2003-11-16

2003 AUTOBACS JGTC Round8 SUZUKA GT 300km, 11.15,16 / SUZUKA CIRCUIT

Skyline GT-R Bows Out in Style with Win
by Treluyer-Ide
Nissan Exuberant-Takes Driver's Championship in Both Classes

No.12 CALSONIC SKYLINE

With the green light, Dufour shot off the line, keeping the No.25 Supra in the lead from the pole. Following tight behind him were Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra, Motoyama in the No.23 Skyline GT-R, Philippe in the No.18 Honda NSX and Treluyer in the No.12 Skyline GT-R. Treluyer presented a fantastic start, overtaking Iida in the No.1 Supra before going into the first corner.
Driver's Championship points leader Iida had two Nissan cars separating him from the front runners, and the two Skyline GT-R drivers played their roles well to help their compatriot teammates, Motoyama and Krumm, the main contenders for the Driver's title. An exceptional blocking effort was made by the No.22 Skyline, Kageyama doing everything he could in the initial laps of the race to prevent the No.1 car from getting by. The No.23 GT-R was running well, too. Motoyama set himself into a good pace and overtook the No.38 Supra driven by Tachikawa on lap 4 to move into second. Surely frustrated, Iida on the other hand, could not get passed the determined Kageyama, who was driving a second slower than the leaders as he skillfully blocked the No.1 car.

Kurosawa took the No.37 Supra into the pits after only 7 laps. There were no problems however. The team chose to implement this strategy in effort to score a "Fastest Lap" point-one point is given to each of the three cars that record the fastest laps during a race. The plan worked well as the car set the third fastest lap time in the race and was awarded a point at the end of the day.
On lap 10 Yamada put the GT300-class No.55 Viper into a spin in the "S Curve" and stopped in the center of the course. Cars were careful to get by the Viper, but a GT300 Porsche ended up spinning in the process, doing so right in front of the leader, Dufour. Dufour's reaction prevented an on-course crash, but ended up with the No.25 Supra sitting in a trackside gravel bed. The French driver managed to rejoin the race, but only after several precious minutes had passed. With the lap 10 incident over, Motoyama was out in front in the No.23 GT-R, Philippe was running second in the No.18 NSX and Treluyer was third in the No.12 GT-R. The ensuing battle for second place between the two Frenchmen continued around the circuit for a number of laps. Tachikawa held onto his fourth place position, while Kageyama continued to play blocker on the No.1 Supra. Meanwhile, after completing 13 laps, Dufour returned to his pit and passed the wheel to Ara. Ara drove aggressively in effort to make up for lost time, and began working the car back up through the field. But the day just wasn't in the favor of Team ADVAN Tsuchiya. On lap 37, the No.25 car lost its right front wheel, forcing Ara to stop the car on the trackside green and give up the race.

After 20 laps the No.38 Supra and No.22 GT-R pitted at the same time for fuel and driver changes. The leader, Motoyama, pitted the No.23 car two laps later and turned the wheel over to Krumm. With this, Philippe and the No.18 Honda took the lead, followed by Treluyer in the No.12 Skyline, Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra and Tsuchiya in the No.8 NSX. (Tsuchiya, veteran driver of 47 years, gave a fine performance with the No.8 car in his final race.) Treluyer made his routine stop on lap 24, Philippe went in on lap 26 and Tachikawa, one lap later.
Top runners having completed their routine laps, the lead formation was Ide out in front in the No.12 Skyline followed by Michigami in the No.18 Honda, the No.23 Nissan with Krumm at the wheel lying third, and Lyons in the No.22 GT-R providing the barrier of protection between Krumm and Wakisaka, now driving the No.1 Supra in fifth. Fifth would have been sufficient for Iida and Wakisaka to claim the Driver's title, but Wakisaka was unable to hold the position and dropped down to seventh when passed by the No.100 and No.8 Hondas on lap 41, and then eighth on lap 42 after being overtook by Comas in the No.36 Supra. The French Toyota driver put in an excellent drive, pacing himself as fast as the leaders but unable to quicken the time to gain better position.

No.23 Xanavi NISMO GT-R

Common to the JGTC, the race was filled with excitement to the end, and the finale of Round 8 came in the form of a scrimmage when Michigami caught up to Ide with only five laps remaining. The No.18 NSX slipped past Ide on lap 49, when the No.12 Skyline cut the chicane short at the end of the lap and Michigami overtook on the straight. As they passed through the first corner, Michigami lost balance at the end and Ide bumped the Honda. Michigami went off the track and the rear section of the car hit the sponge barrier. He was able to rejoin the race, however, and finished in second place. Ide took the checkered flag first, giving the Nissan Skyline GT-R a victory for its last race in the JGTC. Krumm and the No.23 Skyline GT-R finished third, which was enough to give driver pair Motoyama-Krumm the Driver's title with the seventh place finish of the No.1 Supra.

Benoit Treluyer: " My grid position was not good today, but I made a good start. I concentrated on the soft compound tires, and the importance of maintaining consistent wear. Later, I tried to pressure the No.18 car into a mistake, but it never happened. Yuji did a fantastic job in his stint; I'm really pleased with today's result. The team also must be thanked; they had the right strategy today. Stopping early worked very well for us. The car was also very good on a full tank. I'd like to thank the whole team. We all work well together, and that enabled us to win today. Mr. Hoshino is a superb director, with a huge amount of experience; I'm very happy to learn from him. Also, there were no major mechanical problems with the car."
Yuji Ide: " The team informed me that I could take the lead when leaving the pit, so I pushed immediately from my pit out lap. There was a gap of 8 seconds over the No.18 car and I was able to increase the rhythm, but I was cautious about the pace because I knew the tires would lose grip during the last stage of the race. The No.18 car caught up with me when I got stuck in the GT300 traffic with 10 laps to go. I went straight at the chicane and Michigami overtook me. But I recovered the lead when Michigami made a spin. I don't think I touched him. He was running at the center of the track cautious of my position, and I was passing on the record line. I'm really happy to win the last race for the Skyline GT-R, because it was my admiration of Mr. Hoshino in his Calsonic Skyline GT-R that spurred my interest in racing."

GT500 Driver's Champions
Satoshi Motoyama: " The Skyline GT-R has been through some hard seasons the last several years. Even so, we all did our best to improve the car. So I'm really very happy to get this title. Things went well for us this weekend, and it was a fantastic race. Krumm ran steadily, but I was worried until the end of the race. I'm hoping to move on to a bigger stage, the F1. That is my target now."
Michael Krumm: " I took over with the car in first place, and the feeling of the car was good. I drove the longer stint on harder tires, and both tires and the balance of the car were good. Our Skyline GT-R was in really good condition. I kept checking the gap over the No.1 car on the pit signboard. It was great seeing the many Nissan flags around the circuit, even at the corners. My sincere appreciation to all the fans as well."

No.19 WedsSport CELICA

Kinoshita lead the GT300 class off the line, the No.3 Fairlady Z followed by Yamada in the No.55 Viper and Aoki in the No.19 Celica. Yamada was running a close second in the first laps, but a spin in the "S Curve" on lap 10 and ensuing stall caused the Viper to positions. Aoki moved into second and began closing the gap on the leader. Both the Nissan and Toyota went in for routine stops after 25 laps. The fuel efficiency of the Celica (2-liter, 4-cylinder engine) being better than that of the Fairlady Z (3.5-liter, 6-cylinder engine), time required for refueling was less, allowing the No.19 car to return to the track quicker than the No.3 car. Tanaka demonstrated a skillful performance in the second half of the race building up a gap that Yanagida was unable to close.

Rather than trying to push too hard and catch the leader, Yanagida chose to run smoothly and finish the race with claiming the Driver's title as the aim. Sawa in the No.71 Celica, one of the other championship contenders, managed to rise to third by lap 35, but failed to challenge any further. Driver's Championship points standing leaders after the race at Autopolis, Yamaji and Nishizawa in the No.26 Porsche, were hit from behind by another car on lap 21, damaging the right rear tire. Yamaji managed to return to the pit and rejoin the race, but could only finish in ninth at best.
At the finish line it was Tanaka in the No.19 Celica, Yanagida in the No.3 Fairlady Z and Sawa in the No.71 Celica.

No.3 HASEMISPORT ENDLESS Z

Takayuki Aoki: " Since we had won the last round, I was a little more relaxed this time. As for timing the pit stop, Mr. Bandoh (team manager/owner) told me to come in when the Fairlady makes its routine stop. So I pitted at the same time as the Fairlady. The mechanics did a great job. As we knew that our car could hold out better than the Fairlady in terms of tire wear, it was possible to increase the rhythm in the last stage of the race, and I could watch Minoru's driving with a feeling of confidence."
Minoru Tanaka: " During the pit stop, we refueled using the minimum amount required in order to reduce the time in the pit. But I didn't expect that the No.38 car, in the pit next to ours, to be stopped diagonal to our car. I had to use some serious wheel spin to get out of the pit, and fortunately it went well."

GT300 Driver's Champions
Mitsuhiro Kinoshita: " I was hoping that we'd win the championship title with a victory in this race. But we did all our best, so I'm very satisfied. I'm elated that we have finally won the title after doing all that we have done."
Masataka Yanagida: " When the No.19 car overtook us at the pit stop, I was unresolved as to whether or not I should chase it. But I finally decided that it would be best to race without risking our chances for the title. I knew that we had the complete advantage, so I concentrated on driving carefully and finishing the race."

BACK

HOME