Audi keen on Super GT programme
Audi is making very positive noises about sending its RS5 DTM car to Japan’s Super GT series – if differences in sporting regulations can be ironed out.
Audi sports boss Dieter Gass says he is keen to take advantage of the unification of DTM and Super GT under the Class 1 regulations, and that the marque’s Japanese importer wants a programme. But while the DTM runs on control Hankook tyres, Super GT features a tyre war between Yokohama, Bridgestone, Michelin and Dunlop.
“The major worry is the tyre situation,” said Gass. “That means if you want to go there and be at a competitive level, potentially you need to do quite some significant testing. Which puts us in a difficult situation with the German regulations, because testing is not allowed. So there are a few open questions that need to be fixed before we can really think about that. But the interest is there.”
SUPER GT LIVE ON MOTORSPORT.TV
Motorsport.tv kicked off its live-streaming of the Super GT Championship with last Saturday’s Fuji round. It’s available for free across the globe – with the exception of Japan, Malaysia and Thailand – and Motorsport.tv is providing live commentary in English and French of every remaining race, which can be watched later on-demand.
SUPER GT FUJI (JPN) 4 MAY ROUND 2/8
Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura took their Team Cerumo-run Lexus LC 500 to victory at Fuji last Saturday, claiming their first Super GT spoils since winning the same event in 2017.
Tachikawa, the 2001 and 2013 champion, started the wet race seventh on the grid. By lap 13 he had carved his way into the lead. But further heavy rain brought out the safety car, and the race was halted for 30 minutes.
After the action resumed, the TOM’S Lexus of Nick Cassidy (sharing with Ryo Hirakawa) and NISMO Nissan of Ronnie Quintarelli (co-driven by Tsugio Matsuda) made it a three-way scrap for the lead. But that soon dropped to two as Hirakawa and the Impul Nissan of James Rossiter touched at the first corner after exiting the pits, and the subsequent wheel damage forced Hirakawa to stop again.
That teed up a dice that continued well into the third stint, and with 11 laps to go Tachikawa regained the lead as Quintarelli struggled with fading rear grip in the Nissan. Tachikawa stretched his advantage, while Naoki Yamamoto – after a middle stint from Jenson Button – moved into third in the Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX.
The reigning champions had an eventful race. Having started 12th, Yamamoto spun early on and had to push through from the back. Once he’d handed over to Button, a drying track allowed the ex-formula 1 champ to continue the recovery before Yamamoto took the final stint and demoted the Lexus of Heikki Kovalainen from third.