Sunday, March 18, 2007

ZENT CERUMO SC430 get come-from-behind win


In the Suzuka GT 300km race, Round 1 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT held at the Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5.807 km x 52 laps) in Mie Pref. on March 18, the ZENT CERUMO SC430 driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Tranosuke Takagi came from behind on the last lap for a dramatic win.

 The race started exactly at 14:00. Starting from the pole position, the ARTA NSX led the whole race until the beginning of the final lap, when machine trouble caused it to slow down. With this, the ZENT CERUMO SC430 that had started from the 5th position on the grid and worked its way up to 2nd position by the end of the race, was able to grab a miracle win. This gave Yuji Tachikawa his ninth career Super GT win to extend his own record of most wins by an individual driver.

 In the GT300 class, the win went to the ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z driven by Masami Kageyama and Tomonobu Fujii.
(Spectators: 30,000)

■ Winner Comments
No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 [GT500]
Yuji Tachikawa: "I never dreamed that we could have won today. I thought I might get a podium finish but I never imagined that we could catch the leader. I am glad that we have won but the NSX is clearly a fast machine, so we have to make the SC faster. I intend to concentrate and do everything I can to help us win again."

Tranosuke Takagi: "The Honda (NSX) had more speed than us out there, but we were able to win, I believe, because of our overall strength and the strength of our team."
RACE RESULTS TOP3
------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2007-03-18 14:04-15:48 | SUZUKA CIRCUIT |
| 5.807km×52Laps=301.964km | Weather: Fine | Course: Dry |

[GT500]-----------------------------------------------------------
Po.No.Machine Driver LAPS Time
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 38 ZENT CERUMO ZSC430 Y.Tachikawa/T.Takagi 52 1:43'25.744
2 23 XANAVI NISMO Z S.Motoyama/R.Lyons 52 1:43'29.171
3 32 EPSON NSX L.DUVAL/F.CARBONE 52 1:43'54.046

[GT300]-----------------------------------------------------------
Po.No.Machine Driver LAPS Time
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z
M.Kageyama/T.Fujii 48 1:43'45.767
2 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden K.Takahashi/H.Katoh 48 1:43'58.445
3 101 TOYSTORY apr MR-S K.Oshima/H.Ishiura 48 1:44'06.171


News and photos used with permission of the SuperGT Series, no reuse for any reason.

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