Nissan drivers explain Michelin’s wet dominance
The French tyre firm caused a stir last year when it revealed an unconventional new wet-weather tyre, using that to dominate the only rain-affected race of the season at Sugo with the two NISMO-run Nissan Zs. Michelin’s wet-weather prowess continued into a rain-soaked qualifying day at Okayama, as the #23 Nissan of Tsugio Matsuda and […]
Nissan locks out front row for opening round
The two Michelin-shod, NISMO-entered Z cars were a class apart from the rest of the field on a wet but drying Okayama Circuit in the final leg of qualifying, with Tsugio Matsuda eventually taking pole position in the #23 machine from Mitsunori Takaboshi in the sister #3 entry. Matsuda and Takaboshi initially traded the top […]
ARTA Honda gets Okayama penalty for chassis change
The car shared by Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu has been handed the penalty for a change of chassis, something not permitted by the regulations except in cases of force majeure. Nojiri and Oyu will most likely have to serve their penalty in the early laps of the 82-lap race on Sunday, although exactly when […]
Yuichi Nakayama escapes big Okayama practice crash
In heavy rain at the former Pacific Grand Prix venue, Nakayama suffered a major off at the Moss ‘S’ around 30 minutes into the session, losing control of the #39 Toyota GR Supra and hitting the barriers with force. Moments earlier, Nakayama spun at Turn 1 but was able to continue, having just taken over […]
Albuquerque takes stunning pole for Acura
In the 20-minute GTP-only session around the 1.968-mile Californian street course, Albuquerque lapped in 1m09.909s in his Acura ARX-06. Marco Sorensen claimed the GTD class pole for Aston Martin, just beating Jack Hawksworth, who led the GTD Pro category in his Lexus. Acura 1-2 in GTP Albuquerque set the benchmark fastest time at 1m11.582s in […]
Acuras blitz their GTP rival in FP2
GTP The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus visited the Turn 1 runoff 12m into the session, while 20mins later its sister car did the same. Meanwhile Turn 6 proved a trouble spot for the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 and the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. But it was Renger van der […]
FIA to investigate after car breaches spectator area in Portimao crash
During second practice for the Porsche Sprint Cup Iberia on Friday, Portuguese driver Alexandre Areia’s Porsche GT3 Cup 991 suffered a brake failure and crashed rearwards through catch fencing on the outside of Turn 1 before coming to rest in the grandstand area beyond. Areia escaped unharmed and no spectators were present in the seated […]
Taylor leads Acura 1-2 opening practice
Towards the end of the shortened 55-minute session around the fabled city street track located south of Los Angeles, Taylor produced a laptime of 1m11.942s in the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06, eight tenths of a second clear of the sister Meyer Shank Racing car of Tom Blomqvist. Matt Campbell set the early […]
Bridgestone decides against using new wet SUPER GT tyre
The Japanese firm brought a wet tyre featuring an unconventional asymmetric tread pattern (pictured top) to the final test of the pre-season, which was held entirely in wet conditions. While Michelin and Yokohama tyre users appeared to have the edge when track conditions were at their best, Bridgestone teams — which now comprise 10 of […]