Japanese Series

XANAVI NISMO GT-R wins Super GT opener

© SUPERGT.net

In the SUZUKA GT 300km race, Round 1 of the 2008 AUTOBACS SUPER GT held at the Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5.807 km x 52 laps) in Mie Pref. on March 16, the XANAVI NISMO GT-R driven by Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer took the win. With this, Nissan’s new sports car, the Nissan GT-R released on the market last autumn, scored an impressive victory in its official debut race.

The race started exactly at 14:00. Starting from the pole position (fastest qualifier), the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, and the second qualifying XANAVI NISMO GT-R quickly began to pull away from the competition, and the early stages of the race developed into a duel between these two GT-R machines. Then at mid-race, shortly after they returned to the pit to change drivers, the XANAVI NISMO GT-R passed the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R in the hairpin curve of lap 24. After that, the XANAVI NISMO GT-R raced on unchallenged to the checkered and the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R finished 2nd to give the new GT-R a 1-2 victory.

In the GT300 class, the win went to the ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 driven by Hiroyuki Irie and Ryo Orime.

Winner Comments
No.23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R [GT500]
Satoshi Motoyama: “I am very happy. Sports car lovers from around the world have had their eyes on the new GT-R, and since I have been involved in the development of the SUPER GT spec race machine from the beginning, I admit that I felt a lot of pressure to do well here. Amidst this pressure, the engineers, the mechanics and everyone on the team gave me the kind of environment where I knew we could win if everyone gave 100% and did their jobs as we knew we could. For this I want to thank everyone. It was an important thing getting this debut win, and even more important will be winning the season series title. I will be working hard with Benoit to reach that goal.”
Benoit Treluyer: “Of course I’m happy. Everything went just according to our strategy. From here on, we will be carrying handicap weights, so the races will be harder, and I’m sure Toyota and Honda will come back more competitive than ever. Hat’s why we wanted to get as many season points as possible today.”

No.7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 [GT300]
Hiroyuki Irie: “I’m happy, but I’m also relieved. I became the No. 1 driver for our team last season but was unable to win. Now I have won the first race of my second season. The Yokohama Rubber’s tires have been a good match for our machine, and if we do things right, w should be able to get another win.”
Ryo Orime: “This is my first win in the GT, so all I can say is that I am very happy. The machine is in very good condition, and it was great that the Yokohama Rubber’s tires didn’t lose their grip all the way to the finish. The last ten laps felt very long for me. Now I am going to do my best to help us get a second win.”

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SUZUKA CIRCUIT | 5.807km X 52Laps=301.964 km
Weather: Fine | Course: Dry
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RACE RESULTS TOP 3
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Po.No.Machine Driver LAPS Time/Diff
[GT500 CLASS]——————————————————-
1 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R S.Motoyama/B.Treluyer 52 1:44′03.977
2 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R M.Krumm/M.Yanagida 52 0′00.854
3 36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430 J.Wakisaka/A.Lotterer 52 0′25.551

[GT300 CLASS]——————————————————-
1 7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 H.Iiri/R.Orime 48 1:45′39.045
2 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden K.Takahashi/H.Katoh 48 0′14.827
3 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE N.Taniguchi/S.Yamaji 48 0′31.416