…and as the rain began to fall ever harder, the Super GT cars charged on; fueled by the calm determination only those behind the wheel know. We pick up on the continuing coverage mid way through Super GT’s eighth and final round of the 2012 season at Twin Ring Motegi. In the last post I talked in length about the team and car positions in regards to the race and championship, so in this post we’ll just take it easy and enjoy the shots. These purple Cosmos surround the walkways of the race track and add a nice touch to the landscape.
While it’s performance might not have been ideal for the Mugen team, at least they had a great looking car out on track.
The Green Tec & Leon AMG SLS does it’s best to run from the Epson HSV for as long as it can. This team ended up 8th in the Motegi 250km.
Massive GT300 fight heading into the easy left that twists into a chicane. This is one of my favorite places to shoot because of the head on angles, and the way you can see a large portion of the track from where they come out of the right hand turn.
The two cars in the middle of the pack, behind the ARTA, were the Mugen CR-Z and the DIJON NEON CALLAWAY WAKO’S ED Corvette, a.k.a. the team with the longest name. The CR-Z ended up trumping the Corvette by a few spots.
The ENEOS SC430 passing the Green Tec SLS coming out of the left hander.
The WedsSport SC430 creeping up on the BMW that had subsequently been recovered from it’s spin into the gravel.
GSR Hatsune Miku BMW partially piloted by Tanaguchi himself soared to a respectable fourth position. This team had a great year, and I hope they can continue it into 2013. The Good Smile Race team is very unique and special to Japan.
It’s incredible to see the GT500 machines overtake the GT300 cars so easily. The power difference is quite visible at this distance.
A crowd favorite, the Calsonic GTR ignites it’s converter as it downshifts into the hard left.
Neck breaker.
Honestly, before I knew it the race was over. My friend and I were actually surprised when we saw the flags drop because it had seemed so short. Super GT is an endurance series after all, but this seemed much shorter than the other races I’ve attended. I think it’s partially because we were caught up in photographing it.
So we made our way back to the now soaked paddock to watch the ending ceremonies and trophy presentation. Because it was the last race of the season, all the drivers from every team line up and give things away to the crowd who comes onto the track. I ended up getting an APR Prius mouse pad ^^
The GT500 podium ceremony.
The GT300 championship podium. Endless Taizan team ended up with a clutch win in the race to put them on top for the 2012 championship. The Hankook Porsche team in a very close second, and the Triple A Vantage team third. The team director for Endless Taizan was very thankful to all the fans and supporters.
Lastly, the GT500 champion standings. The S Road MOLA team snagged the championship in the previous round, claiming their second consecutive win; a very successful result. The ZENT team claimed the second spot with their victory in Motegi, and in third, another SC430 team, the Kobeco Denso team. Sorry about the angles on these – I was standing on track pretty close to the podium.
Just so happens that we were standing right in front of NOB when the drivers came out. I’m pretty sure the race queens were trying to take his pants off in this picture because he’s such a cool guy.
That wraps up the final round of Motegi here at NDF. With the JAF race already over, the 2012 Super GT series is officially done. We’ll have to wait a few more months until we get some more Japanese racing action, but you can bet NDF will be there to grab it. Thanks for visiting! Oh, two posts on a Monday morning ~ lucky guys…
very nice! thank you for sharing
beautiful photography and nice coverage. I enjoy it