Honda NSXs Take Front Row on the Grid
Round 2 All Japan FUJI GT Race
2 May '98
Qualify Report
The second round of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship(GTC) was held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture over the weekend of May 2-3. A surprising 45 machines entered the high-speed contest, but a number of the regular drivers were absent due a conflicting schedule with the pre-qualifying practice sessions for the Le Mans 24-hour race (to be held on 6-7 June). The Nissan substitutes for Erik Comas, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Aguri Suzuki were Ralf Firman, Michael Krumm and Pedro de la Rosa. Ferrari driver Anders Olofsson took the wheel in place of Pierre-Henri Raphanel, and Steven Andskar moved in to take Olofsson's empty seat.
On Saturday morning, the first qualifying session was completed under wet conditions. Driving in a light rain, Tom Coronel in the No. 64 Honda NSX claimed the fastest lap with a time of 1'37.961". He was the only driver to break the 1'38" barrier. Things didn't go all well for him, however, as his engine blew mid-session. But the team mechanics performed well too, and a new engine was installed by the start of the second session. The Dutch driver commented afterward, "I really want pole position because last race we were second on the grid. So I really pushed very hard. I put on the brakes very very late. The car was quite well. I'm very happy with the results."
Only five minutes after the start of the second session, a number of major spills occurred around the track. The No. 6 Supra of Shinichi Takagi went into a spin on the main straight and crashed heavily, and Coronel's co-driver, Kouji Yamanishi,lost control of the NSX and spun out at the 300R corner.
Yamanishi was able to rejoin the session after changing a broken rear wing, but damage to Takagi's Supra was too serious and he was forced to retire for the day. Even though the front section of the car was severely damaged, the team said that the car would be ready to race Sunday morning. Fortunately, Takagai escaped the crash without injury and was looking forward to being back in the contest on Sunday.
As rainfall during the afternoon session was heavier than in the morning, no one was able to challenge the time set by Tom Coronel, and the No. 64 NSX maintained its claim at the pole.
In the GT 300 class, Kaoru Hoshino dominated the sessions in the No. 71 Porsche GT2. Even though his best lap time was erased due to a penalty assessed to co-driver Masaki Jyounai, there was still a large margin over second running Tomohiko Sunako/Atsushi Yogou, driving a Porsche 993 RSR.
Pole Position
No.64 Mobil 1 NSX 1'37.961
Tom Coronel
"It was a very tough day, as it was the first time for me to drive NSX at Fuji, especially under such an extremely wet condition. I am very confident for the race tomorrow. I believe we already had all the problems we should have today and it is time for all unlucky things to stop. All I do is to take a lead, run away and wait for the chequer flag. Weather will be quite changeable tomorrow and it will be difficult to make good decisions. We are planning to take a risk on tyre selection if it is dry tomorrow. I believe we made a right decision and I will tell you more about it if I can come back to see you here (at the winners' interview) tomorrow."
Qualify Certifications（Weather : Rain / Course : Wet ）
| PO |
NO |
C-Po |
MACHINE |
DRIVER |
TIME |
DELAY |
| 1 |
64 |
500-1 |
Mobil 1 NSX |
K.YAMANISHI |
T.CORONEL |
1'37.961 |
164.269km/h |
| 2 |
18 |
500-2 |
TAKATA DOME MUGEN NSX |
K.KANEISHI |
K.YAMAMOTO |
1'38.659 |
0'00.698 |
| 3 |
36 |
500-3 |
Castrol TOM'S SUPRA |
M.SEKIYA |
N.FONTANA |
1'39.040 |
0'01.079 |
| 4 |
100 |
500-4 |
RAYBRIG NSX |
K.TAKAHASHI |
A.IIDA |
1'39.541 |
0'01.580 |
| 5 |
2 |
500-5 |
ZEXEL SKYLINE |
M.KAGEYAMA |
P.De la Rosa |
1'39.659 |
0'01.698 |
| 6 |
23 |
500-6 |
PENNZOIL NISMO GTR |
M.KAGEYAMA |
R.FIRMAN |
1'39.902 |
0'01.941 |
| 7 |
37 |
500-7 |
Castrol TOM'S SUPRA |
T.SUZUKI |
K.BURT |
1'40.064 |
0'02.103 |
| 8 |
50 |
500-8 |
ARTA SKYLINE |
T.TSUCHIYA |
H.KATOH |
1'40.524 |
0'02.563 |
| 9 |
16 |
500-9 |
Castrol MUGEN NSX |
O.NAKAKO |
R.MICHIGAMI |
1'40.685 |
0'02.724 |
| 10 |
12 |
500-10 |
CALSONIC SKYLINE |
T.KUROSAWA |
M.Krumm |
1'40.938 |
0'02.977 |
| 11 |
3 |
500-11 |
UNISIA JECS SKYLINE |
M.HASEMI |
T.TANAKA |
1'41.787 |
0'03.826 |
| 12 |
38 |
500-12 |
FK/MASSIMO CERUMO SUPRA |
H.TAKEUCHI |
H.NODA |
1'41.806 |
0'03.845 |
| 13 |
30 |
500-13 |
SOK PORSCHE |
Y.YAMADA |
H.OKADA |
1'42.350 |
0'04.389 |
| 14 |
5 |
500-14 |
5ZIGEN SUPRA |
M.GOOSSENS |
Y.HINOI |
1'42.477 |
0'04.516 |
| 15 |
39 |
500-15 |
DENSO SARD SUPRA GT |
K.TSUCHIYA |
T.TANIGAWA |
1'43.902 |
0'05.941 |
| 16 |
55 |
500-16 |
STP TAISAN VIPER |
H.MATSUDA |
TAJIMA EIICHI |
1'44.065 |
0'06.104 |
| 17 |
13 |
500-17 |
ENDRESS ADVAN GTR |
M.KINOSHITA |
M.FUJIMURA |
1'44.066 |
0'06.105 |
| 18 |
6 |
500-18 |
ESSO Tiger Supra |
A.OLOFSSON |
S.TAKAGI |
1'44.170 |
0'06.209 |
| 19 |
88 |
500-19 |
Wedding DIABLO GT1 |
H.WADA |
N.FURUYA |
1'46.871 |
0'08.910 |
| 20 |
71 |
300-1 |
SIGMATECH 911 |
K.HOSHINO |
M.JOHNAI |
1'47.108 |
0'09.147 |
| 21 |
910 |
300-2 |
910 PORSCHE |
T.SUNAKO |
A.YOGOH |
1'48.494 |
0'10.533 |
| 22 |
21 |
300-3 |
DUNLOP-BP-BMW |
Y.HITOTSUYAMA |
T.KINOSHITA |
1'49.444 |
0'11.483 |
| 23 |
9 |
300-4 |
MTG DAIKOKUYA PORSCHE |
H.ICHIMURA |
S.SASAKI |
1'49.662 |
0'11.701 |
| 24 |
77 |
300-5 |
CUSCO SUBARU IMPREZA |
K.KOBAYASHI |
H.TAMAMOTO |
1'50.182 |
0'12.221 |
| 25 |
51 |
300-6 |
COBRA PORSCHE |
M.ISHIHARA |
K.IKETANI |
1'50.415 |
0'12.454 |
| 26 |
15 |
300-7 |
XANAVI SILVIA |
M.KONDOH |
T.AOKI |
1'50.939 |
0'12.978 |
| 27 |
25 |
300-8 |
TSUCHIYA MR2 |
K.SUZUKI |
S.TACHI |
1'50.995 |
0'13.034 |
| 28 |
8 |
500-20 |
FET SPORTS SUPRA |
W.GARDNER |
M.TANAKA |
1'51.040 |
0'13.079 |
| 29 |
61 |
300-9 |
TAEIBON TRAMPIO FTO |
A.NAKAYA |
T.HARA |
1'51.154 |
0'13.193 |
| 30 |
777 |
500-21 |
Valvoline DIABLO DL |
T.WADA |
M.SUGIYAMA |
1'51.527 |
0'13.566 |
| 31 |
27 |
300-10 |
TFCJ FERRARI F355GT |
T.OHTA |
S.ANDSKAR |
1'52.104 |
0'14.143 |
| 32 |
10 |
300-11 |
ABILITY PORSCHE 993GT2 |
H.ASOH |
A.ISHIKAWA |
1'52.237 |
0'14.276 |
| 33 |
44 |
300-12 |
APEX DL MOMOCORSE MR2 |
M.NITTA |
T.B.N |
1'52.288 |
0'14.327 |
| 34 |
911 |
300-13 |
910 PCJ PORSCHE |
N.TAKAHASHI |
S.KOBAYASHI |
1'53.016 |
0'15.055 |
| 35 |
81 |
300-14 |
DAISHIN SILVIA |
H.FUKUYAMA |
N.OHYAGI |
1'53.099 |
0'15.138 |
| 36 |
70 |
300-15 |
GAIKOKUYA DUNLOP PORSCHE |
Y.ISHIBASHI |
P.VAN SCHOOTE |
1'53.370 |
0'15.409 |
| 37 |
89 |
500-22 |
PORCHE GT-2 |
K.KAWAGOE |
T.KANAMORI |
1'53.754 |
0'15.793 |
| 38 |
7 |
300-16 |
RE Amemiya RX7 |
S.YAMAJI |
H.MATSUMOTO |
1'55.132 |
0'17.171 |
| 39 |
117 |
300-17 |
ALTA RX-7 |
T.FUKAZAWA |
T.KOZAI |
1'56.797 |
0'18.836 |
| 40 |
11 |
300-18 |
MURAUCHI KAMEI SKYLINE |
H.ISHIMORI |
Y.MIURA |
1'57.951 |
0'19.990 |
| 41 |
91 |
300-19 |
KOSEI & BUDDYCLUB MR2 |
M.MATSUNAGA |
Y.FUJIWARA |
1'51.443 |
0'13.482 |
| 42 |
60 |
300-20 |
TOYOTA CAVALIER |
K.SATOH |
M.NAGASHIMA |
1'53.661 |
0'15.700 |
| 43 |
79 |
300-21 |
NAC WEST SILVIA |
M.SUGIYAMA |
H.AOYAGI |
1'59.654 |
0'21.693 |
| 44 |
24 |
300-22 |
HIRANO R32M |
T.HIRANO |
T.SOMEBA |
2'03.716 |
0'25.755 |
| 45 |
28 |
300-23 |
TFCJ FERRARI F355GT |
M.YAMAZAKI |
H.SUGA |
2'05.612 |
0'27.651 |
|
