 Honda NSXs Monopolize the Front Row in GT 500 Class and Subaru Impreza Sets History with Its First Pole in GT 300 
Round 5 MOTEGI GT CHAMPION RACE The morning and afternoon qualifying sessions were each spilt into three 20-minute segments: one each for the individual 500 and 300 classes and one segment where the classes ran together. The morning session of the 500-class segment was red-flagged about 10 minutes after it started due to oil leakage onto the circuit from a Lamborghini Diablo entered by the Japan Lamborghini Owners Club (JLOC). The session got underway again following a cleanup break of around 20 minutes. Before the interruption, the #16 Honda NSX driven by Ryo Michigami set the pace with a fine lap time of 1.50.313. But unsatisfied with that, he returned to the track after the break and proved his contention for the pole by setting a new course record of 1'50.042. A good fight was shown by machines of other makers in the first 20-minute segment, with the #38 Toyota Supra driven by Hironori Takeuchi at 1'51.161, settling in at third, and the #50 Skyline GT-R of Nissan Team Arta (driver Takeshi Tsuchiya) clocking a 1'51.901 for a provisional sixth on the grid. In the morning session GT 300 class segment, a fine best time of 1'59.328 was turned in from the sole Subaru Impreza driven by Katsuo Kobayashi, giving the car its first lead in qualifying since its debut. The second fastest runner was the #44 Toyota MR2 driven by the 1998 All-Japan F3 champion, Peter Dumbreck.
 The second qualifying session was rift with competition as drivers did their best to improve on times set in the morning session and steal the pole. Only a few laps after the green light, Takeuchi jumped in as a strong pole contender driving the #38 Supra to time of 1'50.939. But only moments later, it was Michigami who astonished all by scoring a fastest lap of 1'50.016 and then breaking the 1'50sec barrier with a superb time of 1'49.800 some 12 minutes into the session. Not to be outdone by others, Akira Iida navigated the #100 Honda NSX around the track at 1'49.877, coming up just shy of stealing the pole away from Michigami. By the end of the session, many drivers had improved on the times they had set in the morning, but none could match or beat the two record-breaking NSXs. The driver pair of Osamu Nakako/Ryo Michigami drove the #16 NSX to its second consecutive pole position.
As in the morning session, Katsuo Kobayashi ran well in the Subaru Impreza during the afternoon 300-class session too. Picking up where he left off, he bettered his lap time to 1'58.905 to secure the pole. But close behind was Shingo Tachi, who claimed second on the grid with the #25 Toyota MR 2 only 0.051 seconds off the leader. At the end of the day, the Subaru Impreza driven by Katsuo Kobayashi/Hideo Tamamoto made history, taking its first ever pole position in the GT series.
Tire: BS=BRIDGESTONE / YH=YOKOHAMA / DL=DUNLOP / TY=TOYO WH:Weight Handicap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
