SUPER GT Round.2 FUJI GT 500km RACE LEXUS LC500 and LEXUS RC F GT3 Achieves Double Victory at ”Home” Track

GT500 class

ZENT CERUMO LC500 No.38 co-piloted by Yuji TACHIKAWA/Hiroaki ISHIURA won victory at the SUPER GT Round.2 FUJI GT 500km race with the all-new LEXUS LC500 at the AUTOBACS Super GT 2017 Series at Fuji International Speedway. LEXUS LC500 has achieved victory in three years at their ”home” track.

LEXUS LC500 swept the podium for 2 consecutive races.

GT300 class

JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 No.51 co-piloted by Yuichi NAKAYAMA/Sho TSUBOI won victory at their second race to give Lexus a first victory in the GT300 class with the all-new LEXUS RC F GT3.

SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 No.60 driven by Akira IIDA/Hiroki YOSHIMOTO earned its first top-10 result of the season with an eighth-place finish.

Yuji TACHIKAWA (ZENT CERUMO LC500 No.38)

It can't get any better than this! We had been struggling for the past 3 years, so winning victory at Fuji means a lot. I really appreciate the team who developed the car and tuned perfectly with no troubles or misses during the race. Today I started off and wanted to get away as much as possible but the other Lexus teams were fast, so it was a close and difficult opening of the race. After the GT300 class cars became present, I focused on how to manage them and was able to change to ISHIURA with keeping distance with the cars behind. After that, ISHIURA fought hard and with also some luck, was able to gain more than 10 seconds margin, so the last stint was very easy for me. I just needed to bring the car to the finish line safely and certainly, paying attention to the cars behind, so it was very easy for me and the car was great.

Hiroaki ISHIURA (ZENT CERUMO LC500 No.38)

After TACHIKAWA started, I watched him drive and also checked the sector time, and realized that other teams were very fast as well and that it was going to be a tough race today. I knew that from yesterday my out laps were going to be key, so I practiced today using cold tires during the practice session. After I started to do convincing out laps, I was able to drive calmly. I did lose some time in between, but wanted to gain as much margin as possible before I changed to TACHIKAWA, so I focused on my driving. There was some pressure because I knew that there were expectations. We had some misses as a team at the last race, so I am really happy that we were able to fix that which led to our result.

Yuichi NAKAYAMA (JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 No.51)

The last race at Okayama was a difficult and dissapointing race for us because we were fourth at qualifying but ended eighth. After that we discussed with the team and changed the set up, and the team managed to bring the tires we tested and had good feelings at the last test in Autopolis just in time for this race. The tires were great. Yesterday’s fourth qualifying was the same as Okayama but this time we achieved this result from our improvement, which we could reflect to today’s race and came back first place. I am really happy. TSUBOI’s time was also great, and all I had to do was protect the margin he made during his stint by passing our rivals. It was a great race. I am very confident with this track because I have been practicing at other series, so I am happy that we were able to win here at Fuji.

Sho TSUBOI (JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 No.51)

I am honestly happy with today’s result. It even feels too good for a new team and at the second round. I did the second stint but it was my first time to drive such a long stint and I had no idea if the tires were going to last, so I just pushed hard. The car and tires had high performance, so I was able to keep constant laps before I changed to NAKAYAMA. I was able to do the best I can offer, so I would like to give today’s race a passing score.

GT500 CLASS RESULTS

GT300 CLASS RESULTS

Drivers Standings (GT500)

Team Standings (GT500)