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Fresh off a win in round six last month, the Subaru BRZ GT300 team was ready to get another victory in round seven. But a crash took care of any hopes of reaching the podium again. Things didn’t even start good for the STI team at the Buriram Super GT race held at Chang International Circuit in Thailand. What happened?
The Subaru BRZ GT300 driven by Takuto Iguichi started the race from 11th on the grid, but right after the green flag dropped, he fell back to 18th when he got held up by a stalled car. He worked his way up the crowded field and eventually moved up to 4th before passing the car over to Hideki Yamauchi.
To save additional time, the techs changed the rear tires only and sent the new driver quickly back onto the track. After the pit stop, Yamaguchi was in 18th place and had to push the BRZ GT300 hard to catch the rivals in front of him. He pushed too hard.
Yamaguchi pushed too hard
Yamaguchi drove over a curb, went off the track at a high-speed right hand corner on the 33rd lap, and hit a guardrail. Fortunately, Yamaguchi was unhurt in the crash but the Subaru BRZ GT300 sustained too much damage and the team had to retire from the race. This was the first retirement for STI since Round 7 in 2015 at Autopolis in Oita, Japan.
After the crash, Yamaguchi apologized to the rest of team and was visibly upset with himself. After the race he said, “It was completely my fault. I drove over a curb at the exit of a high-speed corner and the skid block touched the curb. That completely lifted the car in the air and I crashed, losing control. I was pushing to improve my time because I was a little slower than others around me. I caused some people trouble but I would like to put this behind me and try hard at Motegi in the next round.”
What’s next for BRZ GT300?
The next and last stop of the 2016 SUPER GT is Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi, Japan with a substitution race of Round 3 Autopolis held on Saturday, November 11 and Round 9 on Sunday, November 12. After the crash and having to retire from round seven, the Subaru BRZ GT300 team says they will be aiming to win both of the remaining races of the season to “turn the tables and become champions.”
Watch Subaru BRZ GT300 2016 SUPER GT Rd.7 video. Watch the crash at the 7:00 min mark.
Source: Subaru Motorsports
Photo: Subaru
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