Nismo wins SUPER GT

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November 8, 2005 in Motorsport

Nismo wins SUPER GT

NISMO wins team championship title for third consecutive year

Rd.8 "SUZUKA GT 300km"

Place: SUZUKA CIRCUIT (Mie) 5.807km/lapWeather: Rain/Cloudy (19deg.C) (wet)

Over 35,000 spectators watched the Xanavi NISMO Z of Satoshi Motoyama and Richard Lyons take second place in the climax of the Super GT series at Suzuka, to give NISMO the Team Series Championship for a third year in succession.

Heavy rain forced the race distance to be reduced from 52 to 39 laps and the two NISMO cars (No1 and No22) took advantage of a safety car period to make driver changes. Motoyama in No1 and Masataka Yanagida in No22 handed over to Lyons and Michael Krumm respectively for the remaining laps, and although both cars dropped back as a result, by lap 21 they were up to 6th and 8th places.

There then followed a spell of further driver changes among the other teams during which the NISMO cars improved their positions so that by lap 24 they were in 4th and 6th places respectively. By lap 36, the Motoyama/Lyons car was up to 2nd. Lyons then started his fierce pursuit of the leading No38 Supra and a possible third consecutive driver's title. The gap between two cars fell from 6 seconds to just 0.8 seconds by the final lap, but the Supra was not going to allow anyone past and the race finished in that order. The second Nissan, meanwhile, was suffering a 60 kg weight handicap and although up to 6th at one point, ultimately finished in 8th.

In spite of a heavy crash during qualifying, the Calsonic Impul Z (#12, Benoit Treluyer / Yuji Ide) managed to start the race from the back of the grid in the GT500 class. Treluyer drove the first stint and came very close to the leading No36 Supra. He then handed over to Yuji Ide, still recovering from the crash, the car returning in 10th place, and finishing in 9th at the chequered flag. The #3 G'ZOX HASEMI Z (Toshihiro Kaneishi /Erik Comas) started from 7th. The car was up to 4th on lap 6, pitted on lap 13 and Kaneishi took over for the remaining two-thirds of the race. He fought hard to finish 4th.

"I am so proud of Richard for his wonderful driving and the effort of the whole team which led the team to series champion," said Hiroshi Degawa, NISMO Team Director. "I believe that our strategy of changing the drivers in the very beginning was successful. It was a gamble, but it worked. I am glad to end the season by showing that we challenge until the last minute of the race, and that all our fans got excited for being with us all the way in this heavy rain. We thank you very much for your support."

"Richard made an amazing pursuit. I was so excited watching the track monitor screen," said Satoshi Motoyama. "Although we missed the third consecutive driver's title I'm still happy. At one point we all worried the rain was too hard for the race, but at the end of the day I'm glad we could show a very dramatic race to our enthusiastic fans."

"It was a good race," recalled Richard Lyons. "A bit disappointed really not winning the driver's championship but we're happy to win the team series title. I am very honoured to make a contribution to the team"

Race Results 39 LapsPos/No/Machine/Driver/Time / Gap

1 38ZENT CERUMO SUPRAYuji Tachikawa / Toranosuke Takagi1:41'36.807

21XANAVI NISMO ZSatoshi Motoyama / Richard Lyons+1.538

3 6ESSO Ultraflo SupraJuichi Wakisaka / Akira Iida+23.605

4 3G'ZOX HASEMI ZToshihiro Kaneishi /Erik Comas+31.772

536OPENINTERFACE TOM'S SUPRATakeshi Tsuchiya / James Courtney+32.925

6 18TAKATA DOME NSXRyo Michigami / Takashi Kogure+33.804

7 37OPENINTERFACE TOM'S SUPRATatsuya Kataoka / Sakon Yamamoto+39.778

822MOTUL PITWORK ZMichael Krumm / Masataka Yanagida+41.345

912CALSONIC IMPUL ZBenoit Treluyer / Yuji Ide+45.902

1032EPSON NSXTsugio Matsuda / Andre Lotterer+1:00.621

[Championship Points] Driver's Ranking