Hoppy Team Tsuchiya Motegi round race report
https://www.as-web.jp/supergt/625580
*The team carried out the private test at Fuji before the Motegi round. (Teams that have not scored points can do a private test.)
*Takamitsu Matsui and Takeshi Tsuchiya drove in the test.
*As a result, despite the used tires, it was about 1 second faster than the race lap of Rd.2 Fuji.
*It's a set-up that emphasizes downforce. However, it is not a setup that increases the angle of the rear wing.
*Takeshi Tsuchiya commented that the Porsche GT3 is not a machine that can be handled by gentleman drivers.
*Unlike the previous 3 rounds, Matsui mainly proceeded with the machine set-up in the Motegi round.
*Motegi, which does not have medium and high speed corners, is a circuit suitable for Porsche.
*In the practice session, the team was able to confirm that the new tires in Yokohama were working properly.
*Matsui passed in 4th place in Q1. Sato won the front row in Q2.
*On the final race day, Sato was chosen as the start driver and the team left him to set up the warm-up session.
*Sato demanded a little more grip, so the team increased the angle of the rear wing a little.
*The height of the rear vehicle was raised to take measures against understeering, too.
*Porsche has a fuel tank located at the front, so it tends to be understeering when fuel is low.
*The team decided to replace only the left tire, as rivals were expected to adopt a fuel-only pit stop strategy.
*Sato made a pit stop on lap 24 and Matsui returned to the race in 4th place.
*However, perhaps the warm-up setup change failed, the car began to tend to understeer.
*Although he temporarily fell to 11th place outside the point range, he finished in 8th place due to trouble with other cars.
*It was the first time for the team to score points, but the post-race meeting lasted a long time.
*The set-up Tsuchiya found did not match the set-up Matsui and Sato felt good.
*The harvest for the team is that Yokohama's new tires are competitive.
*In the next Fuji round, Yokohama will introduce evolved version of the tire.