MUGEN

2013.11.27

“MUGEN CR-Z GT” - Muto took 6th place on Race 1, and in Race 2 Nakayama took 5th, to finish in 6th place overall on aggregate in the JAF Grand Prix.

Series name: JAF Grand Prix SUPER GT & SUPER FORMULA FUJI SPRINT CUP 2013
Course: Race 1 4.563km × 22 laps (100.386km)
Course: Race 2 4.563km × 22 laps (100.386km)
Qualifying & Race 1: 2013-11-23 Sat / Fine / Attendance 23,000 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race 2: 2013-11-24 Sun / Fine / Attendance 39,000 (Announcement from the organizer)

#16 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Hideki Muto / Yuki Nakayama) participated in JAF Grand Prix held on November 23rd and 24th at Fuji Speed Way in Shizuoka Prefecture. This is a non-points scoring additional race event in the season calendar and does not count towards the final Series championship.

JAF GP GT300 race consists of two qualifying sessions and two races. Each driver drives for a race each, and the overall result is calculated from the finishing positions in each race.

#16 MUGEN CR-Z GT proudly bore the championship decal on the bonnet to denote the 2013 series championship-winning machine.

For this race all success ballast was removed from the machines allowing the cars to run at their natural weight, however the technical constraints of increased rear ride-height and reduced restrictor size remained. Also adding to the disadvantage for #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT was that ABS is not available for JAF-GT300 regulation machines, while it is allowed for FIA-GT3 category machines. The 8mm vehicle rear ride-height and the lack of ABS forced the MUGEN CR-Z GT to face stiff competition, particularly in the corners.

November 23rd (Sat)

■   Qualifying: Race1 Muto 6thposition (1:37.965), Race2 Nakayama 4th position (1:37.646)

Qualifying for Race 1 featured an early morning start at five past eight, and although the weather conditions were good, the track conditions would be unpredictable. Team MUGEN sought to increase their performance in the corners by running with a high-downforce set-up based on the data gained at the ASIAN LE MAN race where Team MUGEN won the race this year.

Muto qualified in 6th position for Race 1 with a time very close time to the course record; however, with the long straight that is a feature of the Fuji Speed Way the FIA-GT3 machines had an advantage in straight-line speed.

Qualifying for Race 2 started at 8:50, and although Nakayama also suffered to compete with the FIA-GT3 straight-line speed he finished the session in 4th position while breaking the existing GT300 course record.

■   Race 1: 6th position (22 laps 36:58.674 / Best time 1:39.697)

Race 1 started at 14:05 and Team MUGEN made decision to choose a low drag rear wing in order to gain speed on the straights, although at the risk of losing some cornering stability.

A standing-start was used for the JAF GP GT300 race as opposed to the usual rolling starts of the regular season races. Muto got off the line well leaping up to 3rd position but was back down to 6th after the Dunlop Corner on the 1st lap.

Muto closed up to the machines in front in the corners but then lost ground on the main straight, falling back to 7th on lap 11. At the end Muto finished Race 1 in 6th position due to machine trouble for the leader.

November 24th (Sun)

■   Race 2: 5th position (22 laps 36:53.291 / Best time 1:39.228)

Race 2 started at 14:05, the same time of day as Race 1 on the day before. For TEAM MUGEN driver Nakayama, having just raced for 22 laps in the preceding Super Formula Race, the schedule was quite tough.

Nakayama did not make a good start from the standing start and fell from his starting grid position of 4th back to 5th. Nakayama was always under the pressure due to the superior straight-line speed of the FIA-GT machines and dropped further back to 6th position by the 4th lap. Nakayama maintained 5th position for most of the middle part of the race and completed the race in the same 5th when the machine in front of him at the time was awarded a penalty.

The 5 points that Muto took in Race 1 added to the 6 earned by Nakayama in Race 2 gave #16 MUGEN CR-Z GT and aggregate total of 11 points which equated to 6th overall for the JAF GT race event.

■ Comments from the director, Junichi Kumakura

With JAF GP not forming part of our regular season races I was trying to take the opportunity for some testing with an eye on next season. One of the experimental areas was with the tire. The tire specification was aimed at low track temperature conditions with a bias toward grip rather than long distance life. We were not able to get maximum potential of the tires because we did not have enough test data, but with plenty of off-season testing we are certain we can bring a good performance to the first race of next season at Okayama. We may have won the championship this season but testing and developing for next year is already started.

Thank you very much for supporting us this year.
Please continue to support us next year as much as this year.

♦ Photo Gallery (JAF GP)