2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 5, 40th Pokka GT Summer Special
The 40th International Pokka GT Summer Special, Round 5 of the 2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT was held at the Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5.8075km x 87 laps) in Mie Pref. on August 21. The GT500 class winner in difficult conditions with intermittent rain was the Weider HSV-010 team (drivers: Takashi Kogure / Loic Duval). This is the team’s second win of the season.
On and off sprinkling of rain from the afternoon of race day made for tricky race conditions. It was raining at the time of the start at 3: 10 and the track was wet. With proven performance in wet conditions, the S Road MOLA GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) pulled away at the start from pole position to open up a lead, chased by the Nissan teams MOTUL AUTEC GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) and CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira) and also the Weider HSV-010 (Loic Duval).
With its long 500 km distance and two mandatory pit stops and driver changes, the International Pokka GT is an endurance race where team strategy plays an important role. It was made even more complex this time by the varying rainfall during the course of the race. The GT-R machines did well during the early stages of the race, but as the rain grew lighter the Weider HSV-010 was able to pick up the pace. A crucial turning point came when the Weider HSV-010 made its first pit stop just as the track was beginning to dry out. Taking over the wheel from teammate Duval, Takashi Kogure was able to outrun the competition decisively on rain tires and take the lead. Being a long-distance race, however, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Kogure, as a red flag came out to clear a crashed car from the track and a spin-out of his own when hit by another car that caused him to give up the lead for a while. Nonetheless, Kogure managed to overcome it all with his blazing speed and build up a big lead before relinquishing the wheel to Duval again for the final stint. By that time, however, the track was nearly dry. Taking the gamble of running the last third of the race on dry slick tires, the S Road MOLA GT-R driven by Ronnie Quintarelli began to close the gap rapidly. Using the margin of lead he had to the fullest, Duval pressed on in the Weider and was finally helped out when rain began to fall again with a few laps remaining in the race, enabling him to hold off the charge of Quintarelli in the GT-R and take the win. For the defending champion Weider HSV-010 team, this is their second win of the season following the victory in round three in Malaysia.
In the GT300 class race, the 3rd-place qualifying R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 (Tetsuya Yamano/Kota Sasaki) emerged the winner. The Yamano pair and their LEGACY B4 also won this race last year, and this is their first victory since.
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