3						4
22	360	TOMEI SPORTS	1	1	-						2

Images : 2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round3 SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES MALAYSIA

[Source : SUPER GT - Official]