DTM vs. SUPER-GT: Japan wins comparison 🎥
SPECTACULAR COMPETITIONS The joint event of the Japanese SUPER GT series and the DTM, which race under the same technical regulations, ended in Fuji with victories for the manufacturers from the host country. The highlights of race 1 start with the stupid slip of the fastest DTM driver. In Saturday's first race, SUPER GT star Nick Cassidy in a Lexus LC 500 celebrated [...]
The highlights of race 1 start with the stupid slip of the fastest DTM driver.
In Saturday's first race, SUPER GT star Nick Cassidy celebrated a convincing start-finish victory in a Lexus LC 500. The place next to him on the front row of the grid, however, remained empty: Loïc Duval, second fastest in qualifying, slid off the track into the tire piles on the way to the grid on slightly damp asphalt and was unable to take part in the race due to the damage to his Audi RS 5 DTM.
Lexus ahead of Honda
In the early stages, Cassidy relatively quickly built up a lead over the chasing pack, which was led by SUPER GT record champion Ronnie Quintarelli (Nissan GT-R) and Naoki Yamamoto (Honda NSX-GT). Thanks in part to his steadily growing lead, the New Zealander was able to make up for a slight loss of time at the pit stop when his team had trouble changing the two front wheels quickly.
Even a safety car period in the last ten minutes of the race did not jeopardize Cassidy's success: although the Indy Car restart is unfamiliar to SUPER GT drivers, Cassidy defended his lead against Koudai Tsukakoshi, who finished second in a Honda NSX-GT ahead of Yamamoto.
Tréluyer best-placed DTM driver
Somewhat surprisingly, Marcel Fässler's former LMP1 team partner Benoît Tréluyer (Audi Sport Japan RS 5 DTM) was the best-placed of the total of seven drivers with a DTM car. After steadily improving throughout the weekend, the former SUPER GT Champion crossed the finish line in 6th place.
Behind the Frenchman, René Rast (Audi Sport RS 5 DTM) finished in position 8. Prior to this, the current DTM Champion had been involved in thrilling position battles with several drivers for almost the entire race.
Victory for former GP driver
Victory in the second Dream Race went to Narain Karthikeyan in a Honda NSX-GT.
The 42-year-old Indonesian, who contested a total of three Formula 1 seasons with Jordan in 2005 (4th GP USA in Indianapolis) and with HRT in 2011/12, moved into the lead from the slipstream when he overtook Duval, who had started from pole position, at the beginning of the second race lap. After that, Karthikeyan skillfully held off the attacks of his three brand colleagues.
The four Hondas set the pace at the front of the field until several safety car deployments caused increasing tension. In the final phase, several vehicles were involved in incidents. After the final neutralization, there was a highly exciting sprint of just one lap to the finish.
The highlights from the second race offer plenty of spectacle.
Decisions in the final meters
On the last lap of the race, Loïc Duval and Marco Wittmann in the fastest BMW M4 DTM fought a fierce duel. The Frenchman captured second place in the final meters before the finish line but then received a one-second time penalty for contact with Wittmann a few corners earlier. Birthday boy Wittmann thus inherited second place. The top three finished within 0.935 seconds of each other.
