Round4

JAPAN SPECIAL GT CUP
8.8 sat / 9 sun - FUJI SPEEDWAY
Qualify

Six Cars Break Course Record
RAYBRIG NSX

Round 4 JAPAN SPECIAL GT CUP
Qualify Report / 8 Aug. '98

The Saturday qualifying sessions of Round 4 of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (GTC) were held at Fuji Speedway on August 8. A total of six cars in the field broke the circuit record within the day: four HONDA NSXs, a TOYOTA SUPRA and a NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R. It was a tough outing for the NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R of Erik Comas and Masami Kageyama. A 100kg handicap weight added to the car as the result of consecutive victories in the last two rounds, took its toll on performance and set them back to a disappointing 18th in qualifying.

The morning session saw a busy track with 47 cars participating for qualification. HONDA NSX drivers made an impressive show, with the four NSXs competing in the event monopolizing the top four places in the preliminary pole standings. Akira Iida, Ryo Michigami, Tom Coronel and Katsutomo Kaneishi (in this order) each took their turn at breaking the course record. The new standing record, 1'27.316 was set by Iida.

But it wasn't just an NSX day, as a number of other cars fought hard and gave excellent performances as well. Tatsuya Tanigawa also his SUPRA through a lap that broke the old record time, clocking a 1'28.339 lap that moved him up into fourth place.

TSUCHIYA MR2

In the GT 300 class, it was an exciting day for all the makers and participants. The top six positions comprised a mixture of two TOYOTA MR2s, an MITSUBISHI FTO, a MAZDA RX7 a PROSCHE 911 GT2 and a NISSAN SILVA. An MR2 co-driven by Keiichi Suzuki and Shingo Tachi made the fastest lap, with Tachi turning a time of 1'34.608.

The start of the second qualifying session was delayed 20 minutes due to a dense fog cover on the track. When it finally got underway, a total of 43 cars were in competition for the pole. Tanigawa gave a superb performance in the session, cutting time off his morning session and finishing with the fastest lap of the afternoon, a fine 1'27.994. Kazuyoshi Hoshina also did well to apply his driving skill and bettered his morning session with a lap time of 1'28.551; yet another time beating out the circuit record coming into the day.

Massimiliano Angelelli in a TOYOTA CELICA, a newcomer model for the championship in the GT 300 class, put in a notable performance, improving the first-session time set by partner Manabu Orido, for third place in the afternoon session. The fastest lap was 1'34.776, made by Akihiko Nakaya in a MITSUBISHI FTO.




Qualify Certifications (Weather : Cloudy / Course : Dry )
Po No C-Po Machine Driver Time Tire WH
1 100 500-1 RAYBRIG NSX K.TAKAHASHI A.IIDA R1'27.316 BS
2 16 500-2 Castrol MUGEN NSX O.NAKAKO R.MICHIGAMI R1'27.517 BS
3 64 500-3 Mobil 1 NSX K.YAMANISHI T.CORONEL R1'27.837 BS 20
4 39 500-4 DENSO SARD SUPRA GT K.TSUCHIYA T.TANIGAWA R1'27.994 YH 10
5 18 500-5 TAKATA DOME MUGEN NSX K.KANEISHI K.YAMAMOTO R1'28.034 BS
6 12 500-6 CALSONIC SKYLINE K.HOSHINO T.KUROSAWA 1'28.551 BS
7 36 500-7 Castrol TOM'S SUPRA M.SEKIYA N.FONTANA 1'28.655 DL 20
8 38 500-8 FK/MASSIMO CERUMO SUPRA H.TAKEUCHI H.NODA 1'28.754 BS
9 55 500-9 STP TAISAN VIPER H.MATSUDA F.MIZUNO 1'28.840 YH
10 8 500-10 FET SPORTS SUPRA W.GARDNER M.TANAKA 1'28.937 BS
11 37 500-11 Castrol TOM'S SUPRA T.SUZUKI K.BURT 1'29.015 DL
12 6 500-12 ESSO Tiger SUPRA P-H.RAPHANEL S.TAKAGI 1'29.056 BS
13 2 500-13 ZEXEL SKYLINE A.SUZUKI M.KAGEYAMA 1'29.064 BS 30
14 3 500-14 UNISIA JECS SKYLINE M.HASEMI T.TANAKA 1'29.259 BS
15 50 500-15 ARTA SKYLINE S.MOTOYAMA T.TSUCHIYA 1'29.406 BS
16 5 500-16 5ZIGEN SUPRA M.GOOSSENS E.TAJIMA 1'29.656 DL
17 88 500-17 WEDDING DIABLO GT1 H.WADA N.FURUYA 1'29.698 DL
18 23 500-18 PENNZOIL NISMO GTR E.COMAS M.KAGEYAMA 1'29.964 BS 100
19 13 500-19 ENDLESS ADVAN GTR M.KINOSHITA M.FUJIMURA 1'30.176 YH
20 30 500-20 SOK PORSCHE Y.YAMADA H.OKADA 1'31.810 BS
21 777 500-21 Valvoline DIABLO DL T.WADA M.SUGIYAMA 1'33.890 DL
22 25 300-1 TSUCHIYA MR2 K.SUZUKI S.TACHI R1'34.608 YH 60
23 61 300-2 TAEIBON TRAMPIO FTO A.NAKAYA T.HARA R1'34.629 TY
24 44 300-3 APEX DL MOMO CORSE MR2 M.NITTA P.DUMBREC R1'35.052 DL
25 7 300-4 RE AMEMIYA RX7 S.YAMAJI H.MATSUMOTO 1'35.497 DL 10
26 71 300-5 SIGMATEC 911 K.HOSHINO M.JOHNAI 1'35.654 DL
27 19 300-6 WEDDS SPORTS CELICA M.ORIDO M.ANGELERRI 1'35.725 YH
28 81 300-7 DAISHIN SILVIA H.FUKUYAMA N.OHYAGI 1'35.850 DL
29 21 300-8 DUNLOP-BP-BMW Y.HITOTSUYAMA H.KATOH 1'36.293 DL
30 15 300-9 XANAVI SILVIA M.KONDOH T.AOKI 1'36.347 BS 20
31 910 300-10 NINE-TEN PORSCHE A.YOGOH S.KOBAYASHI 1'36.353 DL
32 77 300-11 CUSCO SUBARU IMPREZZA K.KOBAYASHI H.TAMAI 1'36.989 YH
33 91 300-12 KOSEI & BUDDYCLUB MR2 M.MATSUNAGA Y.FUJIWARA 1'37.021 YH
34 355 300-13 YELLOW MAGIC F355GT H.SUGA T.OHI 1'37.851 YH
35 51 300-14 COBRA PORSCHE K.IKETANI M.ISHIHARA 1'37.908 YH 10
36 10 300-15 ABILITY PORSCHE 993GT2 H.ASOH A.ISHIKAWA 1'37.964 DL
37 72 300-16 OKURA RX7 M.PORTER Y.KATAYAMA 1'38.033 YH
38 70 300-17 GAIKOKUYA DUNLOP PORSCHE Y.ISHIBASHI P.VAN SCHOOTE 1'38.530 DL
39 60 300-18 TOYOTA CAVALIER K.SATOH M.NAGASHIMA 1'38.619 DL
40 911 300-19 NINE-TEN PCJ PORSCHE N.TAKAHASHI H.NAKAJIMA 1'39.632 DL
41 9 300-20 DAIKOKUYA PORSCHE Y.HANE N.KOHNO 1'40.059 DL
42 117 300-21 ALTA RX-7 T.FUKAZAWA T.KOZAI 1'41.641 DL
43 11 300-22 MURAUCHI KAMEI SKYLINE H.ISHIMORI Y.MIURA 1'42.398 BS
44 79 300-23 NAC WEST SILVIA M.SUGIYAMA H.AOYAGI 1'42.408 DL
45 17 300-24 KAGEISEN RE:ROADSTER M.NAGASHIMA T.NOGAMI 1'44.928 DL
----------------------- DNQ -----------------------
24 300-25 HIRANO R32M T.HIRANO T.SOMEBA 1'44.981 YH
280 300-26 ADVAN TARGA SPORTS NSX H.OHSHIRO M.SUZUKI 1'53.128 YH

Tire: BS=BRIDGESTONE / YH=YOKOHAMA / DL=DUNLOP / TY=TOYO
R:Course Record / WH:Weight Handicap


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