Merhi Urges BoP Changes to Peg Back Inging Toyota

Roberto Merhi says SUPER GT organizers must consider Balance of Performance changes to rein in the GT300 championship-leading No. 2 Inging Toyota GT86 GT, which he feels is “impossible” to beat as things currently stand.

Ex-Formula 1 racer Merhi and his teammate in the No. 6 Team LeMans Ferrari 296 GT3, Yoshiaki Katayama, sit ninth in the standings heading into this weekend’s fourth round of the season at Fuji Speedway after finishing third last time out at Suzuka.

On that occasion, the Inging Toyota shared by Hibiki Taira and Yuui Tsutsumi finished second despite having the highest success handicap in the field at 54kg, putting the pair 17 points clear of the opposition with five races still to go.

Merhi feels that the events of Suzuka proved that Bridgsetone-shod Inging car, which runs to GTA-GT300 (so-called ‘JAF’) rules, needs to be slowed to counteract its advantages over the FIA GT3 cars that make up most of the field.

“I think the BoP is not really fair now,” he told Sportscar365. “With the GT3 cars, sometimes we are ok, other times not. At the moment, the No. 2 and the No. 52 [Saitama Toyopet Toyota GR Supra], but especially the No. 2, are too competitive.

“They have a big advantage: they are quick over a single lap, they have better tire degradation because they are JAF cars. Racing against them is impossible.

“The No. 2 is now at the maximum of the [success] weight, and they were even heavier at Suzuka and they finished P2. We couldn’t beat them because they didn’t need to change all four tires. They have so many tools; they can play a lot with the strategy.

“For sure the Bridgestone tire is good, but it’s not the only car on Bridgestones. There is also the [LEON Racing] Mercedes, which is a GT3 and it’s quick only sometimes.

“I think they need to make it more equal. They are leading the championship by far and they still didn’t change anything. At Suzuka I think we did everything perfectly, we had a lighter car and we couldn’t beat them.”

The Ferrari’s BoP remains unchanged from the second round of the season at Fuji, while the GT86 has been made marginally heavier with an additional 7kg of BoP weight.

However, the GR86 is still lighter at Fuji than it was at Suzuka to the tune of 8kg, while success ballast being capped at 50kg in the GT300 class also means the No. 2 car has saved an extra 4kg compared to the previous race.

Merhi added that he is confident of a better showing at Fuji this time around after Team LeMans struggled on SUPER GT’s first visit to the track in May, having been boosted by a strong in-season test for the No. 6 Ferrari at Sugo last month.

“The last race at Fuji was a disaster in terms of the pace,” the Spaniard said. “But one of the reasons we were struggling so much is that we didn’t take the right tires.

“Now we understand the tires better. We did the test at Sugo last month and we found a good tire there and I did a couple of good long runs.

“At Suzuka we chose the right tires, and here we have brought tires that we think are good for this track and temperature, so hopefully we can be more competitive.”

Cozzolino Pinning Hopes On New Michelin Tire

In the GT300 class’s other Ferrari team, Kei Cozzolino is hoping that a new spec of Michelin tire helps propel PONOS Racing up the competitive order this weekend.

Cozzolino and his partner in the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari, factory driver Lilou Wadoux, have so far taken a best finish of sixth place at Suzuka, leaving them 11th in the standings heading into this weekend’s 350km race.

“We are improving step-by-step, but compared to the championship leaders, we are still missing substantial pace,” Cozzolino told Sportscar365.

“Michelin has brought a new spec of tire for this race, which should be better for degradation. Since Okayama, all the races have been hot, but our testing was done in the winter and we chose tires suited to lower track temperatures.

“That has put us a bit off the rails in the beginning, but we’ve figured out the correct tire for the 296 in these hotter conditions.

“Until now we had to work with what they had, but they’ve brought new tires for this race, so it could be an ice-breaker.

“If it doesn’t work here, I don’t think we will be fast anywhere else!”