MUGEN

2012.10.30

"MUGEN CR-Z" SUPER GT

Conclusion of the season!

Series name: 2012 AUTOBACS SUPER GT SERIES ROUND 8
Event name: MOTEGI GT 250km RACE
Course: 4.801km × 53 laps (254.469km)
Qualifying: 2012-10-27 sat / Fine / Attendance 12,500 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race: 2012-10-28 sun / Rainy / Attendance 27,000 (Announcement from the organizer)

#16 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Drivers: Hideki Muto / Daisuke Nakajima) took part in Round 8 of the SUPER GT SERIES on October 27th and 28th at TWIN RING MOTEGI (Tochigi Pref.). Since the debut of team MUGEN at round 4, this final race of the 2012 series was the 5th GT race outing for the team.

Heading in to the final race team MUGEN carried out development within the engine bay including the repositioning of the radiator and associated parts in order to improve heat management. In summer time in the cabin, with both the battery and the inverter producing heat, controlling the cabin temperature is always counted as one of the critical issues, however in view of the cooler weather conditions at this round, the roof-mounted air intake designed to direct cooling air into the cockpit was removed to improve aerodynamic performance.

Normally for the final race of the season the weight handicaps applied to the competitors, at a rate of 2kg for each point won, are removed, however, since team MUGEN joined the championship from round 4, the #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT was required to run with the 24 kg weight handicap accrued by the team due to the 12 points won.

█ Race 11th place (50st lap: 1hr 46mins 10.954seconds / Best time: 2mins 1.061seconds)

The race started in showery conditions behind the safety car for the first two laps. At the start of the race Muto was in 9th position and fluctuated between 8th and 9th before falling back to 12th by lap 23. After 27 laps Muto headed back to the pits for the scheduled driver change. Nakajima joined the circuit in 15th place and made his way up to 12th place, partially aided by the retirement of one of the lead cars on lap 38. Although Nakajima made a successful overtake on the final lap and finished with 11th place, team MUGEN narrowly missed the opportunity to gain a third consecutive points finish.

█ Comments from director Kumakura

Looking back at our AUTO POLIS race, we dramatically adjusted the wet settings for our machines in order to help our challenge. New issues were also found out at this stage, which gave us a chance to evolve our machines more, and I believe we could be competitive for this race at a higher level.

I am sure we were able to make the most of the current performance of our machines at this race, however other machines categorized as FIA-GT3 went so fast that we faced a difficulty to be able to compete with them. Although, among JAF-GTs, with help of the accident, we finished the race with the fastest lap. I am confident team MUGEN could achieve our goal in this season although we wanted to get some points at this race.

We joined the 2012 series in the middle of the season for development purposes and we needed to create the machine and driving strategy from scratch due to this first utilisation of the racing hybrid system. Race by race we feel we are progressing.

We won the pole position at SUZUKA, and at FUJI we were able to stand on the podium. These moments define our goals for this season. During this off-season we plan to improve and develop the parts that we were not able to during the race season, and to challenge in the new season with a newly-evolved 2013 CR-Z GT.

It has been just 4 months since we first joined this series, and with the help of your support we have been able to build up the performance of the MUGEN CR-Z GT. We highly appreciate your kindest support and help and ask for you to please keep on cheering us for this coming JAF GP in November 17th and 18th.

♦ Photo Gallery (Round8)