MALAYSIA—A 49th lap masterstroke from Seiji Ara gave the Woodone Clarion GT-R an historic second successive Malaysian round win in Round Four of the Super GT International Series at the Sepang Circuit on Sunday, 22 June 2008.
With this win Ara and Brazilian teammate Joao Paolo Lima de Oliveira became the first partnership ever to register two consecutive wins in the Malaysian round, thanks to an exciting overtaking manoeuvre from Ara which put the Woodone GT-R ahead of the Motul Autech GT-R of pole sitters Masataka Yanagida and Michael Krumm, who had led from the start.
It was also the second year in a row that the Woodone car won at Sepang after coming from behind, as their victory last year came after a tremendous battle from 14th on the grid. This time it was from fourth, which significantly also meant a third straight win for Nissan at Sepang.
"It was easy for me in the end because Joao Paolo had put us in a position in the front. I was always confident that we would have the performance to do well here, plus our tyres (Yokohama) gave us an advantage. On that turn, I saw that we had a chance as the No 22 (Motul Autech GT-R) was going wide, while I was able to make the turn on a small radius, so we took it all the way to the finish," said Ara.
For de Oliveira, it was a matter of managing expectations although he was quite confident of the car's ability to do the job at Sepang.
"It is absolutely fantastic to come here two years and win it two years in a row. But this time it was a different story. Last year, we went from 14th to win with a big advantage, but this time it was really tight. We had good expectations, but this time we had to fight and keep on fighting for the win," said de Olivera.
The GT300 class saw Kota Sasaki register his third win of the weekend while teammate Tetsuya Yamano registered his third GT300 victory at Sepang on board the Cusco Subaru Impreza. Sasaki had earlier registered two victories in the Aston Martin Asia Cup which was the support event for the weekend, making it a memorable weekend for himself.
Results
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GT500:
- 1. Joao Paulo Lima Oliveira (Bra)-Seiji Ara (Jpn) Woodone Advan Clarion GT-R 1:48:26.974s
- 2. Michael Krumm (Ger)-Masataka Yanagida (Jpn) Motul Autech GT-R 1:48:29.366
- 3. Ryo Michigami-Takashi Kogure (Jpn) Takata Dome NSX 1:48:42.473s.
- 1. Kota Sasaki-Tetsuya Yamano (Jpn) Cusco Dunlop Subaru Impreza 1:50:11.109s
- 2. Hironobu Yasuda-Kazuki Hoshino (Jpn) Mola Leopalace Z 1:50:15.824s
- 3. Ryo Orime-Hiroyuki Iiri (Jpn) ORC Amemiya SGC RX-7 1:50:30.677s.
GT300:
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