What a weekend at the new Inje Speedium! I’m feeling elated right now with my performance and that of the team to take a clean sweep of results to lead the Super Taikyu Series with maximum points.
Our first impression of the new venue was in all honesty a little questionable. The circuit itself had a brilliant layout however workers were frantically finishing parts of the walkways and surrounding area for the big event.
One sensed a huge relief as the weekend dawned, all facilities had opened and from there it was smooth sailing.
Staying on site at the magnificent circuit hotel meant my first view of the circuit was from the balcony under the evening smog on Thursday evening, but we would need to wait until Saturday for some seat time.
Friday had little in store for us except for a track walk in the evening, where we were shocked at the sneaky undulation that we certainly didn’t anticipate when looking from afar. A few of the boys were breaking a sweat just climbing the hills!
The circuit had real character, as was the intention of its designer Alan Wilson, who I spent much of the weekend getting to know and picking up a few secret tips along the way.
Practice confirmed that a brand new circuit has no grip! In 30 laps our tyres were ‘canvased’, but we knew the grip would keep coming so remained calm ahead of qualifying in the afternoon.
Qualifying was the start of the domination of the #28 squad, and we took a double-pole, although it couldn’t have been closer! The GTNET GT-R and I were separated by nothing – literally nothing! – at the finish, both on a time of 1:35.048.
As I set the time first, I took the pole.
Changes overnight made the car better still, and we found more speed again in the morning warm up giving us great confidence ahead of the two 45-minute races later in the day.
Fariqe drove like a man possessed in race one, pulling a comfy gap over the field and winning in a formation finish with our sister #1 SLS AMG GT3.
The stage was set for my battle with Kazuki Hoshino in race two, and we launched off the line and into turn one at great speed.
The car was so good that I put my head down and within two laps had enough of a gap to relax as we began to approach the ST5 traffic. From there, I chipped away at a gap that would read 17.4 seconds at the finish – a combination of outright pace and some crafty maneuvers in traffic!
As I crossed the line, we set the new race lap record on the final lap to cap off what really was a perfect weekend. And it’s not often you say that.
Now, I look ahead to the 5 hours of Motegi where Fariqe and I will be joined by our usual sparring partner Tatsuya Kataoka. But before then, Simon Ellingham, Johnny Mac and I have some Porsche endurance races to win back home in the Fastway Racing GT3!
Bring it on!
Jono Lester – #FlyingKiwi
Driver of the #28 PETRONAS Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG in the Super Taikyu Series
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