Super GT Sepang: Impul leads GT-R 1-2 finish for long awaited win, Weider Honda HSV-010 grabs third

The Calsonic Impul GT-R, one of the most recognisable GT500 cars on the grid, has won Round 4 of the 2010 Autobacs Super GT Series in Sepang. The blue Nissan won from pole, ahead of the Motul Autech GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama, Benoit Treluyer), which started the race third on the grid. Taking the final podium spot and “best of the rest” title was the Weider HSV-010 (Takashi Kogure, Loic Duval) to keep Honda fans happy.

For a cooler time in the cockpit, the race started at 4pm. Starting from pole, Tsugio Matsuda in the Impul GT-R managed to stay ahead of a pack of Honda HSV-010 pursuers and stayed in the lead until pitting at the end of lap 25. The Raybrig HSV-010 (Takuya Izawam Naoki Yamamoto) and Motul Autech GT-R temporarily took over the lead, but collided to hand the lead back to Impul with 10 laps remaining. Matsuda handed driving duties to Ronnie Quintarelli, who cruised to the team’s first win since the final race of the 2008 season.

It was an emotional win for Impul, whose founder and manager Kazuyoshi Hoshino, formerly known as “the fastest man in Japan” during his own driving career, shed tears after the race.

Lexus Team Petronas Tom’s finished eighth, two places up from their grid position. Not being among the front runners was entirely expected, as the 68kgs of ballast they were carrying was the highest in the grid. As a result, Tom’s surrendered their championship lead to Lexus Team Le Mans Eneos, who finished fourth in Sepang – the best of the Lexus SC430 teams.

The GT300 class was won by M7 Mutiara Motors Amemiya SGC7, which started the race from second. It was the fifth win for Team Amemiya at Sepang in the ten GT races held here and a big “present” for the team’s main sponsor – Johor Bahru based Mutiara Motors.

Full race results and gallery after the jump.

1 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R - Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli - 1:50'54.084
2 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R - Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer - 0'13.333
3 18 Weider HSV-010 - Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval - 0'16.673
4 6 ENEOS SC430 - Daisuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim - 0'28.242
5 100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 - Takuya Izawa/Naoki Yamamoto - 0'30.809
6 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 - Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons - 0'54.074
7 35 MJ KRAFT SC430 - Hiroaki Ishiura/Kazuya Oshima - 0'55.339
8 1 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 - Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer - 1'07.541
9 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R - J.P.Lima de Oliveira/Hironobu Yasuda - 1'20.339
10 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 - Andre Couto/Kohei Hirate - 1'24.343
11 8 ARTA HSV-010 Ralph Firman/Yuji Ide - 1Lap
12 17 KEIHIN HSV-010 - Toshihiro Kaneishi/Koudai Tsukakoshi - 3Laps

[zenphotopress number=999 album=1225]

GALLERY: Super GT Sepang by Nasruddin H.T. Productions
[zenphotopress number=999 album=1216]

Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.