Bertrand Baguette and Team Impul in the top 5 at Suzuka

The fifth round of the Super GT season got underway in summery conditions at Suzuka. Bertrand Baguette was the first to cover the miles in his NISSAN Impul Z over the 77 laps of the event. Starting ninth on the grid, he quickly moved up to eighth position and continued his attack. When he handed over to his team-mate Kazuki Hiramine during his first pit stop on lap 27, he was in third place in the race. Kazuki rejoined the pack in twelfth position with the firm intention of making up a few places. Leading on lap forty-eight, he stopped in the pits on lap fifty-five, following a brief "Full Course Yellow". Back on the track, he took seventh place and again went on a full attack, eventually regaining sixth place with 9 laps to go. The crew of the NISSAN Impul Z finished fifth in the overall standings following a disqualification. They can be satisfied with their performance, which enabled them to pick up some valuable points for the Championship.  

Bertrand's analysis: 

"It was another complicated weekend for us and fifth place is the best result we could have hoped for today. We started ninth and I overtook the car in front of me quite quickly. Then I really tried to attack to try and recover some positions but I didn't succeed. We didn't have enough race pace to aim higher. Kazuki (Hiramine) did a very good job and the team used a good strategy and made some good pit stops. I think that was the best we could do today. We need to keep working to find out what's been going wrong since the start of the season and what's preventing us from achieving good results like last year. We really need to win a race before the end of the season. The Championship looks complicated but we've got three races left and we're not going to give up. We're going to keep on fighting!