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F-Nippon / Super GT Features & Interviews
Super GT News - Firman and Ito Triumph at Sepang
20/06/2006
The Super GT championship visited Sepang in Malaysia for its fourth round, for a race held in unusually cloudy and wet conditions. That didn't deter the 36,000 spectators that crammed into the circuit to watch the race. They must have brought good luck with them because the rain cleared for the race.
Daisuke Ito and Ralph Firman (above) took pole position in their Bridgestone-shod Honda NSX, as they did last year, and lead the race from start to finish in a perfect display of driving skill. The win also puts the team ahead in the championship.
Qualifying
With cloudy conditions and occasional rain on the Saturday, the track temperature at Sepang was almost 15C degrees lower than normal. Both qualifying sessions were carried out when the track dried on slick tyres to maximize speed. A fault-free run from Ito and Firman put them a full second ahead of Michael Krumm and Richard Lyons’ Nissan Fairlady Z, with Yuji Tachikawa and Toranosuke Takagi in Toyota in their Lexus SC430 in third position.
Race
Warm sunshine finally flooded the circuit on Sunday. Firman led the race from the start but his physical condition was not one hundred per cent, a problem compounded by his cooling suit, which broke. Nevertheless, the Briton put in a storming drive to create a fifteen second gap between Krumm in second place as he handed over to Ito after 21 laps. After a hard fought second half – reminiscent of Ito and Lyons’ similar battle last year – Ito held the lead and took the chequered flag.
Daisuke Ito:
“Ralph put in a fantastic drive even though he wasn’t feeling too good. I had to keep may position to win – this was difficulty because of the broken cool suit, but I really didn't want to lose the race again. Tire grip tailed off towards the end, but I was able to push the Bridgestone’s right to the finish line.”
Ralph Firman:
“My physical condition was not perfect and additionally, the radio and cool suit were broken. But the car and tire performances were so good they allowed me to create a large gap. It was unbelievable. I did the short stint then Daisuke drove the long stint perfectly.”
Yoshihiro Hosoya Bridgestone Tire Engineer
“It was unusual weather at Sepang, with the temperature not being so high. That condition was not too hard for the tires, so they could deliver more performance and mileage. The winning NSX changed its rear tires only- the front tires were used for the full distance. Our tires were key to this victory.”
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