The “SUGO GT 300KM RACE,” Round 5 of the 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at Sportsland Sugo (one lap: 3.704 km, 81 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture and the GT300 class, the HANKOOK PORSCHE team of Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Masami Kageyama claimed the victory. This is the second race for the team since Round 2 at Suzuka, and with the win they posted that time, this makes two wins in two appearances this season.
Winner Comments
No.33 HANKOOK PORSHE
Hiromitsu Kinoshita: “The rain didn’t seem to be all that heavy to me, so I chose intermediate (shallow tread) tires, as did many others in the GT500. There would be a chance that wet (deep tread) tires in the latter stages of the race, when the track surface was getting dry, would not hold up. I knew that when the surface was dry, our tire compound would give us an advantage. Just that when I left the pits, it felt like I was driving on ice. In the final stages of the race, I got very apt advice from Kageyama over the radio, the lag between the cars behind me, and he told me, ‘Go for it!’ which gave me back my composure. It was really a help to me. I’ll be taking part in Round 7 at Fuji and in the final round at Motegi.”
Masami Kageyama: “I am so overcome with emotion that I could cry. Budget restrictions meant we could only take part in four races this season. This was the second. The team put together a good machine for us, and HANKOOK (winning Round 2) made great tires for us different from those at Suzuka. On top of that, I want to give my thanks to Kinoshita who raced under some very trying conditions. The last win was thanks to me (laughs), but this time belongs to Kinoshita and the HANKOOK tires that were so good in the rain. And my thanks to heaven, which was on our side this time.”
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