MUGEN

2013.9.6

"MUGEN CR-Z GT" - Maintained 2nd position for 3rd time in a row and became the top in series ranking!

Series name: 2013 AUTOBACS SUPER GT SERIES ROUND 4
Event name: SUPER GT 300KM RACE
Course: 3.704km × 81 laps (300.024km)
Qualifying: 2013-07-27 Sat / Cloudy / Attendance 9,500 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race: 2013-07-28 Sun / Cloudy and occasionally rainy / Attendance 26,500 (Announcement from the organizer)

#16 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Hideki Muto / Yuhki Nakayama) participated in Round Four of the 2013 AUTOBACS SUPER GT SERIES held on July 27th and 28th at Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi Pre.).

Just before this race the GT ASSOCIATION requested that teams competing under JAF-GT300 regulations, to which #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT belongs, reduce the diameter of the air restrictors of the machines, the purpose being to equalise the performance of the machines to other machines belonging to GT 300 class.

The restrictors of #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT were narrowed from 30.0mm x 2 to 29.1mm x 2, which has the effect of restricting the maximum power. Furthermore, due to the current 2nd place ranking of #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT, the car was awarded a “success ballast” weight handicap of 68kg. Thus #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT was required to compete in this race under severe conditions.
Other than that no further modifications were carried out on the car prior to this race, although in deference to the increasing summer temperatures, a large air blower was stationed in the driver cabin.

█   Race: 2nd position (77 laps 1:51:50.485 / Best time:1:22.949)

Just before the start of the race, 2pm, the weather turned to be fine, and the summer sun glared down on the course of Sportsland SUGO raising the air temperature to 26°C and a road surface temperature of 40°C. The course was completely dry and Muto was nominated as the first driver.

How to tactically approach this race was the issue of most concern to TEAM MUGEN. To save time at the pit stop, ideally the fuel tank needs to be fully-filled from the start of the race; however, the weight of the fuel, added to the 68kg weight handicap, would place a huge burden on the tires. So, in the end TEAM MUGEN made the decision to half-fill the fuel tank for the first and the last half of the race and to accept the resulting time-consumption at the pit-stops.

Muto started from 3rd on the grid and maintained his position for the opening 6 laps, and then on the 7th lap he was able to take advantage of his machines lighter weight, due to carrying less fuel, to pass the #55 car into 2nd position. From there he started to close in on the lead car, #61.

By lap 27 Muto was immediately behind the #61, and after running alongside on the 28th lap, Muto was able to dive inside on lap 29 to take the lead. Muto was then able to pull away and increase the gap back to the #61 car. #61 then made an earlier pit-stop which brought #55 back into 2nd position who then tried to catch up to Muto. However Muto held the lead until he came in for his scheduled pit stop on lap 39, where he handed over to Nakayama after refueling and tire change.

As a result of the TEAM MUGEN strategy, which had required additional refueling time in the pit stop, after the refueling and tire change #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT Nakayama came out to find himself 10 seconds off #55 who was in the lead, and also behind #61 who was now in 2nd.

Nakayama in 3rd position was able to keep the same pace as two machines ahead, and for some time the positions remained the same. But suddenly the cloud spread out and it started to rain. The ambient and road surface temperatures dropped dramatically but initially the rain was not heavy enough to wet the whole course. However the rain continued and all the machines started to use their windshield wipers.

After the 60th lap the rain got heavier and #61 made a pit-stop from 2nd position for a tire change to prepare for the worsening track conditions. On the other hand Nakayama decided to keep on going with the slick tires and gained second position behind the #55.

The rain got heavier and lighter repeatedly but #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT and #55 continued. An accident on the course brought out a yellow flag and the pace became unstable but Nakayama kept on following the #55 without any troubles or accidents. As a result Nakayama finished the race in the second position.

After this race TEAM MUGEN received 15 team points for 2nd position, and a further 3 points for finishing on the same lap as the race winner. These 18 points brought the total team ranking points to 18 and with it a 13 point lead in the series ranking with 61 points. In the driver rankings, Muto / Nakayama each gained 15 points for their 2nd position, which gave them 49 points each and also propelled them into the ranking lead with a margin of 9 points back to 2nd position.

█ Comments from the director Kumakura

This time the Bridgestone tires worked quite well, and we are satisfied with our tuning with the tires. Compared to the race last year, the bottom speed at corners was dramatically faster, however, the weight penalty was not such a handicap to driving at this circuit. We set a better time than we expected in qualifying, and to be honest the time we set was a pleasant surprise. I assume our faster corner speeds enabled us to offset the deficit of the narrow diameter restrictor, which for sure bothered our driving.

I am convinced that we fully maximized our performance in this race. First of all, we had not many choices for the race strategy due to such a weight handicap but, thanks to the Bridgestone tires, we could use the same tires for both qualifying and race and also increase the bottom speed at corners. A good example is the final corner, which is steep, but we could go through this corner without any worries and get a good exit on to the next straight, and as a result we could remain one of the top machines during the race. It is so regrettable that we missed the victory but at least we became the top in series ranking. Though the weight handicap will be increased to 98kg for the next race we will be trying our best to avoid any troubles or accidents and be competitive in the race. I deeply appreciate the encouragement of all our fans.

♦ Photo Gallery (Round4)