The Ferrari F430 GT has come off the back of a highly successful weekend and amongst the important results gained was a second Japanese Super GT win of the season for orange car of Team Daishin which completed a pole-to-flag victory.

The Ferrari F430 GT has come off the back of a highly successful weekend, wrapping up the International GT Open and Spanish GT titles in Portugal, while amongst the important results gained was a second Japanese Super GT win of the season for the bright-orange example entered by Team Daishin which raced from a strong pole-to-flag victory in the GT300 class in the ninth and final race of the season held at the Twin Ring Motegi.

Team Daishin runs the only F430 GT currently racing in Japan, and after a race at the weekend that was beautifully driven by Tomonobu Fujii and Takayuki Aoki (who had paired together in the GT300 class machine to win the seventh round of the series held at the Fuji circuit in September) they crossed the line first ahead of the Mazda RX-7 of Taniguchi/Orime and the Lexus of Orido/Kataoka who did enough to win the GT300 class championship title.

In the GT300 class race once the lights went green at Motegi, the pole-sitter Fujii began to run away in the lead in the early going. Behind him, the teams involved in the title race battled fiercely for position as Fujii continued to build his lead in the Ferrari. Fuji made his once scheduled pit stop of the race near the mid-point in the race on lap 26. With the Ferrari’s relatively large fuel consumption compared to its rivals the pit stop took 33.6 seconds. However the lead built up by Fujii was enough to keep the #81 car effectively in the lead when Takayuki Aoki returned to the track as the second-stint driver.

On the next lap Nobuteru Taniguchi in the #7 RX-7 made his pit stop and rather than trying to shorten pit stop time the team elected to change all four tyres, but the engine failed to start immediately after the tyre change and it eventually took more than 50 seconds to complete the pit stop. This delay took much of the pressure off Aoki who was now running in the lead in the lurid-orange Team Daishin Ferrari F430 GT. Even after a four-lap safety car run the number of back-markers between the Ferrari and the second placed Mazda eliminated any immediate danger of Aoki losing the lead. The chequered came out when the GT500 class leaders finished their 53rd lap and this gave Aoki and Fujii their second win of the season, following that win at Fuji in round seven, making it two wins for Ferrari out of the final three races of the season.

Finishing in second place came the Mazda RX7 of Taniguchi and Orime. After dropping to fourth position following the team’s long pit stop, second-stint driver Orime pushed hard to pass the #2 Shiden of Hiroki Katoh and Hiroki Yoshimoto on lap 32 and the #9 Lexus IS350 shared by Manabu Orido and Tatsuya Kataoka one lap later and then began the task of closing in on Aoki's Ferrari. Orime had in fact whittled the gap with the Ferrari down to less than a second when the race ended. Although Orime missed taking the top spot on the winners podium it had been a spectacular race for the #7 Mazda RX-7 which had suffered mechanical problems after the morning free practice session and had been forced to change its engine. However the mechanics had been able to complete the replacement in about three hours and get the car ready for the race. Finishing third was the #19 Lexus IS350 of Orido and Kataoka. In the early stages of the race the car had trailed the #7 Mazda RX-7 but a no-tyre-change pit strategy saved valuable time. Although second-stint driver Kataoka would suffer from lack of grip in the closing stages of the race, he was able to hold off the charge of the #11 Jim Gainer Ferrari F430 of Tetsuya Tanaka and Katsuyuki Hiranaka. This Ferrari F430 was specially self-built-and-developed by the Jim Gainer team. This finishing order handed the driver championship' title to the #19 Lexus drivers', Orido and Kataoka, along with the teams' championship title.

Takayuki Aoki (#81 Team Daishin Ferrari F430 GT): “Having won the last race of the season, it is going to feel good during the off-season, I am really happy today. The fact that the safety car came out in the race today was something we could have done without. The seven [#7 Mazda RX-7] that was moving up so fast was running on a change of four tyres like the ones we were running on, and that is why they were catching up. Calculating the relative paces and the number of laps remaining, I didn’t think we could be passed, but the manager came on the radio and encouraged me by saying that the real race starts once they catch up. After that I felt better and just concentrated on running with no mistakes.”

Tomonobu Fujii (#81 Team Daishin Ferrari F430 GT): “We won three pole positions this season but were unable to win any of those races, so I’m especially happy with today’s win. I went out from the start with the intention of building up a margin of advantage but the seven [#7 Mazda RX-7] was faster than we expected, so I pushed it and kept my mind on getting the machine in good shape. We were planning to change just two tires at first, but our owner [Nobuyuki] Oyagi advised us to “Go with four.” That was the right move and it enabled us to win. I want to thank the team, the staff and the owner plus everyone else involved.”