The recenttly concluded.Autobacs Super GT at the Sepang International Race Circuit last weekend was certainly an affair to remember, no matter if you're a motor racing fan, GT Queens fan or even an anime fan. Yes, the anime subculture is making a small and stealthy gain into the Super Gt with quite a number of cars now sporting anime based itasha


The 2011 edition was under a new management, with JPM Motorsports helming the task of providing the best Super GT experience and they did not dissapoint, with a lot of activities done during the race weekend. It was one of the largest turnout for a Super GT Race at Sepang, even with the really really hot weather.

The Super GT lineup itself was impressive, boasting a lot of famous names in Japan and also global racing, like Arta's team leader the legendary drift king Tsuchiya Keiichi and also the recent LeMans 24 Hours race winner, Andre Lotterer. And it turned out a good day for the Honda in the GT500 class, when they finally managed to get a race win with Weider Honda Racing finally managing a win with Takashi Kogure and Loïc Duval managed to fight of the all conquering Nissan GTR to get their first win of the season

The GT300 meanwhile was the main attraction, at least for most local as 3 teams with anime based sponsorship were contending. Team Good Smile Racing Hatsune Miku Z4 started on pole, and looked to be untouchable after qualifying, altho Team Evangelion Racing which started last due to qualifying problems showed their intent to go all out by posting the fastest time during the morning warm up. Another team in contention was also the Pacific Ika Musume Ferrari Team. Sadly team Hankook which had a sponsorship with Kadokawa Shoten promoting Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu's latest novel came in their default livery, and also Team Evangelion only brought one car, leaving their Eva 02 liveried Porche in Japan

The BMW Z4's straight line speed and stability showed early on when they lead easily, but the star of the race was certainly the Evangelion Racing Team, which flew through the field, even briefly holding the lead when the Team GSR stopped for fuel, and dropping to third after their own stop. Alas a late penalty saw them only finishing 10th. Meanwhile in the front, the Ferrari car of Team Jim Gainer has a late surge and the last 3 laps saw them fighting for the lead with the Z4, which had tyre wear problems but the Z4 held off the Ferrari to win the race.

A good weekend indeed for racing fans, and also watch out for our special interview with the Team Evangelion Race queens