5ZIGEN NSX wins Super Taikyu Rd.5 Fuji

Finally, this moment came...
5ZIGEN NSX won the ST3 class in SUPER TAIKYU (Enduro) Round 5!!

The 5th round of the Super Taikyu 2009 was taken place as 400km (250 miles) race at Fuji Speedway August 2nd. This was the 4th race for 5ZIGEN NSX (Rd.4 Tokachi was canceled.) The results the Team 5ZIGEN got were, second in Rd.1, retired in Rd.2, 3rd in Rd.3. We were all expected that it should be the time we can bring back the biggest trophy.

Mechanics replace brake system after the session. Symptom of brake problem was appeared in the qualify session for 2nd driver. (starting positions were decided by the total time of two drivers of each team) Even the car had the brake trouble, 5ZIGEN qualified at 3rd following two rotary turbo FD3S RX-7s which have advantage in high speed course of Fuji.

The starting driver, Hiranaka struggled with unstable handling in the rain.
The car still had bad balance in the full tank condition since the first race of this year. Same as other races, we dropped some positions at the beginning of the race.

Now, the NSX started catching up rivals. Once gasoline was consumed, the balance was improved. Some had mechanical troubles and others spun out or course-offed in tough rain condition. Strong and powerful RX-7s had been no trouble, but they could not pace up because of their tight gas mileage. 5ZIGEN lead the class in the middle of race.

The last stint. 2nd driver Matsuura relayed to Yoshimoto after building one minute of margin to the car behind. At the last 10 minutes, Yoshimoto got drive through penalty by passing in yellow flag. The winner of round 1, Makiguchi Engineering M3 got lead of 7 seconds when the NSX backed to course.
We almost gave up, but the drama was prepared at the last... M3 spun at the last turn of the last lap!

Three Musketeers of 5ZIGEN, (from left) Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Hiroki Yoshimoto and Kousuke Matsuura stand the top of podium. They controlled the NSX in the dramatic rain race and brought it to the victory lane. Now, Team 5ZIGEN is 2nd in the point standing. We all hope them winning rest of 3 races and getting series champion. Right after 400km race at Fuji, all drivers, engineers and mechanics had flown to Malaysia. They are having 12-hour endurance race at Sepang with FD2 Civic Type-R in this weekend 8/7-8. I am hoping I can report another victory by 5ZIGEN Allstars next week.