Weekly race report (10.5.21) – Sportscar365
Photo: Super GT
Baguette, Tsukakoshi wins the spectacular Fuji Enduro
Bertrand Baguette and Koudai Tsukakoshi claimed an exciting 11th place grid victory in Round 2 of the Super GT Series at Fuji Speedway last Tuesday.
The Real Racing Honda NSX-GT couple used a Full Course Yellow period to emerge in front after initially racing in the middle of the pack.
Aguri Honda rider Nirei Fukuzumi took the lead at the start after defeating poleman Ritomo Miyata, but was himself passed after a few laps by Toyota GR Supra rider Sho Tsuboi who had dropped from fourth place on the GT500 grid.
Another early contender was Hiroaki Ishiura, but the ZENT Cerumo rider was forced to retire when his Toyota’s left rear wheel came off on the final corner.
This produced a period of FCY downturn, during which Tsukakoshi objected to handing over to Baguette. The move saw Real Racing Honda take the lead, ahead of Tsuboi co-driver Yuhi Sekiguchi, while Baguette increased the advantage in the intermediate relay.
Real Racing lost time on their second leg with Tsukakoshi falling into the clutches of Fukuzumi and Tsuboi who both managed to pass.
Tsuboi’s Toyota then encountered mechanical problems and came to a stop at Turn 1, while Fukuzumi suffered a drive-through for overtaking a car in FCY conditions. This returned the lead to Tsukakoshi, who fought Kenta Yamashita’s Toyota to win in less than a second.
The GT300 class honors went to Toyota drivers Hiroki Yoshimoto and Shunsuke Kohno.
RESULTS: Fuji 500 km
Photo: Photograph by Gruppe C
The DTM preseason soars at the Lausitzring
Preparations for the new GT3 era of DTM continued last week with a three-day test at the Lausitzring involving mock race starts and six sessions totaling 24 hours of track time.
Maximilian Goetz has set the tone every day behind the wheel of Haupt Racing Team’s pink Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Goetz made continuous improvements throughout the test, starting with a 1: 43.840 on Tuesday before taking a half second with a 1: 43.311 flyer on Wednesday. The German rider went further on Thursday, producing a better 1: 42.774 in the final session.
After dominating the first pre-season test at Hockenheim, Mercedes-AMG entries continued to lead the way in the early stages of the Lausitzring, blocking the top five times on day one.
However, the Mercedes-AMG command was infiltrated on days two and three by the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evos driven by Liam Lawson and Alexander Albon.
Albon was second to Goetz on day two with Lawson just behind, before Lawson pushed Goetz within a tenth of the outright fastest time on Thursday. Nick Cassiday, who will share the Alpha Tauri Ferrari seat with Albon this season, had laps from day one.
Former Formula 1 driver Albon placed third in the combined standings, ahead of Mercedes-AMG drivers Philip Ellis, Arjun Maini, Lucas Auer, Vincent Abril and Daniel Juncadella.
Kelvin van der Linde was the best Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo driver in ninth in 1: 43.552 while Marco Wittmann led the BMW presence with a 1: 44.820 submitted on day two.
RESULTS: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Combined
Photo: GTSSC
Other racing action
*** A grid of 17 GT3 cars was the headliner of the inaugural round of the new GT Super Sprint Challenge series in Shanghai. David Pun won the opening race in the Uno Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while Lv Wei won the second race for the Ferrari 300+ Motorsport outfit. GTSSC 2021 is hosting five rounds across China, with the next event scheduled for Zhuzhou on June 12-13. Race 1 / Race 2
*** Two different Sainteloc Racing crews won the second round of the French GT FFSA Championship at Magny-Cours. Fabien Michal and Gregory Guilvert won Saturday night’s meeting before placing third on Sunday as their Audi R8 LMS GT4 teammates Anthony Belthoise and Olivier Esteves took their share of the booty. Race 1 / Race 2
*** The DTM test at the Lausitzring also included track time for the GT4-based DTM Trophy. Philipp Stahlschmidt led the way with his BMW M4 Bonk Motorsport clocking 1: 53.837 on the first day of racing.
Photo: Enduro Motorsport
News and Notes
*** Enduro Motorsport will lead a McLaren 720S GT3 in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship. The team was only created last year and raced a Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the GT Cup in its debut season. The drivers of his GT3 stage will be Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton.
*** Optimum Motorsport has confirmed it will retain its 2020 driver pairs for this year’s GT Open international campaign. The team uses McLaren 720S GT3s entered by Inception Racing for Nick Moss and Joe Osborne, and Ollie Millroy and Brendan Iribe who also compete in the AWS powered Fanatec GT World Challenge America.
*** Marvin Kirchhoefer is back at Callaway Competition to share the German team’s Corvette C7 GT3-R with retuning Jeffrey Schmidt in the ADAC GT Masters. Kirchhoefer last drove for Callaway in 2019, before Schmidt took over as Markus Pommer’s new co-driver for last season.
*** 36 cars are currently on the entry list for the 12 Hours of Hockenheim, which marks the fourth paid round of the 24H Series from May 22 to 23. The estate includes nine GT3 cars from teams running Audi, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche and Ferrari machines.
*** It should be noted that Herberth Motorsport uses a 2020 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo rather than his Porsche 911 GT3 R. Mugello and Paul Ricard winner Robert Renauer, Daniel Allemann and Ralf Bohn, which are part of a Porsche Herberth Cup class, while Alfred Renauer remained in the team’s GT3 setup as a member of the Ferrari crew. Herberth drives a Ferrari GTE at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This week-end: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (Mid-Ohio), European Le Mans Series, Michelin Le Mans Cup (Red Bull Ring), ADAC GT Masters (Oschersleben), International GT Open (Paul Ricard), Fanatec GT2 European Series (Hockenheim)
