HONDA NSX DOMINATES SEASON'S OPENING QUALIFYING SESSIONS
Round 1 SUZUKA GT300km
21 Mar. '98
Qualify Report
The season's opening event of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (GTC) got underway at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture over the weekend of March 21-22. A large field of 39 cars competed in the Saturday qualifying sessions under fine blue skies. It was a day filled with tension and excitement as every driver put in a best effort to take the pole. The rapid progress in the development of the various cars was easily noticeable; in the first morning session, 10 cars broke the course record set last year by Masanori Sekiya behind the wheel of a Toyota Supra. Honda NSXs gave an impressive performance, showing the high potential of the car by dominating the field with 1,2,3 positions.
Tom Coronel claimed the fastest lap in the first session with a time of 2'02.975", closely followed by Akira Iida at 2'03.172". Coronel commented afterward, "We've changed the setup of the car from yesterday, and I'm satisfied with it. I was caught in traffic for many laps but I could find two very clear laps. I pushed hard to be in the top three."
Many of the driver improved their best laps in the second session. But it was again a Honda NSX coming out on top. No one could touch the session time of Akira Iida, as he bested the field with a new series course record of 2'02.939". He will start the first race of the season from pole position, sharing the wheel of his Honda NSX with Kunimitsu Takahashi.
A Nissan Skyline GT-R, driven by Erik Comas/Masami Kageyama claimed fourth position on the grid. After the final session Comas commented, "Our new car is quicker than last year's car. Today is only second day to drive the new car, so obviously we are missing some development. We are satisfied to get the fourth place, especially with such little time to setup the car."
In the GT300 class, the year started by welcoming a newcomer to the series, the Mitsubishi FTO. And a great debut it made,with drivers Akihiro Nakaya and Takahiko Hara showing the car's ability to compete by clocking the second fastest lap of qualifying. "I'm surprised myself," said Nakaya after finishing the day. "I didn't think the car would be as quick as it was today. We've been tormented by rain throughout our test sessions, and didn't have a chance to run under dry conditions. Consequently, we were only able to guess at the car's potential. After running with the dry conditions of today's qualifying sessions, we now have a more tangible idea of the possibilities."
The fastest lap of the GT300 class was 2'13.869", set by a Toyota MR2 driven by the driver pair of Morio Nitta and Shyota Mizuno.
Erik Comas;
"As we have the top 3 cars ahead of us, I think it will be a very tough race. Anyway, I would like to wait and see what happens... 300 km is a long distance and everything can happen! The car is definitely faster than the last year's with improved aerodynamics. This time, I found that we have achieved 80% of the level we made during the winter testing and I am quite satisfied with it. The other 20%? It is that we actually need more time for precise mechanical tuning to balance the car as we cannot apply the last year's setting. Anyway, I think it is a good way to start the season. I am very positive that we can beat NSX if we overcome the remaining 20%!!"
Qualify Certification (Weather : Fine , Course : Dry )
| Po |
No |
C-Po |
Machine |
Driver |
Time |
Delay |
| 1 |
100 |
500-1 |
RAYBRIG NSX |
K.TAKAHASHI / A.IIDA |
R 2'02.939 |
171.71Km/h |
| 2 |
64 |
500-2 |
Mobil 1 NSX |
K.YAMANISHI / T.CORONEL |
R 2'02.975 |
0.036 |
| 3 |
18 |
500-3 |
TAKATA DOME MUGEN NSX |
K.KANEISHI / K.YAMAMOTO |
R 2'03.226 |
0.287 |
| 4 |
23 |
500-4 |
PENNZOIL NISMO GTR |
E.COMAS / M.KAGEYAMA |
R 2'03.743 |
0.804 |
| 5 |
38 |
500-5 |
FK/MASSIMO CERUMO SUPRA |
H.TAKEUCHI / H.NODA |
R 2'03.792 |
0.853 |
| 6 |
16 |
500-6 |
Castrol MUGEN NSX |
O.NAKAKO / R.MICHIGAMI |
R 2'04.125 |
1.186 |
| 7 |
36 |
500-7 |
Castrol TOM'S SUPRA |
M.SEKIYA / N.FONTANA |
R 2'04.404 |
1.465 |
| 8 |
12 |
500-8 |
CALSONIC SKYLINE |
K.HOSHINO / T.KUROSAWA |
R 2'04.430 |
1.491 |
| 9 |
50 |
500-9 |
ARTA SKYLINE |
S.MOTOYAMA / T.TSUCHIYA |
R 2'04.674 |
1.735 |
| 10 |
37 |
500-10 |
Castrol TOM'S SUPRA |
T.SUZUKI / K.BURT |
R 2'04.751 |
1.812 |
| 11 |
5 |
500-11 |
5ZIGEN SUPRA |
M.GOOSSENS / Y.HINOI |
R 2'04.830 |
1.891 |
| 12 |
2 |
500-12 |
ZEXEL SKYLINE |
A.SUZUKI / M.KAGEYAMA |
R 2'05.007 |
2.068 |
| 13 |
8 |
500-13 |
FET SPORTS SUPRA |
W.GARDNER / M.TANAKA |
R 2'05.034 |
2.095 |
| 14 |
39 |
500-14 |
DENSO SARD SUPRA GT |
K.TSUCHIYA / T.TANIGAWA |
R 2'05.163 |
2.224 |
| 15 |
6 |
500-15 |
ESSO Tiger SUPRA |
P.RAPHANEL / S.TAKAGI |
R 2'05.281 |
2.342 |
| 16 |
3 |
500-16 |
UNISIA JECS SKYLINE |
M.HASEMI / T.TANAKA |
2'06.314 |
3.375 |
| 17 |
55 |
500-17 |
STP TAISAN VIPER |
H.MATSUDA / TAJIMA EIICHI |
2'06.647 |
3.708 |
| 18 |
30 |
500-18 |
SOK PORSCHE |
Y.YAMADA / H.OKADA |
2'09.615 |
6.676 |
| 19 |
88 |
500-19 |
DIABLO GT1 |
H.WADA / N.FURUYA |
2'09.726 |
6.787 |
| 20 |
777 |
500-20 |
RAIN-X DIABLO DL |
T.WADA / M.SUGIYAMA |
2'13.543 |
10.604 |
| 21 |
44 |
300-1 |
APEX DL MOMO CORSE MR2 |
M.NITTA / S.MIZUNO |
2'13.869 |
10.93 |
| 22 |
61 |
300-2 |
TAEIBON TRAMPIO FTO |
A.NAKAYA / T.HARA |
2'14.379 |
11.44 |
| 23 |
81 |
300-3 |
DAISHIN SILVIA |
H.FUKUYAMA / N.OHYAGI |
2'14.458 |
11.519 |
| 24 |
910 |
300-4 |
910 PORSCHE |
T.SUNAKO / A.YOGOH |
2'14.740 |
11.801 |
| 25 |
51 |
300-5 |
COBRA PORSCHE |
K.IKETANI / S.SODEYAMA |
2'15.329 |
12.39 |
| 26 |
21 |
300-6 |
DUNLOP-BP-BMW |
Y.HITOTSUYAMA / H.KATOH |
2'15.400 |
12.461 |
| 27 |
25 |
300-7 |
TSUCHIYA MR2 |
K.SUZUKI / S.TACHI |
2'15.539 |
12.6 |
| 28 |
27 |
300-8 |
TFCJ FERRARI F355GT |
T.OHTA / A.OLOFSSON |
2'15.564 |
12.625 |
| 29 |
77 |
300-9 |
CUSCO SUBARU IMPREZA |
K.KOBAYASHI / H.TAMAI |
2'16.066 |
13.127 |
| 30 |
71 |
300-10 |
SIGMATECH 911 |
K.HOSHINO / M.JOHNAI |
2'16.511 |
13.572 |
| 31 |
91 |
300-11 |
KOSEI & BUDDYCLUB MR2 |
M.MATSUNAGA / Y.FUJIWARA |
2'16.672 |
13.733 |
| 32 |
7 |
300-12 |
RE Amemiya MatsumotoKiyoshi RX7 |
S.YAMAJI / H.MATSUMOTO |
2'16.848 |
13.909 |
| 33 |
15 |
300-13 |
XANAVI SILVIA |
M.KONDOH / T.AOKI |
2'16.989 |
14.05 |
| 34 |
9 |
300-14 |
PCJ DAIKOKUYA PORSCHE RSR |
T.HIOKI / S.SASAKI |
2'18.212 |
15.273 |
| 35 |
911 |
300-15 |
910 PCJ PORSCHE |
N.TAKAHASHI / S.KOBAYASHI |
2'19.573 |
16.634 |
| 36 |
10 |
300-16 |
ABILITY PORSCHE 993GT2 |
H.ASOH / A.ISHIKAWA |
2'19.726 |
16.787 |
| 37 |
70 |
300-17 |
GAIKOKUYA DUNLOP PORSCHE |
Y.ISHIBASHI / P.VAN SCHOOTE |
2'22.190 |
19.251 |
| 38 |
60 |
300-18 |
TOYOTA CAVALIER |
K.SATOH / M.NAGASHIMA |
2'22.582 |
19.643 |
| 39 |
17 |
300-19 |
KAGEISEN:RE ROADSTER |
T.NOGAMI / T.HOSONO |
2'27.903 |
24.964 |
above qualified
Qualify limit (130% ) 2'39.960
R : Course Record
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