Difference between revisions of "2011 Supercup Japanese Grand Prix"

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  2011 Supercup Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
2011 Supercup season
200px
Date	April 7th, 2011
Official name	2011 Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent Racing Facility 3.608 mi / 5.807 km
Distance	53 laps, 191.224 mi / 307.573 km
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes
Time	1:31.020
Fastest Lap
Driver	Lee Morris	Draig-Ferrari
Time	1:31.443
Podium
First	Lee Morris	Draig-Ferrari
Second	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes
Third	Sam Millar	Synergetic-Ferrari

Report

Jason Muscat drove the perfect race to continue the winning streak of Malta Force GP in the GPVWC Supercup, as Sam Millar finally put points on the scoreboard to kick-start his Championship campaign and Samuli Leinonen clinched third place for Nordsjoen Racing.

Deputizing for absent Championship leader Bart de Vos, Muscat set the quickest lap in a qualifying session that saw a three-driver battle for the pole and several other tussles for positions lower down the order. The Maltese driver, at his first 2011 Supercup race, narrowly edged Millar and Leinonen, with Gregg Lawson's Woods winning the battle for fourth.

During warm-Up, a minute's silence was observed to remember the devastation and the grief endured by Japan as a result of the tsunami that struck in the weeks before the race. The Japanese anthem was played, and all the participating cars took part in a parade lap to salute the crowd who attended the event despite the tragedy that hit the country.

Jason Muscat was able to retain the lead at the start, and started building a solid, if not spectacular, lead over his rivals. It soon appeared Sam Millar was the only one capable to retain some kind of contact, but no real threat ever came the way of the Maltese until 6 laps before the end, when the Williamson Dynamics driver narrowed his gap to 1.4 seconds. Unfortunately for Millar, this moment coincided with his tyres going off, the result of a very long second stint, meaning Muscat was able to stretch his lead to over six seconds by the chequered flag.

Behind the leading duo, a beautiful battle for P8 between Ben Morgan, Gavin Thomas, Luke McKee and Leontin Nemet was interrupted by the Romanian missing his braking point at the Triangle and plunging in the side of Morgan, the damage forcing both to retire. Thomas and McKee were central in one of the most memorable Supercup battles in history, with the young Northern Irish driver able to match his more experienced rival and trade position several times - until a mistake by Thomas resulted in a drive-through penalty for the Welshman. Among other impressive maneuvers was a daring overtaking move by Pavel Loknovski over Liam Hatchell.

The race result saw Millar cut the gap to his rival Bart de Vos to just 18 points, with Gregg Lawson climbing to 2nd overall, just 8 points behind the Belgian leader. Thanks to his third place, Samuli Leinonen was now just 10 points off the top of the rankings, while this results also put Nordsjoen within 10 points of Malta Force in the Constructors' Championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Standings after the Race