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The team have finished a hell of a weekend to forget in IVRA events this today, with tough races for all three cars in GT Sprint.
The Mercedes cars of the #256 and #356, both leading their championships going into this round, struggled all week in the build up to get a setup that did anything resembling working around the varied corners of Suzuka. The #256 in particular hadn't managed to put together a long run despite a huge number of practise laps. The #208 was beset by it's own issues, with regular Jon Williams out with injury leaving Pablo Arteaga the duty of partnering Chris Chadderton; himself a late sub into yesterday's Endurance round and lacking preparation time.
Qualifying for the three cars didn't go terribly badly, with the one lap pace not the biggest problem. The #356 managed to get first place in class, and the #256 managed 7th in class despite issues on their last lap. The #208 wasn't far behind.
The start of the race was mixed, with the #256 and #208 making up a couple each but the #356 getting caught up in risky moves that didn't work out in the first double right. From there the cars settled in until Pablo suffered a connection issue which took that car seemingly out of contention. By now the #256 of Jason Dilworth had some huge traction issues, and the best he could do was try to keep facing in the right direction and defend as hard as possible. This did not go well, ultimately leading to a retirement around the halfway mark.
The remaining cars fought on through the rest of the race, although a later crash for the #356 means that they finish enough laps down that they are unlikely to be classified in the final results when they are published.
The #208 managed to finish off a great recovery 9th in class, an improvement on their qualifying position despite dropping a lap back in that early disconnect.
There is now a decent length break to the next round and, with both championships now much less secure than they were, the team will use that time to be in a better position to finish off the season.
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