SUPER GT has now entered the last half of the season, and over the weekend of July 24 and 25, the 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 5, the "SUGO GT300km RACE" has traveled on up to Sportsland SUGO (of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan). This circuit found in the rich, lush green of Miyagi, is known as a very technical course also 'rich' with vertical intervals and with a variety of mid-speed, high-speed corners overall. As each race staged here is always filled with dramatic developments, this time again, some 38,500 many SUPER GT fans attended to witness the spectacles of this one exciting battle.
Andre Couto, who last year in this same SUGO round placed 2nd on the podium, rose to the challenge on this big turning-point round in the season with LEXUS TEAM SARD and teammate Kohei Hirate who has shared with Andre the same glory and joy. What’s only different this time is that their engineer Ricardo Divila who joined the force from this season, is beside them as a vital mentor.

July 24th (Saturday) was among one of the incredibly hot series of days this high-summer week, which was the case also at SUGO, and the Official Qualifying got underway amid severe heat. Official Practice Session in the morning (9:00 – 10:45) took place under 33 degrees Celsius (Track temperature of 47 degrees C), and No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 which belongs to the GT500 class got through this session with a 13th position time (1'19.480).
Then, the 1st session of the Official Qualifying of 25 minutes took place with GT500/GT300 running mixed, and after the two drivers of each team had fulfilled the standard time, next was the time-attack session of GT300/GT500 of 10 minutes each. Here, Andre Couto pushed on strong to try rewriting his time with the new tyres, but his best mark stuck to that 1'18.621 time which he outputted on the 14th lap and this led the team to 13th position. Hence, moving to the Super Lap did not come about for the team.

Andre Couto:
"There was much under-steer throughout this morning's session, but in the qualifying heats that was solved, and the machine balance got better, so much easier to drive. However, due to not enough grip, our time from qualifying just did not improve."


The following day on the 25th (Sunday), though the skies were relatively cloudy, temperatures at the point of morning's Free Practice was already 29 degrees (Track temp. 36 degrees C), still hot and muggy (just as the day before). As the session which started from 9:30AM was interrupted once by the red flag, it went on till 10:16AM. DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430, Couto/Hirate pair ran a total of 31 laps and placed 12th (with 1'21.611) from this practice run.

Eventually it was 14:00 - time to Start the race. At the temperature of 33 degrees C (Track temp. 44 degrees C), and though there were slight chances of rain forecasted sometime in the day, 81 laps of the race competed by 13 GT500 and 23 GT300 were underway in the dry condition. (by 1 car having to start from the Pit due to a crash in the Free Practice,) With rolling start, Car No. 39 started the race from the 12th position. Andre Couto who had to go from the back grid and work his way up the notches got off with a fine start-up running in the 1’19 seconds’, then overtook car no. 1 (PETRONAS TOM's SC430) in the 3rd lap, then in the lap following where 2 cars going in front collided resulting with a half-spin, reached the 9th position. Then, in the 11th lap as another car in the top pack spinned off, No. 39 positioned up to 8th. However from the 13th to the 14th lap, while getting caught up inside a clump (traffic) of GT300 cars, a faster machine storming from behind passed and DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 was drawn back to 11th position. And though struggling but striving, Andre held out going in 10th position as another machine withdrew on the 17th lap.
Soon, on entering the 30th lap, which by then one-third of the race was through, there were teams coming into the pit. Moreover, just past the 38th lap, drops of rain began to fall, causing some more machines to spin. But in spite of it all, the Portuguese driver on Car 39 continued to push with high driving techniques. It was on the 47th lap where surprisingly on the hairpin, No. 39 got hit by No. 32 (EPSON HSV-010), and unable to hold, ran off to the gravel. Andre quickly returned to the pit as suffering a burst on the left-rear tyre, got it fixed and gave the car over to his teammate. Now, whenever a team sees its driver keeping up a certain pace they would let this same driver continue the stint until two-thirds (54 laps limit) of the race is fulfilled, but because of what had happened, all of that strategy they had planned was ruined.
Andre Couto's teammate Kohei Hirate had just won the Formula Nippon Round 3 (in Fuji) held a week ago, which now makes him recognized ever more as one rising, young driver. This weekend too, Hirate fought hard on the Denso-colored machine defending the 10th position, but due to fueling problems had to pit in twice in his one stint. And though this cost the team one position down to 11th, LEXUS TEAM SARD pushed till the final lap giving its last squirt of power, passed one more front-running machine, and then took the chequered flag at 10th position.

Andre Couto:
"Including the qualifying session, the race today was a difficult one for us. Real battling was possible only in the first few laps, but soon there was a problem of grip-down, and we could not find the right driving rhythm. When hit by car 32, the impact was actually quite large and at that moment I thought we had lost it all!? ... but luckily we could return to the pit and continue the race. Because reaching the upper positions today didn’t seem too unrealistic, to have finished at 10th place is really not as satisfying."


TOPICS:
It has been two months since Andre Couto's dear son Afonso suffering of leukemia underwent a major bone-marrow transplant operation. Very fortunately up to now, he has not experienced any serious complications, and currently he has recovered to the point he can receive treatment at home while making regular visits to the hospital. Nevertheless, as he is yet under strong medication and still physically vulnerable to pathogens of course, the family is extremely careful providing him all the proper everyday living conditions, foods, etc., that will help him cure. All of this has finally brought a look of relief back on Andre's face, who is everyday grateful to all the donors, and together with the volunteers continues his efforts calling for greater donor registry on the whole, which is exactly one of the important things he did, also during the weekend at SUGO.

This weekend the SUPER GT series has traveled on down to Malaysia, for the 4th round unfolded at the Sepang International Circuit over the weekend of June 19th and 20th. Since the very first one held in the year 2000, this flyaway round celebrated its 10th anniversary this time. Every year, this is the one race that imposes many challenges on the drivers and teams, staged in a country near the equator with scorching tropical heat pressing burden upon the drivers, the machines and tyres. GRM driver Andre Couto who won and came to glory in 2004 in this very challenging battle, is currently ranked 10th in the series-ranking this season, and to earn definite points from this mid-season race might imply what the rest of the season may hold for he and his team.


June 19th (Saturday), without interruptions by sudden rainshowers that are typical in the tropical regions, Sepang Circuit was under sunny weather throughout the Qualifying day.
The day opened with first the Free Practice taking place from 10:45 – 11:15, where the temperature read 32 degrees Celsius (Track temperature: 40 degrees C), and the 13 cars of the GT500 class and 19 cars of GT300 practiced as making adaptations for the afternoon’s Qualifying session. DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430, with the time of 2’00.465, placed 11th in this session.
From 14:15, the 1st Qualifying session got underway. In the first 30 minutes where GT500 and GT300 classes ran mixed, the two drivers cleared the standard time required. Then next, the time-attack session by each class followed. Meanwhile, temperatures were on a constant rise, and by the time this session was to begin, it was 34 degrees C (Track temp.: 42 degrees C). Andre went out to the field for time-attack attempts, on No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 for the 10-minutes of this session, giving the max. But with the tyre properties perhaps not so suited to Sepang's track that has many mid-speed, high-speed turns and because of specific track surface conditions, the time marked was 1’59.315. As this did not result with a position higher than 13th, the team could not advance to the Super Lap.


On Sunday the 20th, though the morning's Free Practice began under slightly cloudy skies, yet it was hot and humid with the temperature already reading 31 degrees C and 70% humidity - just the usual racing day at Sepang! Each team made final checks on the machines during the Free Practice, then waited for 16:00, the scheduled 'Start' time for the main race. In the mean time, over on the course the support races: the Scirocco Cup China, Toyota Vios/Yaris, GT3 Asia Series took place, with also Pit Walk and other special events held here, there all around the circuit. The motor sport fans gathered about from Malaysia and nearby regions must have all enjoyed the one day filled with various excitement and spectacles. (Attendance figure: 27,500 spectators, as announced)

Finally, the clock rang for the main event - the 54 laps of SUPER GT, the "SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES MALAYSIA" kicked off amid blazing heat which by then had climbed to 37 degrees C (Track temp.: 48 degrees C)! The trusted starting driver of the team, Andre Couto from the 7th row and coming off Rolling Start, soon took the inside line but was stagnated by a machine in front struggling with troubles, thus no clear start-up could be made. Nevertheless, with his usual aggressiveness the Portuguese SUPER GT driver then at 12th position pushed strong to catch up with the front-going pack. Shortly, on the 13th Lap there was a car which had to draw back due to penalty, so No. 39 was able to move up one notch. Even then, the rivals in front were still high-paced and the gap with the top kept growing. In the 19th Lap, No. 39 was back down to 12th and from whereon Andre just had to endure with patience until midway in the race. As the race came on to its 22nd Lap, the GT500 machines started to come in for pit-stops one after another, but Andre hung on till the 28th lap, then resorted to the pit as rather a slow-comer. After refueling and tyre change, the car was passed on to teammate, Kohei Hirate. Hirate took over the steady running, and in the 51st lap passed one machine that went for an urgent pit-in, then one more, who coursed out on the 53rd lap due to collision with another car, and therefore No. 39 moved up two positions. And while further attempts were pursued to go grab the 9th position in the race, only, the rear tyres could no longer hold and the car could not help but spin. Therefore, as running 10th, DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 got the chequered flag (1 point gained) and finished the race in Sepang.

ANDRE COUTO:
"It was a tough race, very hard on our tyres. It is a pity we could not gain as much speed we wanted, but we gave out our most power and really, the very best. It would be nice if we can gain higher positions in the next race, so please support and help us achieve that!"


Round 5 of the SUPER GT series will be staged at Sportsland SUGO (of Miyagi Prefecture) on July 24 - 25th.

TOPICS:
As previously reported, Andre's dear son - Afonso Couto, who has been suffering leukemia since last Fall, was blessed to finally find a bone-marrow donor of a good match, in fact just a few days following the last round (Rd. 3) of the SUPER GT. Then two weeks after, on May 20th, Afonso underwent a bone-marrow transplant operation in Portugal. After success of this surgery, his squad of doctors continued to provide careful treatment on Afonso, who had just turned 7 recently. Thanks to the utmost care given by the doctors and family, the strong and brave boy is now gradually headed to definite recovery. And four weeks since the operation, at last there was permission to bring Afonso back from the hospital and allow further treatment to be done at home! This pleasing news was soon brought to Andre who was already in Sepang by the time, certainly bringing a very relieved look and a smile back on the father's face.
Andre Couto is extending the following thanks to everyone: "It might still take some time for complete recovery but even up to now, Afonso has gone through and overcome some very difficult treatment processes. With the courage and strength that he has, I know he will be out to enjoy playing football again someday soon! My heart is now filled with thanks to everyone's warm support, and sincerely hope that everybody will be by Afonso's side towards his recovery. Once again, thank you very much!"

Over May 1st and 2nd, at Fuji Speedway (in Shizuoka Prefecture), "FUJI GT 400km RACE", the Round 3 of 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT took place. This event, which is held right during the annual 'Golden Week' holidays of Japan, is known to be a race battled over long distance. Indeed it is one of the most popular GT rounds in the season and therefore many GT fans flock to this event coming from all around the country. This time too, the Organizers announced the total attendance figure of 79,600 for the 2 days.

GRM driver, Andre Couto came to this stage again with his team, LEXUS TEAM SARD, as currently ranking 9th in the Drivers Ranking (Team Ranking is 8th). Some of the features characterizing this race in Fuji are the "Super Lap" method, the 400km race distance which is longer than usual, and also the rule to Pit-in twice (2 times). So all the excitement felt from this race attributes greatly to such factors that surely press ever bigger challenges on each team, and from the fan standpoint too, very thrilling to watch - it's definitely a "can't-miss" sort of race!

On May 1st (Saturday), the mountains around Fuji were blessed with dashing weather and clear skies shining upon the fresh-green, and from the morning's Practice to the Qualifying sessions, everything of Saturday's official program was held under the Dry condition, the whole day through.
This time, with No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 carrying a 14kg weight load (handy), Andre Couto and teammate Kohei Hirate checked out their machine carefully through the official practice sessions. Then, based on the feedback reported from the two drivers, such as, "There's under-steer, lack of tyre grip...", all the data were examined by the team's veteran engineer, Ricardo Divila and reflected in the final touchups on the machine-setting tailored to the Qualifying heats scheduled in the afternoon.

At 13:50, the first run of the Qualifying Session began. Under the temperature of 21 degrees Celsius (Track temp.: 40 degrees C), first the GT500 and GT300 classes ran the mixed session (of 25 minutes) aiming the standard qualify time to pass and advance to the next. The two drivers of LEXUS TEAM SARD cleared the time easy, especially with Couto marking the 6th position time of 1'36.048, and moving to the next 10-minutes of time-attack by GT500s only. And here, as a Qualifying session attacker, Andre Couto charged again with a strong push like his usual, rewriting the sector times. The time marked was 1'35.465, and because of placing 10th at this timepoint which ended being outside the Top 8, the team's expected advancement to the SUPER LAP did not come along.


On May 2nd (Sunday), it was like early-summer at Fuji Speedway again from the morning and at 8:30am, the Free Practice session by 37 GT machines (13 - GT500 / 24 - GT300) began.
Following that and in the few hours preceding the Race, all the drivers spent relaxing times attending various pre-race events and joining friendly meetings with the fans.

And finally, as the clock struck 14:00, now it was time to fight! The temperature by then was 22 degrees C (Track temp: 35 degrees C), and the long 88 laps of race got underway over the circuit of Fuji Speedway with the track length of 4.563km per lap, particularly well-known for its 1.5km-long stretch of home-straight.
Jumping from the 5th row on the grid, Andre Couto was off with a brilliant performance soon overtaking one machine in the 1st lap. At this point, running at 8th he then went pushing on for several laps more, but from the 7th Lap somehow the lap time started to drop, and from there on after each lap, the team lost positions. By the 10th Lap, it was down to 11th, even though Andre strived to manage DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 in any way that he could, trying to raise it to a better pace. Meanwhile, the gap with the front field just continued to grow, and as finishing up Lap 31, LEXUS TEAM SARD went in for the first pit-in, and the driver switch took place from Andre Couto to Kohei Hirate.
Hirate took over the machine, drove on with the same patience like his Portuguese teammate, but on the 44th lap suddenly had to stall the machine on B-Corner, and step out of the machine. Thus, LEXUS TEAM SARD had to leave the race with a retire due to an unfortunate machine trouble.


ANDRE COUTO:
"For the first few laps from Start, we were able to run with the same pace as the leaders' pack, but suddenly there was a grip-down of tyres and then after that, we just could not help but be passed by other cars, one after the other. Kohei also tried his best, but suddenly the machine seemed to have troubles with the drive-train, and he had to stop. Anyway, we will try to detect the reasons and root out the problems. Here at Fuji there were perhaps some shortcomings on our part, my team, and sadly we had to retire from the race. But otherwise, all the SC430s won the race dominating from the 1st to 4th places, so as a member of the LEXUS group, we are happy.
Towards the next race, we will have to find the best tyre - machine package, then rise to challenge again! Give us your grand support!"

The next race, SUPER GT Round 4 will be held in Malaysia at the International Sepang Circuit over June 19th and 20th.

TOPICS：
For Andre Couto's young son, Afonso, and many other patients fighting leukemia, this weekend at Fuji Speedway there was a blood-donation unit in place, organized by the Japanese Red Cross. Kohei Hirate also showed up to make special contributions by signing up in the bone-marrow bank registry.
"Like many others, I used to have a bias, looking upon both leukemia and bone-marrow transplants with a heavy, serious image. But actually I knew only little about what they really are. With my teammate now facing such problems and hardships, it gave me a chance to study and learn more about this illness, the ways of cure and treatment, etc. And now I have come to realize that donor- registration procedures can be quite simple. With my donor registry, if someone's life can be saved or helped from such risks, I would be very proud. Also, if my actions will encourage other people to join the donor bank, I would find that very rewarding!" said Andre Couto's trusted teammate.
This time, over 30 volunteer staff gathered on site this event, to promote the bone-marrow donor registry, distributed pamphlets and stickers to voice the calls, and close to 100 SUPER GT fans helped joining the efforts signing the bone-marrow registry and giving blood-donations!

With many scenes still remembered fresh in mind from the last race in Suzuka, which was the season’s first, as well as a very “fierce” battle, now the stage came down to Okayama International Circuit (Mimasaka-shi of Okayama Prefecture) over the weekend of April 3 -4th, for Round 2 of the 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, the “OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE”.
In the previous round held two weeks ago, GRM driver Andre Couto together with LEXUS TEAM SARD gave a brilliant performance in his stint to finish 5th starting from 13th on the grid, hence contributing to the team's point-getting. With that same spirit and momentum, he came on to challenge strongly again for the team that is blessed to also have veteran engineer Ricardo Divila by their side, who brings all the savvy to consider the best machine setting suiting to the technical course layout and features of Okayama this weekend. Meanwhile, in the SUPER GT races, weight handicap is imposed on each car according to results from the previous race and No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC4305 this time is loaded with a 12kg weight.


On April 3rd (Saturday), the one day of Qualifying began amidst beautiful blossoms of “Sakura” trees blooming everywhere in the city of Mimasaka, but with very cool temperatures still felt in the morning and evenings. The two sessions of Official Practice took place in the morning, 1-hour each, and all the teams worked to adapt their machines for the later sessions which is to be under dry conditions (Temperature: 7 degrees Celsius / Track temp.: 9 degrees C).
In Session 1 (am8:20 – 9:20), Andre Couto was the first one up to drive 14 laps, with teammate Kohei Hirate up next putting in 9 laps, and here the team marked a 9th position time (1’26.726). Then, in the 2nd session (am10:15 – 11:15), Andre doing the 12 laps and Hirate with 19, ranked 10th (1’26.164) at this point.

In the afternoon, everyone proceeded to the next agenda programmed for that day – the Official Qualifying sessions where the two drivers in turns make attempts to clear the required time norm. Without a sweat, No. 39 passed the first heat of the Qualifying and went on to the next heat which was to start from 15:20 on the knock-out style.
Session 1 (of 10 minutes) under 13 degrees Celsius and track temperature of 29 degrees C was trusted to Andre Couto, who pushed intrepidly to take the 9th position (1’24.628) from this heat, and the team advanced to Session 2. Next, Hirate who took the steers continued on with a fantastic time-attack in the time-period limited to 7 minutes. However, as coming to the last sector his path was blocked by others and the time for No. 39 had only to standoff at 9th position (1’24.671) for not much more could be done, and regretfully the chance of moving on to Session 3 slipped away.


April 4th (Sunday), given the perfect sunny weather many GT fans showed up already from early morning at Okayama International Circuit where according to later reports, the count of spectators totaled to 25,000 over the two days. Some hours following the Free Practice session held that morning from 9:00AM, finally at 14:00 the Race commenced and the 13 GT500 and 20 GT300 cars coming off the 1 lap of formation went bustling off for the 82-laps race. By then, the temperature had risen to 18 degrees C (Track: 30 degrees C), and DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 which jumped out from the 5th row on the grid with Andre Couto serving the Starting driver, for a while had to stay watching carefully inside a pack with a 6th position car struggling to build pace. In spite of so, eventually the Portuguese driver passed No. 32 (EPSON HSV-010) in front and rose to 8th position. On the 11th lap however, No. 39 was passed by No. 8 (ARTA HSV-010) and was drawn back to 9th. Then on the 14th lap, it passed No. 23 (MOTUL AUTECH GT-R) to run at 8th again, and for a while without much change in positions, No. 39 continued to chalk up constant laps.
In this position, Andre Couto stayed focused on the race with patience, but perhaps due to performance of the tyres it became hard to improve his pace and gradually, the gap with the foregoing machines grew large. Eventually, in the 31st lap, No. 17 (KEIHIN HSV-010) coming from behind, and also in the 33rd lap No. 100 (RAYBRIG HSV-010), two cars overtook No. 39 and the team slipped down by 2 positions. Unable to hold out any longer, Andre headed to the pit on Lap 36 to hand the steering over to teammate Kohei Hirate. Hirate driving the car that was then just refueled and switched to fresh tyres tried his best persisting at 10th position for the rest of the race, but without more ways to improve their situation to a better note, DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 held on till getting the chequered flag and finished the race placing 10th.

ANDRE COUTO:
“With temperatures rising, we suffered a bit with the match of the machine and tyres. After Start, the first 5 to 6 laps were fine but from thereafter the tyres lacked some grip and we could not improve our position so much like we did in the last round. Therefore, I had to pit in about 10 laps earlier than planned, but Kohei really pushed hard through the second stint of 46 laps and held out to finish the race. We'll review all the data we got today, analyze them well with my engineer Ricardo and the Dunlop staff, and put them to good use in the coming races. In fact, the next round will be a long, 400km race so we are really counting on your continued support for us!”

SUPER GT Round 3 will be held on May 1st - 2nd at Fuji Speedway located in Shizuoka Prefecture.

TOPICS:
Andre Couto is calling for everybody’s awareness and registry in the bone-marrow bank to save his little son Afonso as well as many patients suffering of leukemia around the world. GT Association who manages the SUPER GT Series also joins Andre with these efforts, and together in collaboration with the relevant organizations, will dedicate efforts to enhance the bone-marrow bank registry movement among the public, such as by providing opportunities and places where these calls can be better promoted.
http://supergt.net/sp/marrowdonorprogram/

The 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series, much awaited by all the motorsport fans around Japan opened the year with "SUZUKA GT 300km" event held over March 20th- 21st, and the audience totaling 53,000 over the two days at Suzuka Circuit was truly intrigued with a raging battle already from the bare start of the season!

Portuguese driver, Andre Couto who entrusts his management to GRM this season is once again teamed up with Japanese driver, Kohei Hirate as in the previous season to fight through the 8 rounds of the Series with LEXUS TEAM SARD. Also, veteran engineer Ricardo Divila, known for his numerous achievements over the past also working with the SUPER GT and Formula NIPPON series in Japan, has recently assumed the post as the Chief Engineer of this team, and now the team finds itself on an ever stronger footing as one honorable team.

Present in the GT500 class of the SUPER GT this season are the Toyotas (total of 5 teams = 5 machines) including LEXUS TEAM SARD as one of the 5 entries, with carbon monocoque chassis "LEXUS SC430" finished to a 3.4 litre V8 engine, FR (Front Engine - Rear drive) SPEC, ready to compete against those of the same SPEC, Nissans (3 teams = 3 GT-R machines), and the Hondas (5 teams = 5 machines of HSV-010 GT, their new model from this season) and indeed some very exciting, heated actions are likely from round to round!


March 20th (Saturday) at Suzuka Circuit, the stage for this Round, was blessed with pleasant weather and sunshine throughout the day. First the Official Practice Session began at 9:00am which lasted for 2 hours and 40 minutes, and the 13 GT500 cars and 20 GT300 cars practiced in a mixed session preparing for the later Qualifying heats. In this session, car No. 39 "DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430", back again in Denso colors after 2 years, was run by Andre Couto working in 19 laps, then followed by his teammate Kohei Hirate running 14 laps, finishing the session at 12th position (1'56.317).
From 13:15 started the first qualifying heat of 45 minutes duration and the two drivers went on clearing the standard time required to pass the Qualifying (to be within 107% the time average marked by the Top 3), then further worked on the setting in time for the next qualify session starting at 15:10 on the knockout style. And again just to explain what this knockout style is, it is a method whereby the race grid is decided according to top 10 places from Session 1, the top 7 from Session 2, and the 7 top ranks of Session 3. Also, one driver is not permitted to drive two consecutive sessions (which means, the order of either A - B - A or the B - A - B pattern is allowed) . Moreover, the machines advancing to Session 3 must have on those same tyres as in session 3 at Start of the Race. Provided these regulations, LEXUS TEAM SARD went for Session 1 with Andre Couto. Under dry condition of 18 degrees Celsius (Track temperature of 28 degrees C), Andre tried his times in the 10 minutes of session, but not being able to find the right grip, resorted to 13th (1'55.019) and the team was not able to make Session 2.


March 21st (Sunday), due to rain which poured down the night before, the Free Practice Session in the morning was held in a rather chilly, 15 degrees C temperature. Declaration for the Wet was announced, but the track started drying from mid-session and all the teams busied themselves making adjustments on their machines. LEXUS TEAM SARD, the user of Dunlop tyres confirmed their condition to be fine in the semi-wet, as driven by Andre. Furthermore, in the last half on slick tyres, Hirate drove constantly marking some consistent lap times.

Then, at 14:00 finally the very first battle of the 2010 SUPER GT series was set to begin! Under cloudy skies with strong winds blowing from the northwest, together with yellow dust (blowing from China) the 13 GT500 machines kicked off full-bore with a rolling start, to the First Corner and on farther toward the goal of 300 kilometers ahead! Right after Start, circuit announcement told that rain was starting to fall over in the West course of Suzuka. Meanwhile, Andre Couto serving the starting driver on DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 jumped from the very back row all the way to 10th position in the opening lap with clever techniques in spite the odds over the course, which was then turning quite slippy. Furthermore, with aggressive driving which is the forte and inherent ability of this spirited Portuguese GT driver, No. 39 rose to 8th position in the third lap, and eventually in the 9th Lap, Andre passed one car in front on the straight end now jumping to 7th position and keeping this momentum overtook another car in the 10th lap, moving up farther to 6th!
However, in the 11th lap of the race, a crash involving two HSVs occurred at the First Corner!! Immediately the Safety Car was drawn in and up to the 16th lap when the race was resumed. It was then however that rain droplets started coming down again and yet the 10 remaining GT500 machines continued on with their stride, all of them on slick tyres. Then from around 19th lap many started to pit in for refueling, tyre change as well as for driver change. Andre Couto came into the pit when he finished his 27th lap, then handed the vivid white and red colored machine over to his Japanese teammate.
Kohei Hirate took after the stable pace running 7th for a while, sticking persistently to the machine in front. Near the last laps of the race, the skies over Suzuka were turning clear and blue, and Hirate who was then striving in the fight for 4th place came onto the 51st lap, found a chance to get around and through the gap of other two machines going in front who were busy battling just between themselves, and jumped up to 5th!! Therefore, LEXUS TEAM SARD which started the season-opener round from the back grid pushed hard rising dramatically up to the 5th place (6 points gained), finishing the race with sound results.

ANDRE COUTO
"In my stint the conditions were quickly varying and thus it was quite a tough race, but compared to yesterday's qualifying session the tyres matched and the machine was steady which made it easier for me to trust the car and push hard. Starting from the 13th and going up to 6th, I really enjoyed the race. Pit stop also went smooth and Kohei did a great job at very fast pace, also bringing us further up by 2 notches so today's race was a kind of race achieved with the team working as one. It would be nice to keep up this pace in Round 2 and in many more rounds, always winning some points!"

RICARDO DIVILA
"If the pit-stop timing came just 3 laps sooner, even our 4th place finish was possible perhaps. In any case, considering our qualifying results, to have made such a big recovery and gain the results that we have, is really great. We will continue to work closely with Dunlop in the development of the tyres and be a kind of team that can always battle in the top positions."


SUPER GT Round 2 will be held on the weekend of April 3 - 4 at Okayama International Circuit of Okayama Prefecture.

TOPICS:
In efforts to save Afonso, Andre Couto's son now suffering of leukemia at very young age, all the many members concerned, many friends and fans of SUPER GT have demonstrated heartwarming support and help. GT Association has also begun actions calling for your greater attention towards donor registry in the bone-marrow bank Supported by the LEXUS fan seats, all the LEXUS drivers bear the www.saveafonso.com logo on their helmets and machines, and moreover from a group of younger fans, "thousand" paper-crane ornaments and letters filled with sincere wishes and hearts for Afonso's recovery were handed to Andre who would like to express in return his heartfelt appreciation to all the supporters, while he continues his strive to to draw more donor registry to the marrow bank. Let us all unite and save as many leukemia patients we can!

The 2009 SUPER GT Round 9 “MOTEGI GT250km” was staged at Twin Ring Motegi over November 7th and the 8th as the season’s closing event. The last race was battled over the shorter than usual distance of 250km and “0kg” machine-weight handicap applying to all machines. Moreover, the qualifying procedures on the knockout rule also enhanced the thrill more than ever – just the way fitting to the very last race of the season! And though neither of the GRM drivers was part of any last fights for the series champion this season, nonetheless, before a large audience counting 49,000 this weekend both Andre Couto and Loic Duval gave out their utmost to finish off the final GT round of the season.

November 7 (Saturday), in beautiful autumn weather, the Official Practice session got underway from 09:55, lasting for 45 minutes with 14 GT500 machines and 22 GT300s running mixed. Everyone finalized the machine setting tuned to the Official Qualifying to start in the afternoon. Then, from 12:50 to 13:35 was the 1st run of the Official Qualifying held in dry condition with the temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (Track temperature: 26 C), and from each team, two drivers challenged respectively to achieve the baseline time required to advance farther.

From 14:35, qualifying on the knockout method began. In Session 1 where the top 12 cars get decided, Kohei Hirate drove No. 39 DUNLOP SARD SC430 marking a 9th position time (1’45.475) to stay on towards Session 2. Then Andre Couto, who next took charge of this machine struck the top time (1’44.821) during the 7-minutes of Session 2, and the team advanced to Session 3 (7 min.) competed by the top 8. According to the rule of one driver not allowed to make consecutive stints, Hirate took the steer again in this last session and here the team chose that tyre they were considering to use at start of the race the next day. As a result, an 8th place time (1’46.091) was marked and their place on the race grid was confirmed.

Meanwhile, Loic Duval on No. 32 of EPSON NSX with the machine and tyre not finding a good enough set-up, had only to finish Session 1 at 13th (1’46.087) with no advance to later sessions. Now, after this one race all the Honda NSXs are to discontinue their 13 years participation in GT races, and this time everyone belonging to the NSX force came to their home course Twin Ring Motegi, aspired to show favorable actions and sort of performances befitting for their “last run”.


Came November 8th (Sunday), the race day opening under cloudy skies and with 30 minutes of Free Practice session from 08:45. Here again, Andre Couto was in high gear, as he continued to do well marking a 3rd position time (1’47.302). Veteran engineer, Ricardo Divila who joined LEXUS TEAM SARD in this round also reconfirmed the machine condition to be in good shape as making final tuning and touchups for the race.

As the clock hit 14:00, the season’s champion-deciding battle of 53 laps was off with a hot start! No. 39 Andre Couto from the 4th row showed aggressive driving, passing machines going in front in Lap 4 then again in Lap 5, and soon worked up to 6th position! Then in the 9th lap, No. 39 got overtaken by one car, but insisted to stick close behind as running 7th for another while. In the 19th lap, after regaining one place up to 6th, Andre went in for a pit stop and trusted the machine to Kohei Hirate. His Japanese teammate also continued on with a constant race pace, but in Lap 36 one of the cars splattered off oil somewhere near the 8th post and drew in the Safety Car. Here having to join the trail of machines, gap between everybody had to be reset and when it came the time to restart on Lap 39, DUNLOP SARD SC430 was going 6th. On the 50th lap when another machine in front coursed off, No. 39 rose to 5th position and onward it pushed till the chequered flag with Andre Couto and Kohei Hirate taking 6 points in the last GT race of the season.


ANDRE COUTO:
“Today we did a race where I gave out everything that I have. In the qualifying too, we were very competitive this time and thus we were able to finish the season gaining some points. This season went by like a flash, but I challenged many things together with LEXUS TEAM SARD, also as being supported by many fans… I’m sincerely grateful for everything, thank you so much!”

Loic Duval on EPSON-colored No. 32, started the race from 13th on the grid and kept up a consistent pace throughout. Finishing off the rather long stint of 33 laps, Loic gave the machine over to teammate Yuhki Nakayama. Nakayama, upon bringing car No. 32 back to the field in 10th position was soon to pass one machine, then with one car coursing off due to a slip over oil, the team found itself up to 7th when the 5 laps of the SC run began. As soon as the 14 machines were released from the SC, everybody fired up again to fight on through the remaining 14 laps of the race. In the meantime, with one more car falling out of the frontline, No. 32 moved up by one more position, and Loic Duval and Yuhki Nakayama finished this final round placing 6th.


LOIC DUVAL:
“Yesterday’s qualifying was disappointing, but considering that, our race result today is not so bad. This was the last run on the NSX which I really worked into my last 4 years, but looks like Honda will bring out a new machine next season so I’m sure that SUPER GT will be ever more exciting and also become a tougher series to fight. I really want to thank the many fans who supported us all year long, and truly look forward to seeing everyone again!”

The ORECA 01 was one of the front-runners on its engine supplier’s home turf in the first Asian Le Mans Series. Nicolas Lapierre and Loïc Duval fought for victory in both rounds. On Saturday, they finished second and today they were again among the quickest drivers on the track, and had a better strategy. The team decided to make one less stop than its rivals. Unfortunately, bad luck struck the French outfit when a lump of rubber from a tyre blocked the air intake causing the engine to cut out. Without this bizarre incident, the Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM would have been in a position to fight for the topmost step of the podium, and first place overall in the Asian Le Mans Series final classification.

Race1:
Nicolas made an excellent start from third place on the grid and got past the Pescarolo. After fighting off the Lola-Aston Martin, he pulled in the Lola/Drayson, which he passed into the lead on lap 19. He stayed in front until the end of the first hour. He was second after the refuelling stops and caught the Lola-Aston Martin, which he immediately began to harass. But the power of the Aston Martin engine prevented him from finding a way past, and he was only a few tenths behind at the end of his double stint. LoÏc stalled the engine as he rejoined to start his first stint. He pulled in the leaders and got up to second place with less than fifteen minutes to go to the finish after the Lola-Aston Martin’s final splash & dash.

Race2:
The ORECA 01 started from third place and was hemmed in by the Pescarolo, which the Lola-Aston Martin took advantage of pushing Nicolas back to fourth. He maintained the same pace as the leaders while nursing his fuel consumption. After a very quick first pit stop, Loïc rejoined in second place neck and neck with the Pescarolo. He was unable to keep it despite his evident fighting spirit. A lump of rubber got stuck in the air intake and caused the engine to cut out, so he had to pit. He rejoined in sixth place with the bit between his teeth, and overtook the no.14 Audi and the no.87 Lola-Judd followed by the second of the Audis putting him back in the top three. He stayed in the car for a second stint and tried to close the gap. He brought down the gap from 1 minute to 2 seconds after a splash & dash by his rival a few minutes before the flag.


Hugues de Chaunac, ORECA Group President :
« Two podiums in two races is a positive result The ORECA 01 again showed its competitiveness and the progress we’ve made during the 2009 season. Nicolas and Loïc fought for victory in both races, and we could have won had it not been for a lump of rubber that got stuck in the air intake. We had a great strategy, but this problem forced the car to do a slow lap and then pit. Despite everything, the team’s made another step forward and we’re now looking to 2010. »

Nicolas Lapierre, 2nd et 3rd (ORECA 01) :
« We’ve finished the season with two podiums. We were on the pace in both races and we could have won. We lost out on small details. In the first round we lost time in the pits; in the second we had a problem with a lump of rubber. It’s just bad luck but it prevented us from fighting for first place in the race and in the Asian Le Mans Series. It’s very annoying, as we had the speed, and the team had the best strategy. »

Loïc Duval, 2nd et 3rd (ORECA 01) :
« I’m happy to have been on the podium twice, but as a driver you always want to go for victory, and we could have won both races. In the second round, it was just sheer bad luck. Without that stop we were ideally placed. It’s frustrating. Personally, it was a good experience. I really enjoyed my stint with the team and at the wheel of the ORECA 01. »

David Floury, Technical Director Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM :
« We lost victory twice in the pits. During the first race we lost a few seconds restarting, and during the second a lump of rubber upset our strategy, as its caused engine cutouts. It was a random incident that you can’t foresee. We had the potential to win both races and the team’s work was excellent, especially during the second round. We were the quickest in the pits, fast on the track and our fuel consumption gamble was the right one. »

On October 17th and the 18th, "SUPER GT in KYUSHU 300Km", Round 8 of the nine SUPER GT rounds of this season was staged at Autopolis (in Oita Prefecture).
The circuit of Autopolis, located in the Aso mountain ranges is characterized with many mid-speed and high-speed turns, significantly varying undulation over its layout, and what is more, the track surface known to be tough on the tyres. And though the races fought here always turn into fairly challenging ones for many drivers, in the years 2004 and 2007 Andre Couto, and in 2008, Loic Duval have achieved podium finishes respectively.

On October 17th (Saturday), some raindrops did fall during the Free Practice session held in the morning, but the track condition stayed in the Dry, and the Official Qualifying heats began from 12:40 in the afternoon under the temperature of 19 degrees Celsius (Track temp.: 24 degrees C), with chilly winds blowing.
First, Andre Couto on LEXUS TEAM SARD (No. 39) drove in the mixed session of GT500 and GT300 classes, cleared the standard time, then handed the car over to teammate Kohei Hirate who was to serve as the Qualifying heat attacker this time. Hirate made hard pursuits in the GT500-only session (of 10 minutes duration) placing 13th (1'44.141).
Meanwhile, Loic Duval on EPSON NSX (No. 32) finished the Qualifying trials in 14th position (1'44.415), and both teams not quite able to bring their machine and tyre setting to their favorable conditions, missed the Super Lap session which is attended by only the top 8 qualifiers.


October 18th (Sunday), with the whole crowd of local fans who all longed to attend the SUPER GT staged in Kyushu, the audience figures counted the total of 42,350 with Saturday and Sunday combined. At 14:00 when the race was to start, it was 17 degrees C (Track: 26 degrees C) - rather low and cool but with warm sunshine felt, thus the race of 65 laps got underway in overall pleasant weather conditions.

No. 32 EPSON NSX chose to make 2 pit stops. First, Loic Duval's teammate Yuhki Nakayama was on duty as the starting driver for the first stint of 22 laps. Then, Loic took over the steering from the 23rd lap with the team running at 11th position at the time, and from there on the French driver on car 32 went charging as updating his own best times. On the 42nd lap and after the team's second pit stop, Loic Duval stayed on the steering for the last stint. And here once again with the best time (1'45,772) marked, persistent work by Loic brought EPSON NSX to take the chequered flag at 9th.

LOIC DUVAL:
"This weekend we could not create a flow to join the top positions, but in both of the two stints that I was in charge, I think the driving went well despite the traffic, and also the lap time marked with the 3rd set of tyres was not so bad. We also gained a lot of data today which will be quite useful in our coming races, so it was good."

In the meantime, Andre Couto who started from the 7th row on DUNLOP SARD SC430 passed car No. 17 (KEIHIN NSX, Toshihiro Kaneishi) going in front on the 2nd lap. However, soon after on the 4th turn No. 17 pushed from behind and unable to hold, No. 39 spun off, suffering some damage on the rear. Therefore, urgent pit-in became inevitable for a quick repair but as overcoming such misfortune, Andre managed to return to the course and drove until his 32 laps were through, then the machine was given over to Kohei Hirate. Hirate drove on steadily to goal, and DUNLOP SARD SC430 finished the race in 12th position.

ANDRE COUTO:
"Due to that accident, it's too bad we could not stay on the frontline of the battle. On the high-speed corner, the machine had some under-steer, causing the rear grip to come down a bit by bit. But because the machine condition itself wasn't so bad after all, it's ever more regrettable!"

TOPICS:

In the forthcoming weekend of October 31st – November 1st, the very first Asian Le Mans Series (LMP1 Class) will be held at Okayama International Circuit, where Loic Duval will make entry with the famous team of France, Team ORECA Matmut AIM. Loic marked his debut driving in this team also last year in the Le Mans 24H Endurance race, and already has the experience driving a prototype machine. On top of that, Loic's abundant knowledge of domestic (Japanese) circuits arouses even larger excitement for some great actions to be seen from this team. Together with the team's regular driver Nicolas Lapierre (France), two races of 3 hours each will be fought over the two days.

Andre Couto will be present in the FIA WTCC (World Touring Car Championship) held along with the Macau GP of November 19th – 22nd, driving a Seat Leon of the SUNRED Engineering Team. Known as the Winner of the Macau GP in 2000, Andre always draws great attention as Macau’s home- and star-driver in these events held each year.

The season-closing 8th round of the All-Japan Formula NIPPON championship was held at Sportsland SUGO (in Miyagi Prefecture) over September 26 - 27. GRM driver, Loic Duval who has already claimed his series champion title in the previous round held at Autopolis, came to this final race of Formula NIPPON with NAKAJIMA RACING which also won the team championship from the series this year, together determined to fight this very last stage and conclude the season with a perfect finale!


On September 26 (Saturday), under clear and pleasant autumn skies, Loic Duval on the wheels of NAKAJIMA RACING formula No. 31 came to the Free Practice session held from 10:00 AM to 11:00AM, making checks into the machine and the soft-tyres implemented from this time. Diligently working to finish the machine setup towards the qualifying heats held in the afternoon, Loic did not seem so content, even after placing second (with the time of 1'07.046) close behind his teammate Takashi Kogure (1' 06.679).
"Hmm…, machine condition isn't quite there yet ...", said the French driver on No. 31...
Shortly, at 14:30 the Qualifying session got underway on the Knock-out style. Under the temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and Track temperature of 39 degrees C, here again from Q1 to Q3 heats, the two drivers of NAKAJIMA RACING shared the top-2 leading positions in the same brilliant way the team has been performing all season long. In Q1, Loic first off took the lead with a good time (No. 31 with 1'06.806, followed by No. 32 with 1'07.063), then in Q2 now Kogure timed a course record (1'06.332), and then again, the leading positions were reciprocated in the last session Q3, after Loic having marked a 1’06.574. Thus, Loic Duval took his third pole position of this season with the top time of 1'06.540 followed by his Japanese teammate at second (1'06.635).

LOIC DUVAL:
"I am pleased to have taken the PP in the last round! Actually from this morning, machine setting was never too good, and in Sector 1 I had troubles with unstable rear. But in the last session, I'm glad the setting finally came right. Though I'm released from that pressure of title-winning, even then, tomorrow's race is another race where I will do my best to finish the season with the best results!"


Then on September 27th (Sunday) the race day, the weather changed drastically from the previous day and turned into a rather chilly, cloudy day. In the morning's Free Practice Session (09:45 - 10:15), Loic Duval - No. 31 finished up the free session with a top time (1'07.679) marked again, proving to be in great shape for the coming battle.

Then soon it was 14:30, time to start the 62 laps of the race under the temperature of 18 degree Celsius (Track temperature: 22 degrees C), and though it was as not much then, light showers started to drizzle. Hence, in misty weather, all the 13 machines started the race with slick-tyres. Loic going from pole position missed slightly with the start, got passed by his teammate who came from 2nd position, but coming onto Lap 4, Loic marked the fastest time (1'09.220) in the position where he was then and maintained a constant pace throughout the first many laps of the race.
As the race came to Lap 10, the course started getting slippery due to more rain, and here Kogure pitted in to switch to rain tyres, which then allowed Loic to resume the leader's position. Continuing on with the slick tyres, the French pilot of NAKAJIMA RACING kept pushing at a good pace with skillful machine control. In the mean time gradually the track became considerably wet, and on Lap 21, Loic could not resist getting swept off the track on the final corner! Luckily, this did not turn into anything too serious, and soon the French driver found himself back on the course. And though this cost him several positions down to 5th, Loic went in for a pit stop in the one lap after, and switched to wet tyres, refueled, and soon got back on the frontline.
Though placing 5th at this time point, the machine in front of No. 31 was still running on slick and the lap time started to drag. On the other hand, Loic Duval and his machine, now given all the positive elements they needed began to pace up reducing the gap with the top pack, marking ever better times from one lap to next. Then on the 36th lap, Loic jumped to the top position at last!
From there and onwards it was just like Loic Duval, this year's Formula NIPPON champion that we saw all season long, driving strong and steady with solid confidence all the way to chequer in the leading position, capturing one more and the one last fantastic win to conclude the season of this series.

LOIC DUVAL:
"Looking back on today's Race, ... as usual, there was my great (?) start again! In the early phases of the race, there was over-steer which I had to tolerate for a while, but during that time I was also watching out for the rain condition. I held on for a while (going on slick tyres), but the rear tyres started losing the grip, as well as the traction, and so I pitted in just after that course-off. This timing worked out in the best way, and I think this is the reason for my victory today. The team has also worked hard the whole time, always together as one, which was proven again in this race as the greatest strength of NAKAJIMA RACING. I took 4 victories (3 Pole Positions) out of 8 rounds this year, and was able to finish the season with an excellent achievement as a Series Champion. I thank my Team and Honda, all my sponsors, the fans, and my family who has long supported me.
I thank you all very much!!"

The 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series has only 3 more rounds to go. Round 7, "Fuji GT 300km Race" of the series held over the weekend of September 12 - 13th, was staged at Fuji Speedway where a total of 51,100 GT fans crowded the piedmonts of Mt. Fuji to see an exciting battle of the 15 GT500 machines and 23 GT300s unfold!


September 12th (Saturday), the place stayed wet and misty throughout the day. From the practice session in the morning, the GRM drivers Loic Duval (EPSON NSX No. 32) and Andre Couto (DUNLOP SARD SC430) marked times of 1-2 results, and both drivers were off with a good start for the weekend.
From 12:50, the Official Qualifying began according to the given program, and with rain coming off and on, the track conditions kept changing throughout the day. Temperatures were 23 degrees Celsius, felt not too chilly, but for the track rather low at only 22 degrees.

Loic Duval of NAKAJIMA RACING kept up a good pace from the morning to finish the GT500 Qualifying session with the top time (1'45.842), affirming his advancement to the Super Lap at no sweat!
Then from 15:10 began the 1st heat of the Qualifying by the top 8 cars. Temperatures dropped slightly to 18 degrees (Track: 20 degrees C) in the afternoon, where Loic went out for his time-attack as the last one up, warmed up the tyres carefully, yet pulled out his sheer force to grab the first pole position from this series this season.

LOIC DUVAL:
"I struggled over many kinds of trouble this season, but feel very happy about getting this PP. This result is rewarding also for my team who has maintained their motivation up to now and worked so hard. Today, it seemed that even the rain was on my side, and I could stay concentrated without making mistakes at any sector to make such an excellent time-attack. Tomorrow's race may be sunny and I’ll do my best to get on the podium!" said Loic in high spirits.

Andre Couto of LEXUS TEAM SARD placed 10th (1'46.636) after the GT500 session, then as he happened to cut the white line on entering the pit road just coming out of the mixed session, the best lap he had marked in this session became invalid by a penalty and thus he had to start the race on Sunday from 11th.
Commented Andre, "I tried the Qualifying heat with tyres different from those in the morning practice, but could not show the same sort of performance and results... it's disappointing,” - not being able to hide his dismay.


The next day on the 13th, the Free Practice session in the morning was held in semi-wet condition, and on slick-tyres all the machines summed up their setting for the race. By 14:00, when the race was to begin, temperatures rose fairly high to 20 degrees C (Track: 41 degrees C), not asking for a better race-day!

Loic Duval on the steering of vivid white and blue Epson-colored No. 32 started from Pole Position, but was soon blocked by No. 36 (PETRONAS TOM'S SC430, A. Lotterer) who emerged to his In-side where going into the 1st turn. Then, on top of that, pushed by No. 6 (Team LeMans, B. Wirdheim) Loic could not help but spin! And though car No. 6 was charged with a penalty, this cost him big, having to go down to the very back of the GT500 fleet, still with the whole 66 laps of the race to go! Nevertheless, the French driver of NAKAJIMA RACING who has been giving brilliant performances the season long had no intention to stay behind everyone, drove strong and gradually worked his way up the positions, climbed to 9th by Lap 23, one-third of the way through the day's battle.
Passed Lap 28, as more and more machines started to pit in, NAKAJIMA RACING returned Loic to the pit on the 33rd lap. After changing tyres and fueling, now No. 32 was under control of this team's Japanese driver, Yuhki Nakayama.
Nakayama who was in charge of the last-half of the stint ran with a constant race pace as keeping the 8th position, but towards the end of the race No. 32 got overtaken by one machine to end up finishing 9th in this race.

LOIC DUVAL:
"What happened after Start was really discouraging. I opened up and gave the line to avoid collision with No. 36, but while 36 swayed to Outer-side with slow braking, I tried getting back to the top by turning to the 2nd corner from the In, ... but was hit by No. 6... After that, all I could do was anyway give my best to gain as many positions up but looks like today’s result (9th) was the utmost we could achieve."

Meanwhile, Andre Couto went out as the starting driver of No. 39, did a brilliant job to avoid getting entangled into the big scramble that occurred right after start, and in the opening lap jumped up from 11th to 5th! However, in the lap which followed the Portuguese GT driver was struck from behind on the right-side by No. 100 (RAYBRIG NSX, Yuji Ide) on the last corner, and was pushed back to 11th again! Overcoming such accident, Andre forced onward then pitted in after finishing 31 laps to turn the machine over to his teammate Kohei Hirate. Hirate also gave out his very best just like his partner did, and chased the front field from behind but never being able to pace-up like they wanted, the team took the chequered flag still in the same position, 11th.

ANDRE COUTO:
"Because the start went so well, that one accident is really regretted. The impact of the hit was quite large, but we were lucky it did not give a damage causing us to retire. But the machine had a critical under-steer especially on high-speed corners, and then in sector 3, time never improved ... anyway in the race today we struggled against many challenges. In the next round, we will work at recovering and pick up a better flow of things. Please stay with us and give us your large support!"

The next race, SUPER GT Round 8 will be staged at Autopolis in Oita Prefecture over October 17th to the 18th.

The All-Japan Formula NIPPON of 2009 has now only 2 rounds remaining in the season. Over August 29 to 30th, Round 7 of this series came to Autopolis (in Oita Prefecture), three years since the last Formula NIPPON event was held at this circuit and for the first race ever that the new SWIFT, FN09 chassis competes over this track.
GRM's French driver, Loic Duval challenged this one race currently ranking at the Series Top position, determined to exert all the best of his power to come as close as possible to here win the championship title!


August 29th (Saturday), with the late-summer, strong sun lighting upon the Gairinzan-mountain ranges of Aso from the skies above, the day began with a Free Practice session held from 09:45 to10:45.

Powered by Honda HR09E engine, the No. 31 machine of NAKAJIMA RACING driven by Loic Duval appealed its strength from the start of the day, rewriting the course records from lap to lap, also striking out the best time of 1'32.649. Loic was completely set and ready to go onto the qualifying heats of that afternoon placing 1st.

The Qualifying session of Knock-out style started, still under warm temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius (Track temperature: 40 degrees C).
First, the 20 minutes of Q1 heat commenced where Loic marked the 3rd position time (1'33.023) on the 7th lap, and qualified for the Q2. Then, during the 10 minutes of this next heat, time was further improved and Loic placed 2nd behind his Japanese teammate Takashi Kogure (1'32.724). With this, NAKAJIMA RACING drivers were in 1-2 positions for the Q3, the last heat of Qualifying run by the fastest 8 machines. On the 3rd Lap of the Q3, NAKAJIMA’s French pilot marked his own best time from Sector 1 to 2, and further on to Sector 3, then after 30R (known as, the "jet-coaster straight"), a part of this track with a drastic slope-down and out to the 60R Corner bending to the right, Loic coursed-out, hitting the tyre-barrier and causing the machine to suffer damage on its front section! In spite of it, Loic somehow managed to get back on the track, but due to this unbelievable incident he could only finish 8th in the Qualifying.

"It was my mistake... I pushed too hard on the 60R, so the left-rear tyres landed the turf and spun. I wanted to finish the qualifying in the upper rows, and gain some advantage for the race tomorrow, but I blew away the chances by myself. This is a course where passing is very difficult, but tomorrow, even in the worst case I'll try winning at least 3 – 4 points, and finish the race in front of Benoit (Treluyer, LAWSON TEAM IMPUL, no.2 and 10th after the Qualifying) who's currently the 2nd contender of the series title," with still some regrets showing off his face, Loic Duval worked to shift his gear towards the next day's race that must be battled extra-hard!

Then came something worse for NAKAJIMA RACING and the team's French pilot, Loic Duval after all the sessions were over on Saturday and questions were posed against them. "With the Yellow-flag during the Q2 session (14:52'15 – 14:52'21), No. 31 driven by Loic Duval who was running through the subject section of the track at that very timing will not be accepted for the time it marked, and whereas he (Loic) should have finished his heats after the Q2, due to a judging error by the stewards of the meeting mistakenly allowing No. 31 to advance to Q3, the time which was to be his Q3 result must be disregarded and that result from the Q2 (which was 1'48.195) is to be counted instead. Therefore, this driver's classification after qualifying must be amended with two positions down from 8th, and start the Race from 10th." Finding this decision to be unjust, the team petitioned, on the reasons that 1) Loic Duval running right behind that very machine causing the yellow flag, could not catch sight of the flag and the situation 2), his position after Q3 could only be 8th (not lower); all was denied by the stewards, and thus Loic Duval had to start his race from the very back row. The officials who misjudged were charged with penalty fines.


The morning after, on the 30th (Sunday), in the brisk breeze of Aso Region, Free Practice session began from 09:45 where Loic Duval checked carefully into his machine which his team mechanics worked over night to fix – back to almost a perfect state. After all the final setting was completed commented the NAKAJIMA RACING’s French driver, "Machine is in a great condition. I thank the crew for it. Starting from the 10th on the grid, plus this track has very few overtaking points so I know it's going to be a tough race, but I'll just go out there and give it a shot!"

At 14:30, in beautiful weather of 30 degrees C, and the track warmed up to as high as 50 degrees, the Race was now ready to begin! After the formation lap and with the red lights blacking out the 12 cars jumped out, roaring off for the 54 laps of fierce battling!
Loic Duval on No. 31 of NAKAJIMA RACING starting from the 10th went storming towards the 1st turn from the Out. However No. 31 makes an inevitable course-off and fell to the tail of the field. From there, not much could be done other than patiently running in the back for some laps. As there was another machine that pitted in on the 12th lap, the 27-year old driver gained one position to 11th but still not reaching any aggressive, fast-enough speed to overtake the cars in front. After not too long, Loic took the strategy to pit-stop early in the 17th lap where his crew did a fantastic job to re-fuel, tyre-change, and the French pilot got quickly back on the track (with a 15.2 seconds stop)! From there, Loic Duval regained speed of the 1 minute 37 seconds' pace, and in the 26th lap which by then all the machines had finished their 1st pit-stops (some machines stopped too long), No. 31 found itself up to 5th position. And further, with another two machines having to make second pit-stops, Loic rose to third in the 36th lap! Then, in the last part of the race, No. 31 managed to keep its position with a good control of the gap holding off the chasers and all the way to chequer. By finishing 3rd in this round, added with Benoit Treluyer finishing 8th (1 point gained and now the two drivers with 11 points apart, even if their points come even in the next round, Loic has more number of Wins), thus Loic Duval confirmed his 2009 series-champion glory at this very moment! Congratulations!

LOIC DUVAL:
"A very troubled qualifying for me yesterday, and a tough race today, but I’m glad to have finished 3rd. Start was not so bad, but with one machine closing in towards me, I had to avoid contact and thus it was like getting pushed off track. Also with heavy fuel, it was hard to keep up with the machines in front but the early pit-stop proved to be effective, with good effects also lasting through the laps that followed, and I picked up a good pace from there on. But afterwards, the steering condition turned bad - machine kept moving to the right while there were other troubles like the fuel pump not working too well - and with things like this to worry about, it was never an easy race!"

"Today, my great teammate as well as my great rival, Kogure won the race, the Team winning the title as well, and also with mine (series-champion), this is really the best day for all of us, -- what more can we ask for!
Especially given the unfortunate development of events yesterday, having to start the race from the very back and catch up, the points-battle with Benoit ... all these things did put some stress and pressure on me, but when I heard over the radio that my title was confirmed, I felt very grateful to my family, the team, the sponsors, media and all the fans who have always trusted and supported me ... I am just so glad that many people's favor could be returned with this in some way or the other I really thank everybody!"


Round 8, the very last round of Formula NIPPON, will be staged at Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi Prefecture) over September 29 - 30th to close the season.

Over August 22-23, SUPER GT Round 6, "The 38th International Pokka GT Summer Special" took place at Suzuka Circuit, the second GT event to be held at this circuit this season. Up to last year, this race which used to be competed over 1000 kilometers has been shortened to 700km this time, which means 'speediness' becomes the other challenge that is added to toughness of the endurance-racing. From GRM, Andre Couto who has the experience winning this event before, and the 2nd place podium-winner in the previous GT round, and Loic Duval showing excellent performances and achievements this season in also the Formula NIPPON series, came to tackle this long-hours marathon battling in Suzuka.


On August 22nd (Saturday) under cloudy skies, the day proceeded according to the scheduled program, starting with the Official Practice session in the morning, followed by Official Qualifying heats done on the knock-out style. Then, to prepare for the last hours in the Race on Sunday which will be after-dark, "Miracle Night Session" (with lights-on) was also run, so all the teams and drivers stayed busy throughout the day indeed.

With the temperatures reading 32 degrees Celsius (Track temp.: 38 degrees C), the Qualifying sessions began, with first the GT500/GT300 running mixed, then from 15:30, Session 1 by just the GT500 class with 14 cars (for 10 minutes, to pick out the fastest 12) followed.
No. 32 EPSON NSX set out to the course with first Loic Duval on the steering, marked the 6th position time (1'56.792) and qualified to move onto Session 2 (where next, the top 8 gets chosen).
In the S2 held from 16:00 for 10 minutes, the GRM French driver continued to take the steer, improving the time to 1'56.508 and advanced to the last session placing 8th. Finally, from 16:30 began Session 3 where the driving was handed to Loic’s Japanese teammate Yuhki Nakayama due to this race's regulations, and the pair finished the session at 8th with the time of 1'56.954.
After the qualifying heats commented Loic Duval, "It is nice to make the S3, but even better if we could have placed in a higher position because we were carrying less weight - but tomorrow's race is going to be a long one. If we can do a sure race as looking out for the life of our tyres and the machine, then good results should follow! I'll do my best!"

Meanwhile, No. 39 DUNLOP SARD SC430 was struck with a happening in the Official Practice session which began at 10:40. As the session began with Couto's teammate Kohei Hirate driving, on Lap 14 a spin-off occurred at exit of the Degner Curve, and the front section of the machine got damaged. Therefore, as the team’s efforts now had to be directed more towards fixing the problem, the machine setting fell behind for other sessions to follow, and the team had to go onto the afternoon without the best solution. Hirate went to challenge again in the S1 time trial, but their time only stuck to 13th position (1'57.320) with no farther improvement. Given these circumstances, the Portuguese driver drove 2 laps in the first heat of the mixed session in order to fulfill the standard time (S1 - 107%), then in the lights-on "Miracle Night Session" from 18:30, another 10 laps were tried. "We couldn't get so much done today, but in the long race tomorrow we'll go persistently and catch up!" said Andre, with a highly motivated tone!


Then came the 23rd (Sunday), the Race Day, and though it was under somewhat cloudy skies again from early morning, near 58,000 SUPER GT fans turned up to enjoy the famous, hot-summer event staged each year at Suzuka Circuit.

30 minutes of the Free Practice session took place from 10:10AM Sunday, and the 14 machines of GT500 and 20 of GT300 classes started the day as giving final checks into the machines. With the approach of the Race, gradually the rain clouds started to spread over the circuit and 15 minutes before Start, some droplets of rain did come falling. No specific decision for the Wet was announced however, and therefore the 121 laps of the Pokka GT 700km race got underway on schedule, from 15:00 (Temperature: 30 degrees C / Track temp.: 38 degrees C) with everybody still on slick tyres.

Andre Couto was the first driver for No. 39 and from the beginning ran at 13th position for some while. In the 10th Lap, No. 39 gained one position up to 12th and continued to run consistently in this placing, going rather easy on the tyres. After 29 laps, upon the first pit stop the switch of drivers was made to Kohei Hirate. With Hirate taking over the steady and careful driving, the team kept the 13th position until the second pit stop which was made on the 64th Lap. The team's Portuguese driver then took the steering again when the race was yet halfway through. The time was 17:13PM and with the weather all recovered by then, sun was still shining strong from the west.
Couto clocked better and better records over his own best-times, going at quite a high pace in the 1 minute and 59 seconds' but a bit passed the 75th Lap, the time stopped improving.
On the 86th Lap, car no. 8 (ARTA NSX) running 2nd had troubles and went in flames by the 130R of the track so the Safety Car came in. Other cars started pitting in one after the other, using the time during the SC run, and the pit area became jammed! No. 39 also made its 3rd pit stop on the 90th Lap, which was when DUNLOP SARD SC430 was handed over to Andre's teammate Hirate again. The race was soon resumed in the 91st Lap, and No. 39 found itself up in 8th position.
At 18:30, with 1 more hour to go, "lights-on" was mandated, and the battle now entered the Night Session segment. Machine No. 39 driven by Kohei Hirate positioned up to 7th place when another competitor was given a penalty on the 110th lap. Hirate stayed concentrated till the very end, and took the chequer safeguarding this position.

ANDRE COUTO:
"We started from the 13th position. It was a tough and long race but to finish 7th and score some points is not bad. The next round will be held on a home-course for the TOYOTA teams, so we’ll aim at getting on the podium again. Please give us your warm support!!"

On the other hand, Loic Duval on No. 32, HONDA NSX starting from 8th position was passed by a car from behind in the opening lap around the Final Corner, and dropped one position to 9th. The challenge-full French GT driver held on for several laps more running in this position but in the 10th Lap on the S-Curve got contacted by a GT300 machine, and could not help but course off! This cost No. 32 'big', to lose several positions down to 14th, but even then tried staying on. In the 13th Lap however, Loic had to pit for an emergency stop. With an engine trouble due to overheat, unfortunately early depart from the race was the only choice left for he and the team.

LOIC DUVAL:
"Getting pushed out by a GT300 machine, there was not much I could do otherwise. To retire and leave the race so soon ... how frustrating – that is all I can say ..."


The next one to come, the SUPER GT Round 7 will be held at Fuji Speedway on September 12th – 13th.

With only three more rounds to go in the season, the 2009 All-Japan Formula NIPPON series have now arrived at its 6th stage held at Twin Ring Motegi (in Tochigi Prefecture) over August 8th - 9th.
GRM driver Loic Duval who has been giving brilliant performances, especially by the recent two consecutive pole-to-wins from this series, came on to this round as the points-leader (currently with 37 points), with the aim to grab another one and maybe deck 'three in a row' victories!


On August 8th (Saturday), the first day of the two-day event, Loic Duval on No. 31 of NAKAJIMA RACING was again dominant with the top time (1'34.439) from the practice session held in the morning, with 0.9 seconds lead over all the rest.
From 14:20 that afternoon under clouds and the temperature of 27 degrees Celsius (Track temperature: 35 degree C), the Official Qualifying heats commenced on a knock-out style. In Q1, the qualifying heat (of 20 minutes) where the fastest 11 are decided, Loic Duval on No. 31 with used tyres made just 5 laps and casually marked the top time of 1'34.824. Nonetheless, in the Q2 (of 10 minutes) that followed to pick out the 8 fastest, the same machine on new tyres came 0.093 seconds behind Takashi Kogure on No. 32 (1'34.295), the teammate who has been just as quick as Loic the past many rounds. Then, onto the Q3 (10 minutes) going in 2nd position, again the French driver of NAKAJIMA RACING came 0.133 seconds behind his Japanese teammate to finish the Official Qualifying at 2nd position (1'34.388) of the 8 top grids chosen from these heats.

LOIC DUVAL:
"Machine was good, but in Q3 somehow the tyres did not warm up the way they should, and at the 1st turn some under-steer was felt. Perhaps that led to the time loss of near 0.1 second? But I’m behind the pole with just a small gap, so let’s do it tomorrow! Machine is quite competitive, with both the feeling and the balance coming well, so I’ll make a fine start, do a good race against my best teammate and my best rival Kogure, which will also bring superb results to my team!"



Coming onto August 9th (Sunday), a thin overcast of clouds spread over the morning skies above Twin Ring Motegi from the Free Practice session. The 13 Formula NIPPON pilots all checked into their machine settings towards the Race scheduled for that mid-afternoon. Until then and during the next few hours following, the drivers attended the Pit Walk and made friendly visits to those zones around the Grandstand where their fans and supporters were sitting in groups.

Finally, as the clock turned 14:30, the battle of 52 laps started under skies with still a light shade of clouds, but looking to stay dry for the afternoon.
No. 31, Loic Duval of NAKAJIMA RACING starting the race from the inside of the front-row slightly failed with the Start, and positioned down to 3rd in the opening lap. On top of that, No. 32 who took the lead from start was charged with a jump-start penalty which cost him a drastic drop of positions. Here, the one who jumped out with a brilliant rocket start from the 5th grid was No. 36 (PETRONAS TEAM TOM's, Andre Lotterer), who quickly came to stick near Loic Duval on No. 31! From thereafter, during the first several laps of the race, machines No. 31 and No. 36 fought constantly with only a tight gap between them, in fact the two created an almost 40-seconds gap apart from the backfield of 3rd and behind, and went on like this until mid-race.
Then, coming onto Lap 31, the two leaders with only 0.5 seconds apart pitted in at the same timing! And whereas No. 36 finished re-fueling and tyre-change in 20.8 seconds, No. 31 which had to refill more fuel spent 24.6 seconds for this pit stop and finally got back on track 8-seconds behind. So from here again, the French driver of NAKAJIMA RACING now running 2nd forged ahead at full-power, clicking fabulous times in the 1’38.’s, and worked to reduce the gap to the leader from one lap to the next. The gap between them was down to less than 5 seconds by the time the race counted 10 laps to go. Withstanding this hard threat from behind, as one other veteran driver, Andre Lotterer showed very stable driving, managed to stay in control and maintained his lead from NAKAJIMA RACING’s French pilot till the very end. Loic Duval got the chequered flag at 2nd place, 2.259 seconds behind the winner, but was able to keep his points-leader standing ahead of Benoit Treluyer (LAWSON TEAM IMPUL, no. 2), with a 6-points margin.

LOIC DUVAL:
"In today's race, the Start meant everything. But in the aim for the championship, a penalty is absolutely not allowed, so when I noticed a skim sense of jump-start from the teammate next to me, I had to repress a bit and my start didn't go right. In the early laps my pace was not as bad, but on hi-speed corners (on 2nd turn exit and on the S-curve) Andre went quite ahead, and it became very difficult to pass him. So then I concentrated more on doing my race without making mistakes. It also took me a longer time for pit stop, so in the remainder of this race I thought more for the championship, avoided taking risks to make a sure, 2nd place finish. I also had to give considerations for heat-up of the brakes. So overall, I'm satisfied with this result, which keeps me in the rank-top position. I'll continue to do my best in the remaining two rounds of the series. Please give me your lasting support!!"

The next Formula NIPPON, Round 7 will be held at Autopolis in Oita Prefecture over August 29 and the 30th.