Motul Autech GT-R clinches GT500 crown

MANILA, Philippines – The final round of this year’s SUPER GT series saw an amazing comeback of the #1 Motul-Autech GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli from 12th to 2nd place, displacing the #12 Calsonic GT-R to secure enough points to win their second GT500 Championship. Held last November 15 at the Twin Ring Motegi, the rain did not stop the Motul-Autech team from charging up the leader board during the entire race. “I don’t know what to say, Ronnie did a fantastic job in the first half and that pit work was astounding. We’ve been diligently practicing our driver changes and pit work all year and it was the effort from the whole team that spurred me on in my out-lap. It was an incredibly tense race. However, I feel like we were able to display a performance worthy of a champion,” says NISMO Team Principal Yutaka Suzuki.

Due to strong rain that fell during the previous day’s qualification sessions, the #1 GT-R’s settings did not quite match the road surface conditions and they failed to advance to Q2. For this reason they found themselves starting from 12th place on the grid. As the weather began to improve and the racing line gradually drying up, Quintarelli drove a fast paced performance that saw the #1 GT-R pass rival after rival with each lap and, by lap 10, he had climbed up to 6th place. With the road surface completely dry, the erosion of every competitor’s rain tires became severe and one after another all teams headed into the pits at around lap 20. The NISMO team, which boasts some of the fastest pit work in the SUPER GT, managed to send the #1 GT-R back out onto the course as much as 3 seconds faster than their rival, IMPUL. Matsuda then rewarded this hard work with a tenacious drive that never gave the #12 GT-R a chance to regain its position.

This is Matsuda’s second championship in a row following on from last year and, in Quintarelli’s case, after combining this consecutive championship with those of 2011 and 2012, he has now taken an impressive 4 SUPER GT titles.

In the Philippines, Motul is exclusively distributed by Autoplus Sportzentrium. For details on how to improve your car’s performance, call 726-0399 log on to www.motul.com.ph. Motul oil and lubricants are also available in select dealers nationwide.