http://www.supergt.net/en/

hmm… 10th place…. Its been the 3rd race we Struggle more then expected with our handicap weight. We have some ideas why but we cant do anything about it so we just have to swallow the pill and deal with it. The good thing is that Fuji is next with a fresh engine on board wich should rock there and  at the final in Motegi. We are 10 points behind the leaders so its still all open.

As for the race weekend, ok ,we brought one point back. Unfortunately our speed was just not great, fighting well  and keeping faster cars behind us which was tough for such long race. It looked like we were going to finish 8th but then a GT 300 hit my back at the chicane way after I passed him  and spun me arround. Hard to deal with those gentlemen drivers… Don’t know what they’re looking for on the track sometimes…

This kid is a full on fan! Comes to many races! Look at him! So cool! He has everything exactly like on my suit, even the puma logo! This is at Fuji but he comes to most of the races.

sorry for the long break and not posting anything…. Its summer time so i don’t like to spend to much time behind the computer… I prefer to be at the beach or the pool… hehe

So… Since the Le Mans 24H race in june I had 3 races.

Super GT in Sepang, finishing a OK 8th. Not great but it was the best we could do with all the handicap weight on our car. Just disappointing when you can fight for victory…

Formula Nippon In Fuji, finishing 2nd. Was a good race in real hot conditions, Kohei hirate won it, he was clearly ahead of everybody so we need to work better for the next races. Championship Gap to the leader shrank down to 5 points which is good. Motegi is coming up in  1o days.

Super GT in Sugo. Finishing 7th, again, we have a heavy car but our performance shouldn’t be that poor, we are seriously lacking speed since we changed our engine in Sepang. For me it was one of the most frustrating races of my life. Racing at the back of the field, not being able to overtake by all means. Not fun! Championship is still looking ok, 10 points from the leaders, if we get our speed back, there is no reason why we cant repeat our title…

Super GT results Sugo

Super GT results Sepang

Super GT Raninking

Formula Nippon Race 3 Fuji Results

Formula Nippon Rankings

I had a good qualifying lap, car is in a good shape considering the weight we carrying. Looking forward to hit the top of the podium tomorrow!!

Thats what the competitors should see.. the back of my car…

SuperGT Rd3 in Fuji Speedway this weekend. Come join us on sunday for the race!

http://www.supergt.net/jp/

by N-Rak Photo agency

What a crazy week end!

Starting with me forgetting a bag in the cab and running like crazy after it… got it back..

Then losing my wallet in the train to Suzuka… got it back 3 hours later… thank you Japan! Such a safe place!

Free practice 1: we had to fix our paddle shift which took some time but it finally was ok and I ended up quickest.

Qualifying practice: Didn’t drive most of the session cause our driveshaft had a problem, Juichi managed to make a lap time at the beginning but it got really tight for me, the mechanics made the car ready in time for me to cross the line at the very last minute for a obligatory qualification time.

Plan for the knock down qualifying: Q1 Andre / Q2 Juichi/ Q3 Andre

Qualifying 1: all smooth and easy. COmfortable lap and position 1

Qualifying 2 : hm… Juichi went of a little on his flying lap and then he couldn’t make into the top 7 to entry Q3… Shame! I was seriously gunning for pole as the car was fantastic!

Warm up : Big boom in the cockpit… Our carbon driveshaft broke in 2 pieces… Lucky it was not for the race!

Race: Some rain came down to make things exiting… Everybody still started on slicks.

Start p8, hectic start passing 2 cars in turn 1 but then going off in turn 2 with loosing them again. Still recovered well, I was p3 after 1 lap… then off again in turn 1…. was a little wet… so back 3 spots and recovering again to p3 with some nice passes.

A huge crash happened so the Safety Car came out. All good for the restart.

At that time it was a Lexus trio at the front. After the restart I was aiming for the lead as we were the fastest out there but then a tricky situation between the #38 Lexus and me trying to overtake it made me lose some spots again. I don’t like to race against other Lexus because we should not take risks between us and collide so the approach is different and unnatural. So back 2 spots again after the incident…

Pit stop: we got trouble and lost a lot of time with the front left wheel.

Back on track with Juichi. Should have been around p3 but with the problems we were back in p6.

His stint was fine, luckily in the end 2 cars collided and we gained those spots finishing 4th.

Conclusion: All in all… A ok and good position considering all the troubles we had but still disappointing if you look at our potential which in my eyes should have been a win!