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2002-05-26 |
Race Review
Wakisaka/Iida Run Clever Race
to Take Victory in Event-Filled Round 3
- Nissan Silvia Takes Checkered Flag in GT300 -
Round 3 of the 2002 AUTOBACS Japan GT Championship was an exciting, event-filled race that kept the crowd in suspense and wondering who would come out on top as the victor until the final lap: numerous incidents required the Safety Car to be introduced four times and 10 cars received penalties during the race. One of the penalized cars (No.36 Supra) filed an appealed with the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), so the official results were not published at the end of the day.
The green light for 81-lap race was given in front of a huge crowd of 48,500 spectators who gathered together to watch the race under fine blue skies. Pole sitter Keiichi Tsuchiya in the No.8 Honda NSX took the lead immediately after the signal, followed by Takeshi Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra and Firman in the No.64 NSX. Further back in the field, the No.7 Mazda and No.62 Vemac bumped each other causing a multi-car incident that included the No.15 BMW driven by Kwan on the first lap. The Vemac managed to rejoin the race, but the Mazda and the BMW were forced to retire. The Safety Car made its first appearance for the day with this accident. The field leader, Tsuchiya, was victimized by the incident as well; his right rear tire picked up some of the debris causing a slow leaking punctured. He was forced to pit to change the damaged tire. The battle for the lead then turned into a confrontation between Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra and Firman in the No.64 car, the two fighting side-by-side as they made their way around the course. Following them were Ara in the No.25 Supra, Dufour in the No.39 Supra and Phillip in the No.18 NSX. Dufour was in good form. He quickly jumped up to sixth by the end of the first lap and then continued his charge carefully. The French driver overtook to move into second on lap 30, but his quest for the lead ended there. A miss in the work done in the pits when stopping for the driver change (failure to put enough gas in the car) forced Orido to bring the No.39 car back to the pit again, dropping their position considerably. |
On lap 36, the No.64 NSX stopped on the track due to engine problems, brining the Safety Car out for the second time. Kageyama drove well for the first stint in the No.23 Skyline GT-R and turned the wheel over to teammate Comas with the car running in 10th by mid-race. The veteran French driver fought well and skillfully made use of the timing of the Safety Car in his attack on the leaders. The No.100 NSX went off the track on lap 45 but rejoined the race without major incident.
The Safety Car came out again after lap 49. When the green light was given for the race to resume, it was Gardner in the No.36 Supra out in front, followed by Yamaji in the No.25 Supra, Lyons in the No.18 NSX, and Wakisaka in the No.6 Supra. The top group held their positions for a number of laps, but then the No.5 Mosler crashed hard at the end of the backstretch at "Umanose" Corner, brining out the Safety Car for its final appearance of the day. The leaders bunched up together again as the result of the yellow flag, and at the restart, the No.18 and No.25 cars bumped giving way for the No.6 Supra to slip by into second.
Then after lap 70, luck changed for the lead car. After a skillful hard drive, Gardner was imposed a 10sec penalty for ignoring the red signal at the pit lane exit. (The Australian could only finished 10th in the end.) Wakisaka and the No.6 Supra came out in the lead, followed by Yamaji in the No.25 Supra, Mitsusada in the No.100 NSX and Schwager in the No.16 NSX. They finished in this order. But the No.25 car was imposed a one-minute penalty causing it to drop back to 11th place.Juichi Wakisaka commented after the race, "We expected that the Safety Car would be introduced several times, so we set a strategy of taking it easy and catching up with the front runners when it was out. That worked well for us. The team became stronger and stronger, and the car was well improved compared to the previous round at Fuji. We're hoping to get the title that alluded us last year."
Akira Iida :"I dropped the pace a bit during the opening laps to save on tire wear. But then the front runners slowed and places were lost and I found it possible to move into fifth before making the routine stop."
In the GT300 class, Yamano charged ahead in the No.3 Silvia and took the lead just after the start, followed by Aoki in the No.81 Silvia and Tanaka in the No.19 Toyota MR-S. The front runners battled back and forth for position, and then on lap 18, Aoki experienced problems with the car's shift lever linkage and fell back in the field. |
With the introduction of the Safety Car several times, the lead of the GT300 class changed frequently. Midway through the race, it was the No.77 Subaru, No.24 Porsche and No.62 Vemac controlling the class. But the No.3 Silvia timed thing well with the final Safety Car introduction. Yanagida worked to position himself well and then put the pressure on when the green returned, passing first the No.62 car and then No.77 to come out at in the lead in the last laps. Having built up an impressive pace, he increased the gap between himself and the second running car and held the lead to the checkered flag.Masataka Yanagida commented after the race, "Yamano took the lead and increased the gap, but then we lost time during the pit stop. That didn't stop me from thinking that we were going to get to the checkered flag first. This is the first victory for me in the All-Japan Championship Series, and Mr. Hasemi congratulated me with a hearty 'Well done.'"
Tetsuya Yamano said, "The car ran well since the Friday free practice sessions. I learned many things from Mr. Hasemi, and I am happy to be able to express my gratitude. I'm ecstatic. Both of us have won at Sepang, and we're trying our best to aim for victories here as well."
The next round (Round 4) of the 2002 AUTOBACS Japan GT Championship will be held at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on June 22 and 23. |
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