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2009 Super GT Series

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The 2009 Autobacs Super GT Series was the seventeenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fifth season as the Super GT series.

2009 GT300 champions, #19 Racing Project Bandoh Lexus IS 350

It marked as well as the twenty-seventh season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season opener on March 22, was moved to Okayama, due to the continued renovation of Suzuka in preparation for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix. The season finale on November 8 also was moved to Motegi, instead of Fuji. Due to the worldwide economic crisis, race weekends were two days instead of three.

André Lotterer and Juichi Wakisaka claimed the GT500 title in the Petronas TOM'S Lexus SC430. The team also won their respective teams title. Manabu Orido and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 title in the Racing Project Bandoh IS350 by three points from Nobuteru Taniguchi and Ryo Orime.

Car development

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GT500 class

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Originally the three makers agreed to unify engine specification to 3.4L V8 engines (the same configuration of Formula Nippon at the time). However, due to the aforementioned economic crisis, Nissan encountered difficulties to develop a suitable engine for their GT-R, and chose to bear a performance ballast while using the same engine as last year. Honda continued to use their mid-engine NSX with performance ballast as the regulations originally planned to mandate front-engine cars. This was also their last year in Super GT with the original NSX, as they announced they would use a new vehicle (the HSV-010) starting in the 2010 season. Honda returned with the NSX in 2014 following the unveiling of the second-generation concept car in 2014, later revised to be based on the production model in 2017; both of which ran midship engine layout until 2019 season.

Team Nova entered the series with a Le Mans spec Aston Martin DBR9. It was the first Aston Martin car to participate the series history (including JGTC), and also the first European and non-Honda/Nissan/Toyota car in GT500 since the 2006 season (a Maserati MC12 did participate the pre-season test in 2006 season but withdraw from the series later). The DBR9 only ran at the first round at Okayama and the two rounds at Fuji, and as of July 2020 is the last non-Japanese car to compete in GT500.

GT300 class

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The apr Racing Team, which had used the Toyota MR-S for a long time decided to discontinue their use of MR-S, and for this season decided to replace it with a mid-engined Toyota Corolla Axio instead.

The Cusco, the only team using an AWD car (Subaru Impreza), left the series as they wanted to concentrate on off-road events. However, Subaru cars were not absent from the series as R&D Sport used a Legacy B4 for round 6, 7 and 9.

Thunder Asia Racing, a team from Singapore, entered round 4 at Sepang with a Mosler MT900R. Their full participation in 2010 season was confirmed after the 2009 season ended.

Weight ballast changes

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In order to combat sandbagging, where a team would intentionally perform poorly in order to secure a more favorable weight handicap, the success ballast formula was changed starting from this season: the ballast would be halved in the penultimate race and lifted altogether in final race for teams that participated in every round of the season. Teams missing only one round receive halved-ballast in the final race instead.

Drivers and teams

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GT500

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Team Make Car Engine No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Nismo Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 1 Japan Satoshi Motoyama B All
France Benoît Tréluyer 1–5, 7–9
Germany Michael Krumm 6
Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 3 Italy Ronnie Quintarelli M All
Japan Hironobu Yasuda All
Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 6 Japan Daisuke Ito B All
Sweden Björn Wirdheim All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 8 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman B All
Japan Takuya Izawa All
Team Impul Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 12 Japan Tsugio Matsuda B All
France Sébastien Philippe All
Keihin Real Racing Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 17 Japan Toshihiro Kaneishi B All
Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi All
Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi 6
Team Yoshiki and Dome Project Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 18 Japan Ryo Michigami B All
Japan Takashi Kogure All
Team Nova Aston Martin Aston Martin DBR9 Aston Martin DBR9 6.0 L V12 21 Japan Akihiro Tsuzuki Y 1, 3, 7
Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya 1, 3, 7
Kondo Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 24 Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira Y All
Japan Seiji Ara All
Nakajima Racing Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 32 France Loïc Duval D All
Japan Yuhki Nakayama All
Lexus Team Kraft Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 35 Japan Hiroaki Ishiura B All
Japan Kazuya Oshima All
Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 36 Japan Juichi Wakisaka B All
Germany André Lotterer All
Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 38 Japan Yuji Tachikawa B All
United Kingdom Richard Lyons All
Lexus Team SARD Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 39 Japan Kohei Hirate D All
Portugal André Couto All
Team Kunimitsu Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 100 Japan Yuji Ide B All
Japan Shinya Hosokawa 1–2, 4–7, 9
Japan Kosuke Matsuura 3, 8

GT300

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Team Make Car Engine No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Cars Tokai Dream28 Mooncraft Mooncraft Shiden Toyota 1UZ-FE 4.4 L V8 2 Japan Hiroki Katoh Y All
Japan Kazuho Takahashi 1
Japan Hiroki Yoshimoto 2–9
Avanzza Rosso Vemac Vemac RD320R Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 4 Japan Yoshihiro Ito K 6
Japan Subaru Yamamoto 6
Japan Michito Uezumi 6
Japan Yoshihiro Ito Y 9
Ukraine Igor Sushko 9
666 Japan Shogo Suho Y All
Japan Junichiro Yamashita All
Japan Takashi Miyamoto 3, 6
Team Mach Vemac Vemac RD320R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 5 Japan Tetsuji Tamanaka Y All
Japan Akazame Oyaji All
M7 RE Amemiya Racing Mazda Mazda RX-7 Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor 7 Japan Nobuteru Taniguchi Y All
Japan Ryo Orime All
Jim Gainer Racing Ferrari Ferrari 360 Ferrari F131B 3.6 L V8 10 Japan Masayuki Ueda Y All
Japan Masataka Kawaguchi All
Ferrari F430 Ferrari F136E 4.3 L V8 11 Japan Tetsuya Tanaka All
Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka All
Racing Project Bandoh Lexus Lexus IS350 Lexus RV8J 3.4 L V8 19 Japan Tatsuya Kataoka Y All
Japan Manabu Orido All
Team Taisan Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 26 Japan Haruki Kurosawa Y 1–4, 6–7, 9
Japan Tsubasa Abe 1–3, 5–9
Japan Katsuhiko Tsutsui 4, 6, 8
Japan Tsubasa Kurosawa 5
Team Takeuchi with Shift Lexus Lexus IS350 Lexus RV8J 3.4 L V8 30 Japan Kota Sasaki K 1–3
Japan Naoya Yamano 1–3
52 Japan Kota Sasaki 4–9
Japan Naoya Yamano 4–6
Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi 6–9
apr Toyota Toyota Corolla Axio apr GT Toyota 2GR-FSE 3.5 L V6 31 Japan Yuya Sakamoto Y All
Japan Hideki Yamauchi 1–4
Japan Kyosuke Mineo 5–9
Japan Takamori.com 6
74 Japan Takuto Iguchi M All
Japan Yuji Kunimoto All
Hankook KTR Porsche Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Porsche M97/80 3.8 L F6 33 Japan Mitsuhiro Kinoshita H 3, 5, 7
Japan Masami Kageyama 3, 5, 7
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ASL ASL ARTA Garaiya Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 43 Japan Morio Nitta M All
Japan Shinichi Takagi All
MOLA Nissan Nissan Fairlady Z Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 46 Japan Kazuki Hoshino Y All
Japan Masataka Yanagida All
Tomei Sports Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 55 Japan Yutaka Yamagishi Y 1–7, 9
Japan Hiroshi Koizumi 1–7, 9
R&D Sport Subaru Subaru Legacy B4 Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4 62 Japan Shogo Mitsuyama Y 6–7, 9
Japan Tetsuya Yamano 6–7, 9
JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Murcielago RG-1 Lamborghini L535 6.0 L V12 66 Japan Koji Yamanishi Y All
Japan Atsushi Yogo All
Italy Marco Apicella 3
Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 Lamborghini 07L1 5.2 L V10 87 Japan Hiroyuki Iiri All
Japan Hisashi Wada All
88 Japan Hideshi Matsuda All
Japan Yuya Sakamoto All
Thunder Asia Racing Mosler Mosler MT900R GM LS7 7.0 L V8 69 Singapore Melvin Choo Y 4
United Kingdom Martin Short 4
Team Daishin Ferrari Ferrari F430 Ferrari F136E 4.3 L V8 81 Japan Takayuki Aoki Y All
Japan Tomonobu Fujii All
Japan Koji Matsuda 6
Arktech Motorsports Porsche Porsche Boxster Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 110 South Korea Kim Han Bong K 1–3
Japan Daisuke Ikeda 1, 8
Japan Tatsuya Tanigawa 2–3, 5, 8
Japan Takashi Ohi 5
Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche M96/73 3.6 L F6 111 Japan Takaya Tsubobayashi 1–3
Ukraine Igor Sushko 1
Japan Daisuke Ikeda 2–4
Japan Tojiro Azuma 4
112 Japan Takashi Ohi 7, 9
Japan Yoshiaki Nakayama 7
Japan Keita Sawa 8–9
Australia Aaron Caratti 8
Studie GLAD Racing BMW BMW Z4M BMW S62B50 4.9 L V8 808 Japan Shozo Tagahara Y 1–3, 5–9
Japan Yasushi Kikuchi 1–3, 5–7
Japan Taku Bamba 6, 8–9

Schedule

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Round Race Circuit Date
1 Japan Okayama GT 300 km Okayama International Circuit March 22
2 Japan Suzuka GT 300 km Suzuka Circuit April 19
3 Japan Fuji GT 400 km Fuji Speedway May 4
4 Malaysia Super GT International Series Malaysia Sepang International Circuit June 21
5 Japan SUGO GT 300 km Sportsland SUGO July 26
6 Japan Pokka GT Summer Special Suzuka Circuit August 23
7 Japan Fuji GT 300 km Fuji Speedway September 13
8 Japan Autopolis GT 300 km Autopolis October 18
9 Japan Motegi GT 250 km Twin Ring Motegi November 8

As a measure of cost reduction, the two longest race, as well as the final race in the series' distance in the series was shortened in this season. This included the trimming of the traditional 1000km race in Suzuka to 700 km. However, to avoid 1-pit strategy that caused unfairness to some teams, teams were required to pit twice in the Fuji 400 km race.

Season Winners

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Rd Circuit GT500 Winning Team GT300 Winning Team Results
GT500 Winning Drivers GT300 Winning Drivers
1 Okayama Japan #24 HIS Kondo Racing GT-R Japan #19 WedsSport IS350 Results
Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira
Japan Seiji Ara
Japan Manabu Orido
Japan Tatsuya Kataoka
2 Suzuka Japan #38 ZENT Cerumo SC430 Japan #33 Hankook Porsche Results
Japan Yuji Tachikawa
United Kingdom Richard Lyons
Japan Mitsuhiro Kinoshita
Japan Masami Kageyama
3 Mt. Fuji Japan #1 MOTUL Autech GT-R Japan #43 ARTA Garaiya Results
Japan Satoshi Motoyama
France Benoît Tréluyer
Japan Morio Nitta
Japan Shinichi Takagi
4 Kuala Lumpur Japan #3 Hasemi Tomica Ebbro GT-R Japan #2 I.M Jihan Co.Ltd•Apple Shiden Results
Italy Ronnie Quintarelli
Japan Hironobu Yasuda
Japan Hiroki Katoh
Japan Hiroki Yoshimoto
5 Sportsland SUGO Japan #1 MOTUL Autech GT-R Japan #33 Hankook Porsche Results
Japan Satoshi Motoyama
France Benoît Tréluyer
Japan Mitsuhiro Kinoshita
Japan Masami Kageyama
6 Suzuka Japan #35 Kraft SC430 Japan #46 S Road Mola Z Results
Japan Hiroaki Ishiura
Japan Kazuya Oshima
Japan Kazuki Hoshino
Japan Masataka Yanagida
7 Mt. Fuji Japan #8 ARTA NSX Japan #81 Daishin Ferrari F430 Results
Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman
Japan Takuya Izawa
Japan Takayuki Aoki
Japan Tomonobu Fujii
8 Autopolis Japan #36 Petronas TOM'S SC430 Japan #11 Jim Gainer Advan F430 Results
Japan Juichi Wakisaka
Germany André Lotterer
Japan Tetsuya Tanaka
Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka
9 Motegi Japan #8 ARTA NSX Japan #81 Daishin Ferrari F430 Results
Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman
Japan Takuya Izawa
Japan Takayuki Aoki
Japan Tomonobu Fujii

Standings

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GT500 Drivers

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Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Points 20 15 11 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Rank Driver OKA
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
SEP
Malaysia
SUG
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
AUT
Japan
MOT
Japan
PTS
1 Japan Juichi Wakisaka
Germany André Lotterer
11 2 2 6 7 8 3 1 2 88
2 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman
Japan Takuya Izawa
3 14 3 3 14 12 1 4 1 81
3 Japan Satoshi Motoyama 13 11 1 8 1 6 2 2 14 78
4 France Benoît Tréluyer 13 11 1 8 1 2 2 14 73
5 Japan Toshihiro Kaneishi
Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi
5 6 12 2 6 10 4 Ret 3 51
6 Japan Ryo Michigami
Japan Takashi Kogure
2 5 13 12 3 4 8 5 10 50
7 Italy Ronnie Quintarelli
Japan Hironobu Yasuda
12 13 7 1 9 2 6 8 12 49
8 Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira
Japan Seiji Ara
1 8 4 5 13 11 13 3 11 48
9 Japan Hiroaki Ishiura
Japan Kazuya Oshima
9 7 5 9 12 1 7 7 9 44
10 Japan Yuji Tachikawa
United Kingdom Richard Lyons
6 1 9 10 10 3 10 11 13 41
11 Japan Tsugio Matsuda
France Sébastien Philippe
4 3 15 7 8 5 15 Ret 7 36
12 Japan Daisuke Ito
Sweden Björn Wirdheim
10 4 6 14 5 Ret 4 10 4 35
13 Japan Yuji Ide 8 12 11 4 4 9 12 6 8 29
14 Portugal André Couto
Japan Kohei Hirate
15 10 10 13 2 7 11 12 5 27
15 Japan Shinya Hosokawa 8 12 4 4 9 12 8 24
16 France Loïc Duval
Japan Yuhki Nakayama
7 9 8 11 11 Ret 9 9 6 18
17 Japan Kosuke Matsuura 11 6 5
18 Germany Michael Krumm 6 5
19 Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi 10 1
Japan Akihiro Tsuzuki
Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya
14 14 14 0
Rank Driver OKA
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
SEP
Malaysia
SUG
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
AUT
Japan
MOT
Japan
PTS
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Teams' standings

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Rank[1][2] Team No. OKA
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
SEP
Malaysia
SUG
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
AUT
Japan
MOT
Japan
Pts.
1 Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S 36 11 2 2 6 7 8 3 1 2 112
2 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 3 14 3 3 14 12 1 4 1 102
3 Nismo 1 13 11 1 8 1 6 2 2 14 101
4 Team Yoshiki & Dome Project 18 2 5 13 12 3 4 8 5 10 75
5 KEIHIN Real Racing 17 5 6 12 2 6 10 4 Ret 3 72
6 Hasemi Motorsport 3 12 13 7 1 9 2 6 8 12 71
7 Kondo Racing 24 1 8 4 5 13 11 13 3 11 69
8 Lexus Team Kraft 35 9 7 5 9 12 1 7 7 9 68
9 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo 38 6 1 9 10 10 3 10 11 13 63
10 Team Impul 12 4 3 15 7 8 5 15 Ret 7 55
11 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS 6 10 4 6 14 5 Ret 5 10 4 54
12 Team Kunimitsu 100 8 12 11 4 4 9 12 6 8 52
13 Lexus Team SARD 39 15 10 10 13 2 7 11 12 5 48
14 Nakajima Racing 32 7 9 8 11 11 Ret 9 9 6 39
15 Team Nova 21 14 14 14 3
Rank Team No. OKA
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
SEP
Malaysia
SUG
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
AUT
Japan
MOT
Japan
Pts.

GT300 Drivers

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Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Points 20 15 11 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Rank Driver OKA
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
SEP
Malaysia
SUG
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
AUT
Japan
MOT
Japan
PTS
1 Japan Manabu Orido
Japan Tatsuya Kataoka
1 8 5 2 5 6 4 3 3 85
2 Japan Nobuteru Taniguchi
Japan Ryo Orime
3 2 3 3 11 7 DNS 2 2 82
3 Japan Tetsuya Tanaka
Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka
4 4 Ret 8 3 5 2 1 4 79
4 Japan Takayuki Aoki
Japan Tomonobu Fujii
12 6 2 DNS 4 8 1 18 1 71
5 Japan Morio Nitta
Japan Shinichi Takagi
2 5 1 10 9 2 7 4 14 71
6 Japan Hiroki Katoh 6 7 9 1 2 3 5 16 16 63
7 Japan Kazuki Hoshino
Japan Masataka Yanagida
7 3 6 4 6 1 9 8 7 62
8 Japan Hiroki Yoshimoto 7 9 1 2 3 5 16 16 58
9 Japan Mitsuhiro Kinoshita
Japan Masami Kageyama
1 1 6 45
10 Japan Takuto Iguchi
Japan Yuji Kunimoto
5 9 8 16 8 4 12 7 5 32
11 Japan Yuya Sakamoto 9 11 7 6 10 18 15 5 6 23
12 Japan Koji Yamanishi
Japan Atsushi Yogo
18 Ret 18 5 13 17 3 11 8 20
13 Japan Tsubasa Abe 10 10 4 7 16 14 9 9 18
14 Japan Haruki Kurosawa 10 10 4 Ret 16 14 9 12
15 Japan Kyosuke Mineo 10 18 15 5 6 12
16 Japan Hideki Yamauchi 9 11 7 6 11
17 Japan Kota Sasaki 8 17 11 7 15 9 13 13 10 10
18 Japan Tetsuji Tamanaka
Japan Akazame Oyaji
13 12 10 12 16 Ret 8 6 15 9
19 Japan Naoya Yamano 8 17 11 7 15 9 9
20 Japan Kazuho Takahashi 6 5
21 Japan Tsubasa Kurosawa 7 4
22 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi 9 13 13 10 3
23 Japan Masayuki Ueda
Japan Masataka Kawaguchi
DNS 16 15 9 20 15 17 19 13 2
24 Japan Katsuhiko Tsutsui Ret 16 9 2
25 Japan Hideshi Matsuda
Japan Yuya Sakamoto
Ret 13 19 Ret 12 10 10 12 11 2
26 Japan Shozo Tagahara Ret DNQ Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 Ret 1
27 Japan Taku Bamba Ret 10 Ret 1
Rank Driver OKA
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
SEP
Malaysia
SUG
Japan
SUZ
Japan
FUJ
Japan
AUT
Japan
MOT
Japan
PTS
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

References

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  1. ^ Magazine, Speedsport. "Super GT & All Japan GT: Overview of seasons". www.speedsport-magazine.com. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  2. ^ "SUPERGT.net | Race Archive". supergt.net. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
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