{"id":5469,"date":"2018-04-05T18:49:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T16:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b106543.web05.cust.bluerange.se\/?p=5469"},"modified":"2018-04-05T18:49:50","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T16:49:50","slug":"felix-rosenqvist-ready-to-get-super-gt-debut-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/felix-rosenqvist-ready-to-get-super-gt-debut-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Felix Rosenqvist ready to get Super GT debut underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"22QC8198\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After taking third in Japan’s Super Formula standings last year, this weekend marks a new beginning for Felix Rosenqvist in the land of the rising sun as he descends on Okayama International Circuit to commence his journey in the\u00a0top-tier Super GT series.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Racing a Lexus LC 500<\/strong> for Team LeMans<\/strong> – the same squad for which he competed in Super Formula in 2017 – Rosenqvist heads into the season-opener eager to make his mark on the Super GT paddock alongside team-mate Kazuya Oshima<\/strong>. The duo are sharing driving duties in the #6 WAKO’S-branded entry, forming part of a star-studded\u00a0field in the top-level GT500 category\u00a0that contains factory-backed teams from Lexus, Honda and Nissan.<\/p>\n

The expected frontrunners are likely to include\u00a0reigning Super GT champions Nick Cassidy\/Ryo Hirakawa (Lexus) and 2017 runner-ups\u00a0Tsugio Matsuda\/Ronnie Quintarelli (Nissan) – but Rosenqvist will also face competition from plenty of other famous names.<\/p>\n

Among these are a host of ex-Formula 1 stars:\u00a0Kamui Kobayashi (Lexus),\u00a0Heikki Kovalainen (Lexus), Kazuki Nakajima (Lexus)\u00a0and, last but\u00a0not least,\u00a02009 world champion\u00a0Jenson Button (Honda).<\/p>\n

“I’m really excited to take on my first season in Super GT, and to be part of such a strong field,” says Felix Rosenqvist<\/strong>. “I was actually sitting in the grandstand when Kovalainen won his first F1 race in Budapest in 2008, and Jenson Button was always part of the furniture when I watched racing growing up as a kid. I think it’s great that Super GT has attracted plenty of fast drivers – but I hope to prove I’m the fastest of them!”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Like Rosenqvist, Kobayashi and Button are both heading into their first full seasons in Super GT. Unlike their Swedish rival, however,\u00a0they both performed one-off appearances at last year’s Suzuka\u00a0round of the championship.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, Rosenqvist is the only driver on the current GT500 grid to have never contested a Super GT race, making him the least experienced driver in the pack.<\/p>\n

“I’m the “greenest” one in the field and I also did miss a few days of pre-season testing due to clashing Formula E commitments, but I still think I’ve managed to\u00a0learn\u00a0the basics during the few outings I have\u00a0had in the car so far,” Rosenqvist explains<\/strong>. “We’ll see how it goes, but Okayama should suit us well and I enjoyed it last year in Super Formula. Kazuya is fast, so he’ll be a good team-mate. Most things seem to be new to me these days, so I’m quite used to the feeling!”<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2018 Super GT campaign features eight races of varying distance. This weekend’s\u00a0season-opener is a 300 km event, and Rosenqvist is pinpointing what he believes will be the keys to success.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think you should underestimate the importance of qualifying,” Rosenqvist concludes<\/strong>. “The races might be fairly long, but not long enough to waste time behind slower cars that you might not be able to get around.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Another key point, I think, will be traffic management. We’re going to be lapping the slower category\u00a0(GT300)\u00a0quite soon, and you can easily lose five-six seconds behind someone if you’re not aggressive enough. You will need to make it through quickly, which is always a sketchy factor. It’ll be risk versus reward. I think it’s an exciting prospect and I can’t wait to hit the track.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Free practice and qualifying takes place on Saturday, with Sunday’s 300 km race then going green on Sunday to kick off the battle for the Super GT crown.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TIME TABLE<\/strong>
\nAll times local (GMT+09:00)<\/em><\/p>\n

Super GT
\nRound\u00a01\/8 | Okayama 300 km<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday 7 April<\/strong>
\nFree Practice: 09.00-10.45
\nQualifying: 15.05-16.00<\/p>\n

Sunday 8 April<\/strong>
\nWarm-up: 13.05-13.25
\nRace (300 km): 14.40<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ENTRY LIST<\/strong><\/p>\n

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After taking third in Japan’s Super Formula standings last year, this weekend marks a new beginning for Felix Rosenqvist in the land of the rising sun as he descends on Okayama International Circuit to commence his journey in the\u00a0top-tier Super GT series. Racing a Lexus LC 500 for Team LeMans – the same squad for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news3","category-press-releases","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"aioseo_notices":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5470,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions\/5470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}