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2002-10-26
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Qualify Review
Honda NSX on Pole in Both Classes
CP MINE Circuit (Yamaguchi Prefecture) is the venue for the seventh round of the 2002 AUTOBACS Japan GT Championship (JGTC), the "CP MINE GT RACE". This race is the shortest in the Championship, and all 44 cars entered for the event were out on the track battling for best positions on the starting grid during the Saturday qualifying sessions. The contest for the pole in both classes was severe.
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Morning Qualifying (Wether:Fine, Air Temp.:23C/Truck Temp.:28C, Course:Dry) |
The first qualifying session started under fine blue skies, air temperature 23C and track temperature 28C. Comas was first to enter the track in the No.23 Skyline GT-R, followed by Dufour in the No.39 Toyota Supra and Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra. The two Toyota drivers wasted no time and immediately set out on time attacks. The Honda drivers, on the other hand, never left the pits. Tsuchiya put in a fine 1'22.061" on his eighth lap, setting the mark for others to beat. Ten minutes into the session, movement began in the Honda garages. Once on the track, Firman showed that the heavy 70kg handicap his No.64 NSX was carrying would not interfere with his challenge as he clocked a lap of 1'22.179". Behind the wheel of the No.76 McLaren F1GTR, Hattori was also driving well and worked his way up to third fastest time in spite of carrying a 50kg handicap weight. Motoyama took the No.22 Skyline GT-R through a 1'22.569" lap to take up a preliminary 5th on the gird. Teammate Comas and the No.23 GT-R returned to the garage and stayed there due to a problem with the gearbox.
Tanigawa (No. 77 Subaru Impreza) set the pace in the GT300 class early on, followed by Tanaka in the No.19 Toyota MR-S. Just 5 minutes after the session started, Nitta drove the No.31 Toyota MR-S into a gravel bed and the No.51 Nissan Silvia suffered a spin on the track. Later in the session, the top names on the monitor included Yamada in the No.55 Viper GTS-R, Kwan in the No.15 BMW M3GT and Matsuda in the No.910 Porsche 911GT3R. But it wasn't long before Shibahara flew around the track in the No.62 Vemac RD320R and claimed the quickest lap, 1'28.719". Not far behind, however, were the No.55 Viper (1'28.854"), Matsuda in the No.86 Toyota MR-S (1'28.938") and the No.71 Toyota MR-S driven by Jonai (1'28.945").
The weather began to change rapidly and rain started falling just after the end of the session.
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Afternoon Qualifying (Wether:Fine, Air Temp.:17C/Truck Temp.:19C, Course:Dry) |
Common to many of the regions in Japan, the weather changes quickly, and before the start of the second qualifying session, the rain had ceased. Air and track temperatures were down considerably compared to the morning however, 17 and 19C respectively.
The session got underway at 15:00. Immediately after the start of GT300 class period, Mifune broke the 1'30" barrier with a 1'29.428" in the No.5 Mosler. The closest contender at that moment was Nitta and the No.31 Toyota with a lap time of 1'30.007". The session was interrupted 10 minutes into GT300 period, the No.3 Silvia stopped trackside after losing oil from a leaking oil pan and catching on fire. The marshals extinguished the fire immediately, but a red flag was given in order to clean the track. Watanabe in the No.2 NSX was on top (1'28.605") before the session was stopped, followed by Taniguchi in the No.7 Mazda RX-7(1'28.790") and Mifune in the No.5 Moslar (1'29.428").
The session was restarted at 15:50, with 5 minutes remaining after the green was given. Shibahara tried to get in a good lap, but ended up going off the track and getting stuck in the gravel. Kinoshita drove the No.24 Porsche to a respectable time of 1'28.861" at the last moment and claimed third on the grid in the GT300 class.
Many teams managed to improve on their morning times during the final 5 minutes of the GT500 afternoon session. Kurosawa took the No.30 McLaren around the circuit in 1'22.436", and then Shigekazu Wakisaka set a time of 1'22.230" in the No.35 Supra. But the day was not over yet, and Firman came back to regain position at the top of the monitor with a flying lap of 1'21.980". Michigami bested his morning time with a 1'22.227", and Montin in the No.37 Supra finished quicker as well, 1'22.314". Loaded down with 90kg of handicap weight, the No.1 Supra driven by Takeuchi and Tachikawa finished 18th in the morning and 14th in the afternoon. Their best time (1'22.858") could only get them 15th on the grid overall.
The day ended with the driver pair of Ralf Firman/Tsugio Matsuda and the No.64 Honda NSX on the pole. Sharing the front row will be Tsuchiya/Gardner in the No.36 Supra and Michigami/Ito in the No.16 NSX. It was quite an amazing session, with 17 cars finishing within one second of the pole-winning time.
Ralf Firman commented afterward:"I felt confident about getting the pole. I was more worried about the rain falling on the track this morning than I was about the oil on the track. I was afraid that the overall lap times in the second session would be slower because of a wet track. But fortunately that was not the case. The team did a great job again in improving the car between the morning and afternoon sessions. That's what got us the pole position."
Tsugio Matsuda :"The feeling of the car was really good, almost like we weren't carrying that 70kg weight handicap. I drove using the race configuration and the feeling was good. We won both races we've taken the pole in, so we're aiming for a repeat here again as well."
The pole for the GT300 class went to Kazuho Takahashi/Akira Watanabe in the No.2 Honda NSX, who established a new GT300 circuit record of 1'28.605.
Akira Watanabe :"We put in a lot of hard work setting up the car since yesterday. And it's a great feeling to get the pole. The motto of our team is to enjoy the race, so I want to make the owner driver happy when this race is over!"
Kazuho Takahashi : "I didn't drive so much yesterday. Moreover, this is the first time for me to race here in MINE. In spite of that, we're aiming for a podium finish in tomorrow's race."
(From left) Tsugio Matsuda/Ralf Firman (No.64), Akira Watanabe/Kazuho Takahashi (No.2)
Copyright 2002 JGTC.net. http://www.jgtc.net
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