LEXUS TEAM PETRONAS TOM’S
2009 Super GT International Series
RD. 4 Sepang International Circuit (日本語言語)
Raceday, 21st June 2009

Weather: Overcast, humid and dry
Temperature: 28 - 33°C (ambient) / 40 - 46°C (track)
Humidity: 80 - 89%

Format: Rolling start, 54 laps

It was another solid and strategic performance by the LEXUS TEAM PETRONAS TOM'S finishing 6th at round four of the 2009 Super GT Series at the Sepang International Circuit, the team's "home away from home" round last weekend. Coming into the round with a significant weight handicap of 60Kg, courtesy of the team's double podium finishes at round 2 and 3, the 6th place finish will play a role in the team's weight load for the next round at Sugo, while still keeping the team in the championship fight.

Dogged by the typical Southeast Asian weather over the weekend, the morning downpour during Saturday's free practice hampered efforts to find the best setup for the qualifying. Added to the 60Kg weight handicap, qualifying proved a difficult session for the team, missing the Super Lap after qualifying 12th. Underdeterred by the poor qualifying, both Andre Lotterer and Juichi Wakisaka produced a solid performance on Sunday to finish 6th adding five more points to their tally, maintaining their second place in both the drivers' and teams' championship standings.

Qualifying
Held in dry conditions, the team's predicament were hampered by the morning showers during the free practice session that made it difficult for the team to find the optimum set up for the session. Despite using the data from previous races and tests as the basis for the setup, the drivers suffered handling issues. Andre Lotterer's time of 2:00.546min on his final attempt was only good enough for 12th spot on the grid.

Race
As a result of another car penalised for swapping engines before the start, the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 were promoted to 11th on the grid. Just prior to the start, a problem with the pole position car forced the NISMO to start from the pit, the team moved up to 10th. Starting driver, Andre Lotterer made the most of a great start to gain a position on the opening lap. Not long after the German gained another position on Lap 6, maintaining his position until the scheduled pit stop and driver change.

Pitting in at the end of the 25th lap, the German handed over the reigns of the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 to teammate Juichi Wakisaka, who also produced a solid drive. Gaining two further positions during his stint, the Japanese was closing down on the Kondo Racing No. 24 car in 5th place in the final laps. On the final lap, the Japanese ace had the opportunity to take fifth from the No. 24 GT-R on the approach of the final corner. A near collision with the No. 24 into the corner prompted the Japanese to back off, content with a 6th place finish, 5 points and a weight reprieve.

Juichi Wakisaka (JPN)
“I am really happy that we could race better than expected with 60kg handicap weight. Unfortunately, we were not able to set the car better in the qualifying session but in the race we managed to finished 6th to get another 5 point to keep us second in the championship. The pace was actually pretty good during my session. In the beginning I was concerned about the tyres because at the end of Andre's stint, the tyres began to degrade quite badly and he had a slightly shorter stint compared to mine. So in my stint, I started out quite conservatively but towards the mid-way point, I felt the tyres were still quite good and I started to up the pace. I might have been able to catch the No. 24 car. Anyway, by the last five laps I was already closing in on the No.24 and had the chance to overtake but I also knew that an accident would do more harm so I settled for 6th and am happy with that!"

Andre Lotterer (DEU)
“Finishing 6th here at Sepang after what was a really poor qualifying and taking into account our weight disadvantage, was a good result for us! Moreover, we had the best finish amongst the Lexus teams. The car was actually quite quick in the corners but we lost out to the Hondas on the straight. Anyhow, if we had more dry track time, we might have been able to find the best set up for the race. The 6th position in the morning practice on the raceday did suggest that we had found a good set up. During my stint, the car felt pretty good but then I started having problems with the tyres, a problem Juichi did not suffer, which is great. Finishing 6th means we remain in a good position in the championship and we can go home happy!"

Masanori Sekiya, Team Director
“It was a perfect race under our circumstances. We raced precisely according to our plan at the start of the weekend. Both Juichi and Andre did their job well. We got 5 more points, which also means 10kg more for the next race. This is the weight of honor!”

Race Results
Team Standings
Driver Standings

日本語言語

For more on the team, visit the team's site at http://36toms.com/
For more on the Super GT championship, visit http://supergt.net