The championship for Super GT season 2013 has been decided with the ZENT Cerumo SC430 of Yuji Tachikawa and Kohei Hirate declared champions of the GT500 category while the hybrid power showed its might in motor sports with the MUGEN CR-Z GT of Hideki Mutoh and Yuhki Nakayama winning the GT300 category.
The final round of the Super GT in the recently concluded race in Motegi will be the swan song for all GT500 machines as next year, Nissan, Honda and Lexus will display new machinery with new specifications that is similar with Germany’s DTM series. After eight lengthy years in the Super GT, the Lexus SC430 ended its final race with a bang, with the race in Motegi won by the ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 of Kazuya Oshima and Yuji Kunimoto, while the ZENT Cerumo SC430 took the overall GT500 championship. Not bad for a car, which last year was voted as the worst car in the world by BBC Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
2013 will also see the final year for Honda’s iconic HSV-010 machine and this year KEIHIN HSV-010 provided the final hurrah for the Honda’s camp with an second placing finish on the GT500 championship. The HSV-010, intended as the replacement for the iconic NSX, will be replaced by Honda’s new NSX in 2014. Meanwhile Nissan had a rather disappointing season with the highest placed Nissan GTR in sixth. While for 2014 Nissan will retain the GTR model, the specifications will be rather different, with hopes that it may spark a change of fortunes for the 2012’s GT500 champions.
The hybrid technology may not provide much excitement in the road car department but when it comes to racing technology it has become relevant to MUGEN CR-Z success in the GT300 category. Despite running half its potential at 300HP as per most GT300 cars, the Mercedes SLS from the Gainer Dixcel team of Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Bjorn Wirdhelm impressed well and managed a second place in the overall GT300 category. Fan favorites, the Subaru BRZ ended their 2013 run in forth overall.
The 2014 season for the Super GT will kick start in April 2014 with two new overseas rounds in South Korea and Thailand. Sadly, the Malaysian round in Sepang has been dropped in 2014.
Photo Credit: SuperGT.net & woaychee.com
