GT Round 3 Sepang – NOB Taniguchi Driver Report

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Date : 18/4 – 19/6/2011 GT-Rd.3/ Sepang Circuit
Attendance: 36,000 Rank/1st place

The 3rd round of GT Race was done on June 19th in a scorching country, Malaysia. Our HATSUNEMIKU BMW Z34 got 5th place in Fuji, 4th place in Okayama and we were faced weight 28kg in the 4th ranking place with total 14 points. At first, I thought our ‘straight line Banchou BMW 34’ cannot give well performance in Sepang Circuit because Sepang Circuit is well known as Cornering Circuit.

Meanwhile, from driving test on Saturday morning, it was against my expectations after we got the best time of it. On preliminary round in the evening, we got pole position. It’s so unbelievable. I think the small troubles that occurred last time did not occurred for this time and Yokohama Tire offers great tires are the main factors for this achievement. After winning the class position, I really wanted to win today.

Maybe the power of HATSUNEMIKU BMW Z34 is number one but the downforce is less and the tire size is narrow. So, compared to other cars, the tire condition is so strict.  Therefore, the energetically tire is good, but the tire’s ‘tare’ is needed the most attention.
In the final round, I am the start driver. From the start, run and run until I managed to built 15 seconds margin and finally baton touch to my partner. On the second half of race, just 5 laps remain, Ferrari 458 which running in the second place was chase after us. Finally, we were able to win the championship as my partner success to run by the difference for 0.7 seconds.

I am very happy and glad because I have been able to contribute to the team as this is the first victory for Good Smile Racing Team for GT. As a result, with 5th place, 4th place and 1st place, our ranking has gone up to the 2nd place.

This year also, we aim to conquest 3 categories – ST, S and Civic Inter.

Racing Driver
Nobuteru Taniguchi