By Tarek Ramchani
Hitotsuyama Racing performed very well yesterday in Motegi qualifying. The only Audi team of the field was aiming high for this season finale. However the 250 km race today turned out to be a frustrating event.
The #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra with drivers Richard Lyons and Akihiro Tsuzuki qualified yesterday in fifteenth place within the GT300 class. The car proved to be fast showing a strong pace. Today on in the race the two drivers and the team battled very well against a top quality and demanding field. Yet bad luck hit again the ZENT backed R8 LMS ultra. The car finished three laps down to the winning car and ended in twenty-first position in class.
Today's race at Twin Ring Motegi ended a very frustrating season for the team in Super GT. Bad luck but also a bad and penalizing Balance of Performance for the Audi R8 LMS ultra. Hitotsuyama Racing drivers are among the best of the field. Richard Lyons himself is clearly one the stars of Super GT combing both GT500 and GT300 classes. Yet the Japanese Audi Sport customer racing team suffred all season long and only in few times was able to fight fairly. That was the case in 2012 and nothing changed during the 2013 season. Hitotsuyama Racing finished in eighteenth place in the teams' standing. Akihiro Tsuzuki and Richard Lyons finished twenty-sixth overall in the drivers' standing.
Race victory in the GT300 class went to #11 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG from GAINER DIXCEL. Second the #16 Honda CR-Z from Mugen. Third the #61 Subaru BRZ from Subaru R&D Sport. The race results can be seen here.
It is unclear if the team will return to Super GT next year and if it will again be with an Audi or not, however we at the Audi Motorsport Blog want to congratulate Hitotsuyama Racing for their fighting spirit as they never gave up during 2013.
Photo credit: Hitotsuyama Racing
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