2011 Supercup Japanese Grand Prix

**2011 Supercup Japanese Grand Prix**
Race details
2011 Supercup season
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Date	April 6th, 2011
Official name	2011 Supercup Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent Racing Facility 3.608 mi / 5.807 km
Distance	29 laps, 104.632 mi / 168.403 km
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Jason Muscat	Malta Force GP
Time	1:40.355
Fastest Lap
Driver	Jason Muscat	Malta Force GP
Time	1:39.351
Podium
First	Jason Muscat	Malta Force GP
Second	Sam Millar	Williamson Dynamics
Third	Samuli Leinonen	Nordsjoen Racing

The 2011 Supercup Japanese Grand Prix was the 3rd race of the 2011 Supercup season and was won by Jason Muscat.

Report

Jason Muscat drove the perfect race to continue the winning streak of Malta Force GP in the GPVWC Supercup, as Sam Millar finally put points on the scoreboard to kick-start his Championship campaign and Samuli Leinonen clinched third place for Nordsjoen Racing.

Deputizing for absent Championship leader Bart de Vos, Muscat set the quickest lap in a qualifying session that saw a three-driver battle for the pole and several other tussles for positions lower down the order. The Maltese driver, at his first 2011 Supercup race, narrowly edged Millar and Leinonen, with Gregg Lawson's Woods winning the battle for fourth.

During warm-Up, a minute's silence was observed to remember the devastation and the grief endured by Japan as a result of the tsunami that struck in the weeks before the race. The Japanese anthem was played, and all the participating cars took part in a parade lap to salute the crowd who attended the event despite the tragedy that hit the country.

Jason Muscat was able to retain the lead at the start, and started building a solid, if not spectacular, lead over his rivals. It soon appeared Sam Millar was the only one capable to retain some kind of contact, but no real threat ever came the way of the Maltese until 6 laps before the end, when the Williamson Dynamics driver narrowed his gap to 1.4 seconds. Unfortunately for Millar, this moment coincided with his tyres going off, the result of a very long second stint, meaning Muscat was able to stretch his lead to over six seconds by the chequered flag.

Behind the leading duo, a beautiful battle for P8 between Ben Morgan, Gavin Thomas, Luke McKee and Leontin Nemet was interrupted by the Romanian missing his braking point at the Triangle and plunging in the side of Morgan, the damage forcing both to retire. Thomas and McKee were central in one of the most memorable Supercup battles in history, with the young Northern Irish driver able to match his more experienced rival and trade position several times - until a mistake by Thomas resulted in a drive-through penalty for the Welshman. Among other impressive maneuvers was a daring overtaking move by Pavel Loknovski over Liam Hatchell.

The race result saw Millar cut the gap to his rival Bart de Vos to just 18 points, with Gregg Lawson climbing to 2nd overall, just 8 points behind the Belgian leader. Thanks to his third place, Samuli Leinonen was now just 10 points off the top of the rankings, while this results also put Nordsjoen within 10 points of Malta Force in the Constructors' Championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Lap	Gap
1	14	Jason Muscat	Malta Force GP	1:39.351	—
2	5	Sam Millar	Williamson Dynamics	1:39.495	+0.144s
3	9	Samuli Leinonen	Nordsjoen Racing	1:39.805	+0.454s
4	19	Pavel Loknovski	Triple-Double Racing	1:40.030	+0.678s
5	10	Georgios Davakos	Nordsjoen Racing	1:40.093	+0.741s
6	16	Gregg Lawson	Woods Racing	1:40.136	+0.785s
7	4	David Jundt	Nijo Racing	1:40.620	+1.269s
8	15	Leontin Nemet	Malta Force GP	01:41.01	+1.650s
9	23	Liam Hatchell	Synergetic Motorsports	1:41.387	+2.036s
10	7	Ben Morgan	Red 5 Racing	1:42.322	+2.971s
11	22	Mal McKee	Synergetic Motorsports	1:42.432	+3.081s
12	3	Chris Williamson	Nijo Racing	1:42.512	+3.160s
13	8	Gavin Thomas	Red 5 Racing	1:42.616	+3.265s
14	21	Luke McKee	CP Lotus	1:43.106	+3.755s
15	12	Nikos Evangelidakis	Mineral GP	1:43.691	+4.340s
16	20	Paul McKenna	CP Lotus	1:44.591	+5.240s
17	11	Robert Rose	Mineral GP	1:44.877	+5.525s
18	6	Adam Smith	Williamson Dynamics	1:45.816	+6.465s

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pitstops	Fastlap	Points
1	14	Jason Muscat	Malta Force GP	29	49:21.940	1	1	01:40.355	15
2	5	Sam Millar	Williamson Dynamics	29	+6.900s	2	1	01:40.521	12
3	9	Samuli Leinonen	Nordsjoen Racing	29	+15.783s	3	1	01:41.153	10
4	16	Gregg Lawson	Woods Racing	29	+51.907s	6	1	01:41.391	8
5	19	Pavel Loknovski	Triple-Double Racing	29	+57.502s	4	2	01:41.184	6
6	4	David Jundt	Nijo Racing	29	+1:01.141s	7	1	01:41.968	5
7	23	Liam Hatchell	Synergetic Motorsports	29	+1:04.417s	9	1	01:42.176	4
8	3	Chris Williamson	Nijo Racing	28	+1 Lap	12	1	01:42.872	3
9	12	Nikos Evangelidakis	Mineral GP	28	+1 Lap	15	1	01:44.294	2
10	8	Gavin Thomas	Red 5 Racing	28	+1 Lap	13	3	01:43.900	1
11	11	Robert Rose	Mineral GP	27	+2 Laps	17	1	01:45.128	0
12	6	Adam Smith	Williamson Dynamics	26	+3 Laps	18	2	01:47.751	0
Ret	21	Luke McKee	CP Lotus	15	DNF	14	1	01:43.506	0
Ret	22	Mal McKee	Synergetic Motorsports	9	DNF	11	3	01:46.050	0
Ret	7	Ben Morgan	Red 5 Racing	8	DNF	10	2	01:44.375	0
Ret	15	Leontin Nemet	Malta Force GP	4	DNF	8	0	01:42.796	0
Ret	20	Paul McKenna	CP Lotus	4	DNF	16	0	01:46.874	0
Ret	10	Georgios Davakos	Nordsjoen Racing	3	DNF	5	0	01:43.035	0

Standings after the Race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Bart De Vos	30
2	Gregg Lawson	22
3	Samuli Leinonen	20
4	Pavel Loknovski	18
5	David Jundt	17
6	Jason Muscat	15
=	Georgios Davakos	15
8	Sam Millar	12
9	Chris Williamson	11
10	Gavin Thomas	9
11	Mal McKee	6
12	Paul McKenna	5
=	Nikos Evangelidakis	5
14	Ben Morgan	4
=	Liam Hatchell	4
16	Dan Rusu	3
17	Robert Rose	2

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Malta Force GP	45
2	Nordsjoen Racing	35
3	Nijo Racing	28
4	Woods Racing	25
5	Triple-Double Racing	18
6	Red 5 Racing	13
7	Williamson Dynamics	12
8	Synergetic Motorsports	10
9	Mineral GP	7
10	CP Lotus	5