Jan 092020
 

Goodsmile Racing has revealed their Racing Machine for the SUPER GT 2020 racing season at the TOKYO AUTO SALON today at Makuhari Messe, which will once again be the Mercedes AMG GT3! The brand new car is also adorning the new Racing Miku 2020 design artwork by LEN[A-7].

In addition, it was also announced that Goodsmile Racing has been voted the most popular GT300 class team for the SUPER GT 2019 season, making this their 3rd straight win for popularity! Congratulations GSR!

The first round of the SUPER GT 2020 season will take place in OKAYAMA on April 11th~12th. Fight, GSR!

Dec 212019
 

Goodsmile Racing announced their entry for the 2020 Super GT season at their End of Year Party. The team remains the same with Aki Takanori as Team Owner, Ukyo Katayama as Team Director, Kono Takao as Chief Engineer, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka as the drivers, and Kamui Kobayashi as their third driver for the 10 Hours of Suzuka that the team will also take part in for 2020. The team will be getting a new car for 2020 as they planned on selling their current car to a lucky fan. The new car they will be using is the new Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The next Racing Miku has also been announced with illustrations by LEN[A-7]. The same artist who did the visuals for Magical Mirai 2016. The Nendoroid designed has also been announced and is on display at their end of year party.

 

Goodsmile Racing will also be exhibiting at Anime Matsuri at Houston, Texas, USA from the 9th to the 12th of July 2020

 

The livery for the Hatsune Miku AMG will be revealed at the Tokyo Auto Salon from 10th to the 12th of January 2020.

Until then.

 

Nov 052019
 

Goodsmile Racing finished the season finale of Super GT at the Twin Ring Motegi in 5th position after struggling during the qualifying session the previous day and were out of championship contention as they failed to secure pole position. The team qualified in 7th.

The race went underway with the #4 Hatsune Miku AMG overtaking the #33 EVA Nissan GT-R at the start of the race. There were overtakes here and there as teams have been let go of all their success ballast in the shortest race of the season at only 250 kilometres or 53 laps.

The #12 Calsonic Impul GT-R suffered an engine failure on the 15th lap forcing the car to retire. No Safety car was deployed.

As the race reached its halfway point, teams started to do their pit stops. This would play an important role to the position of when cars would come out of the pitlane especially with a championship at risk in both categories.

While the #55 ARTA NSX GT3 was sitting comfortably in a good position to win the championship. Meanwhile in GT500 the fight was still on for the championship with the #37 Keeper TOM’s LC500 leading the race and the #6 WAKO’s LC500 needing at least 2nd place to secure the championship. The latter would then overtake the #36 au TOM’s after a late lunge and both cars going off the track.

In the end, the #37 Keeper TOM’s won the race but the #6 WAKO’s won the championship in the GT500 category by just 2 points. Meanwhile in GT300 the #65 Leon AMG was hoping for a third consecutive win at Motegi but suddenly, the car slowed down as it was reaching the finish line. The car has run out of fuel! And the #11 Gainer TANAX GT-R snatched the win from them! The #55 ARTA NSX would secure the championship finishing in fourth place followed by the #4 Miku AMG in fifth place.

Goodsmile Racing has placed 4th in the drivers’ championship standing. It was still an impressive finish even after struggling with race pace and strategies. ARTA has got their redemption after losing to the title last year to Leon. A provisional 2020 calendar was unveiled which would see the return of the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia for the first time since 2013 and will be Super GT’s first ever night race.

The season may be over but there will be one more race which is the Super GT x DTM Dream Race where GT500 cars would once again take on the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters that is happening on the 23rd and 24th of November at Fuji International Speedway. This is a non-championship race, so it does not affect the standings. GT300s will also be racing in a separate support race during the weekend.

Until then, Fight GSR!

Sep 252019
 

Goodsmile Racing Finishes 2nd after a wild wet race at Sportsland Sugo. The #4 Hatsune Miku AMG qualified in 6th while the #61 Subaru BRZ set the fastest track record in GT300 taking them to pole position during qualifying.

The race started under the Safety Car as the whole track was wet. There was a mix of teams racing with dry slick tyres and wet threaded tyres as teams gambled whether the track would dry up or not. The race went underway on the third lap with teams on the wet tyres overtaking the team on the dry tyres that were struggling for grip on the wet track.

The #4 Miku AMG would catch up to 4th place overtaking the cars with slick tyres. There were overtakes and spins all over the track, as Miku would take on the Evangelion Unit 01 that is the #33 EVA Nissan GT-R. The Miku AMG would overtake the EVA GT-R and would chase the #56 Realize GT-R overtaking it at the chicane just like the EVA some few laps ago.

The #4 Miku AMG would then chase the #55 ARTA NSX GT3 for the lead but right behind them was GT300’s reigning champions the #65 Leon AMG. The battle for 2nd place would last for about 25 or so laps until Leon’s Bridgestone tyres would take advantage over Miku’s Yokohama tyres and would overtake Miku for second place.

Halfway through the race, the safety car would deploy when the #12 Calsonic Impul GT-R beached itself in the gravel. The top 3 GT300 cars (ARTA, Leon and Miku) would stop for their mandatory pit stop before the safety car deployed.

The race would restart on Lap 43 where Miku and Leon would return to their battle from where they left off. The Miku AMG would take back the position back from the Leon AMG from around the outside of the final turn.

The Miku AMG would catch up to the ARTA NSX where they kept on battling for the lead while lapping other GT300 cars and moving out of the way for the GT500 cars, until the latter was able to fend off Miku until they started making a gap as the race reached the closing stages and eventually winning the race with Miku finishing 2nd place just 15 seconds behind the leading car.

Goodsmile Racing has jumped to 3rd place in the championship standing. But in order for the team to win the championship they must win the race and secure pole position in qualifying as well as should ARTA place 11th or below and K-Tunes placing 3rd or below.

The next race which would be the season finale will be at Twin Ring Motegi on the 2nd and 3rd of November. Who will be the new Super GT champions of 2019? Anything can happen.

Until then, Fight GSR!

Sep 092019
 

Goodsmile Racing finishes in 4th place after a chaotic dry and wet race at Autopolis with the #4 Hatsune Miku AMG GT3 qualifying in 6th place the day before, only to climb up one more position as the #33 EVA Nissan GT-R GT3 got a grid penalty forcing them to start in 7th.

The race started off with the #4 Miku AMG overtaking the #7 D’Station Aston Martin at the at the start of the race. With just 3 laps into the race the safety car was deployed due to the #1 Raybrig NSX-GT crashing into the barriers forcing them to retire and possibly ending their chances for a second championship for the team in GT500 which saw 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and his teammate Naoki Yamamoto take the championship last year.

The race would restart with the #61 Subaru BRZ returning to the garage due to gearbox problems making way for the #4 Miku AMG to fight for the lead with the #25 Hoppy 86 MC and the #52 Toyota Mark X MC, which would end up with Hoppy losing the battle and placing the Mark X and Miku AMG in first and second respectively.

The lead of the race in the GT300 category would change with the #4 Miku AMG overtaking the #52 Mark X and gradually widening the gap giving the team a slight advantage for the time being.

That gap would then be gone for nothing as Fuji 500 miles’ GT300 winner the #87 T-Dash Lamborghini Huracan GT3 stops in the middle of the track. Fearing that a safety car would be deployed because the pitlane closes during the safety car, several teams opted to pit in to change to wet weather tyres as rain started approaching towards the circuit. This also caused havoc in the pitlane with cars not being able to stop parallel with the pitlane and even un-safe releases causing collisions with cars leaving the pitlane.

While the chaos was happening at the pitlane, meanwhile on the track the #22 RQ’s AMG spins out crashing into the barriers as it struggled for grip on the wet track with their dry slick tyres putting them out of the race. Sooner or later the race would restart only to be deployed shortly after a few laps later as the #9 Pacific Mirai Akari Porsche spins out into the gravel but was able to recover in the end. The #360 RunUp GT-R also spun during the safety car taking out one of the cameras with it.

Eventually the race would restart with teams either racing with dry slick tyres or wet weather tyres. Mixing up the field as parts of the track were both wet and dry. As the race was reaching its closing stages, the lead of the GT300 category was still up for grabs with the #720 McLaren 720 GT3 taking the lead from the #88 Manepa Lamborghini. But suddenly from out of no where was the #60 Syntium Lexus RC F GT3 charging in snatching the lead as the one of the only teams to stay on the dry slick tyres throughout the whole race which would see them take victory in the GT300 category. Meanwhile further behind the #4 Miku AMG was still fighting for position overtaking the #96 K-Tunes Lexus on the final lap placing the team in 4th place until the checkered flag. That gave Nobuteru Taniguchi a cheeky expression.

Congratulations to the #39 Denso Lexus LC500 and the #60 Syntium Lexus for winning at Autopolis. Goodsmile Racing now stands 7th in the championship. With only two rounds to go and 15 points behind the leading team, the #55 ARTA NSX GT3. Goodsmile can still fight for the championship but the chances are very slim.

The next race will be on the 21st and 22nd of September at Sportsland Sugo. Until then. Fight, GSR!