Weekend Racing Roundup, 7.21

A rather short Weekend Racing Roundup this week, with the Asian Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series and Pirelli World Challenge already getting dedicated coverage. As a result this week we’ll have Super GT from Sugo and International GT Open from Silverstone in this week’s roundup.

International GT Open
Darren Turner and Jody Fannin dominated an action-filled first race at Silverstone, with the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage making its first appearance in the series. The TF Sport pair took pole position and led the entire race.

Turner built up a big lead, before handing over to Fannin. Alvaro Barba’s car then got stuck on turn 1 and the safety car was deployed. Five minutes from the end the race was restarted and it was Fannin who immediately pulled away from the rest of the field.

Race two saw SMP Racing on the top step of the podium, with Daniel Zampieri and Roman Mavlanov taking their second win of the season. Championship leader Nicky Pastorelli was pushed into the barrier at turn 1.

Fannin and Zampieri came through the field and were first and second as the pit window opened. After the stops Turner had dropped behind Archie Hamilton in the SRT Corvette, but in lap 23 the Aston was back in second, still 18 seconds behind Mavlanov. Turner was unable to catch the Ferrari in the remaining laps.

Race 1: 1. TF Sport (Turner/Fannin) Aston Martin, 2. V8 Racing (Soulet/F. Pastorelli) Corvette, 3. Autorlando Sport (Beretta/Camathias) Porsche.

Race 2: 1. SMP Racing (Mavlanov/Zampieri) Ferrari, 3. TF Sport (Turner/Fannin) Aston Martin, 3. SRT (Hamilton/Tutumlu) Corvette

Super GT GT500
Round four of the 2014 Autobacs Super GT series was held at Sportsland SUGO in extremely difficult weather conditions. The track had dried before the start, with teams opting to change to slicks. Additional formation laps were completed and during those laps the rain returned, resulting in a number of teams pitting immediately after the start.

As Andrea Caldarelli, Kazuya Oshima and Kohei Hirate stayed out on slicks, they formed the top three after one lap. Conditions initially deteriorated, but by lap nine the track was dry enough for slicks again. On lap 12 Hirate moved into the lead, and once in the lead he pulled away.

Hirate made his mandatory stop on lap 51, but Hirate had created a gap big enough for Yuji Tachikawa to remain in the lead. Rain returned to SUGO, but Tachikawa in the No. 1 Zent Cerumo Lexus RC F kept pushing on slicks and built up a huge lead, eventually lapping all but one car.

Race: 1. Zent Cerumo (Hirate/Tachikawa) Lexus, 2. KeePer TOM’S (Caldarelli/Ito) Lexus, 3. Keihin NSX (Kaneishi/Tsukakoshi) Honda.

Super GT GT300
Like in the GT500 class a number of GT300 teams didn’t want to take the risk on a wet Sportsland SUGO and returned to the pit to change to wets. At the front the two Gainer Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 cars battled for the lead with the No. 50 WAKO’S EXE Aston Martin Vantage, but onto lap 20 there was contact between the Aston Martin and the leading No. 11 SLS. The SLS slowly returned to the pit, Hideto Yasuoka kept the Aston on the road and held onto the lead until making a routine, mandatory stop on lap 44.

A mistake during the pit stop, the car was lowered before the tire change was completed, resulted in the loss of position and it was the No. 88 Manepa Lamborghini Gallardo that moved into the lead. The Lamborghini team had opted not to change tires to make up for its disadvantage in fuel economy.

Manabu Orido increased his lead and despite running off the track, a result of badly worn tires, he quickly recovered and went on to take the GT300 class win. It was the first Lamborghini victory in Super GT since the opening round of the 2006 season at Suzuka.

Race: 1. Manepa JLOC (Aoki/Orido) Lamborghini, 2. LEON Racing(Kurosawa/Kurosawa) Mercedes, 3. Audi Team Hitotsuyama (Lyons/Fujii) Audi.