The Intercontinental GT Challenge series (IGTC) has only five races on the schedule, but all five are great endurance races, headlined by the Nürburgring and Spa 24 Hour races. It’s been a while since the last IGTC race at Spa in late June, but the series was back in action with the Suzuka 1000KM race in Japan.
There were a solid 30 entries at Suzuka, including four BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, with one entry from Team WRT, two from Team KRC and one from the PLUS with BMW M Team Studie team. Three of those cars, including the WRT entry, were in the Bronze class, and Team KRC also had an entry in Pro-Am. This is the first time in four years that WRT hasn’t had a Pro class entry in the IGTC races, as BMW has decided to focus their efforts in the series on customer cars and not a full-on works entry. BMW did loan out some factory drivers to the four BMW entries that competed at Suzuka.
The #89 Team KRC BMW of Ruan Cun Fan, Maxime Oosten and Max Hesse showed great speed in practice and qualifying, but had bad luck in the race.
The #89 Team KRC M4 GT3 EVO driven by Ruan Cun Fan, Maxime Oosten, and factory driver Max Hesse were at the top of the time sheets in the practice sessions, mixing it up with the Pro class entries. They were third fastest overall in both of the first two sessions, and fourth fastest overall in a night practice session. They also stood out in qualifying, putting the car on the Bronze class pole and fifth overall. The #69 Team WRT entry of Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and factory driver Dan Harper qualified second in Bronze and sixth overall, right behind the #89 car.
Dan Harper, Parker Thompson and Anthony McIntosh won the Bronze class.
After showing such promise in practice and qualifying, the #89 Team KRC car had everything unravel just ninety minutes into the race, as they were hit by another car and became stranded in the wet grass, losing several positions. They later had to retire with differential problems. That made the #69 Team WRT car as the best hope to win the Bronze class and they did just that, despite a drive-through penalty in the final ten minutes for contact with another car.
Anthony McIntosh Ieft), Parker Thompson (middle) and Dan Harper sign autographs before the race.
Team WRT not only won the Bronze class, but finished a strong seventh overall, with the overall win going to the AO Motorsport Porsche, which was a Pro-class entry. “It’s a great day,” said Dan Harper after the race. “We had a bit of bad luck at the beginning, but we came back strongly and the team got us back into the fight for victory with an excellent strategy. My team-mates did a perfect job and handed the car over to me in a great position. I’m happy that I was able to bring the victory home.” The #5 PLUS with BMW M Team Studie M4 GT3 EVO of Tomohide Yamaguchi, Kizuku Hirota, and Seiji Ara finished fifth in the Bronze class.
The Team KRC entry of Brian Lee, Augusto Farfus and Marcelo Tomasoni finished third in Pro-Am.
The lone Team KRC BMW entry in the Pro-Am class was driven by Brian Lee, Marcelo Tomasoni and factory driver Augusto Farfus, and finished third in class and 20th overall. “It’s my second race for Team KRC and my second podium,” said Farfus. “It’s a great team and we had an excellent strategy. My final two stints were very physically demanding, but I’m very happy with the result. Many thanks to Team KRC; they did an outstanding job.”
Tomohide Yamaguchi, Kizuku Hirota and Seiji Ara finished fifth in the Bronze class.
The final round of the IGTC is the Indy 8 Hour at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 8th-10th. That weekend will also serve as the final race weekend of the SRO GT World Challenge America and GT4 America championships.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]
