Kogure gives Weider Honda their first victory in the Japan Super GT

SEPANG: Weider Honda Racing team put their miserable start to the season behind them with a near flawless performance to claim their first victory in the third round of the Japan Super GT series at the Sepang Circuit yesterday. Driver Takashi Kogure, who drove superbly to clinch pole position on Saturday, took over from Loic Duval and pressed on to take the chequered flag at the end of the 46-lap race to hand Honda their first win of the season.

Duval started strongly in the first six laps but lost some ground to the chasing pack when he ran into GT300 traffic. An incident free pit stop and consistent driving from Kogure, however, ensured their first win in a total time of 1’33:34.849, 14.198 seconds ahead of the second placed MOLA team piloted by Ronnie Quintarelli and Masataka Yanagi. “The track was a little bit slippery towards the end but I think everyone suffered a bit from that. The car was excellent today and we are very happy to finally win and be back in the championship,” said a delighted Kogure, who has had a good relationship with the Sepang circuit, having set the Sepang GT500 class lap record here in 2007 with the Takata Dome NSX team.

Just too good: Takashi Kogure driving his car to to victory for his Weider Honda Racing team in the Japan Super GT 500 at Sepang Sunday. — BRIAN MOH / The Star.

Weider Honda Racing team won the overall title last year but have not finished on the podium in the last two races this season. Keihin Real Racing, carrying the largest weight handicap amongst the top three at 28kg and driven by Toshihiro Kaneishi and Koudai Tsukakoshi, finished 32.487 seconds behind the winners for third place, completing a race where the top three starters in the grid maintained their positions throughout the race. Fourth placed on the starting grid and team standings leaders Team Impul endured a bad race with tyre problems and finished last.

Lexus Team Petronas Toms, the defacto home team started from a disappointing 11th on the grid but first driver and newly crowned Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer quickly made up ground, moving up to sixth position by the 14th lap, and second driver Kazuki Nakajima managed to hold off the advances from the Honda of Team Kunimitsu towards the end to finish the race in sixth position.

In the GT300 class, the BMW Z4 GT3 of Team UKYO took top honours, also from pole, in a nail biting finish. Nobuteru Taniguchi, the first driver for the team, opened up a healthy lead but second driver Taku Bamba had to endure several nervy moments before eventually taking the chequered flag.

“We are very happy with the win and everything went according to plan, except for maybe the finish, which I am a bit disappointed with myself. ”I couldn’t keep the lead that Taniguchi had given me and I got a bit nervous towards the end. I just tried to keep my cool and work with the strengths of the car and thankfully it all worked out,” said a relieved Taku.

-thestar online.