The qualifying session for JGTC All-Star 200 was held on Saturday afternoon under fine, blue Californian skies and an air temperature of 26 degrees, the track standing at 30 degrees. The 23 cars (10 from GT500 10, 13 from GT300), including two local teams entered for the event, put on an exciting show for the fans gathered at the Fontana track.

Differing from full-championship events, qualifying for the JGTC All-Star was a one-session affair. The 50 minute session was divided into three parts; a 30-minute combined segment for both GT500 and GT300 cars, followed by 10 minutes where each class ran separately.
Needless to say, every team checked their cars on old tires during the first combined segment, and began to make their qualifying runs with new rubber (only nine sets of tires can be used from the free practice session on Thursday the 16th to the end of All-Star Sprints on Sunday, the 19th).

Immediately following the green flag for the GT300 time slot, Morio Nitta in the No.43 Garaiya began to make flying laps, breaking the 1 minute 30sec. barrier with his 1'29.309. "At the beginning of the session I was puzzled because of the position of the cones at the start and end of the banking. They were in a different spot from yesterday but I got through without making any big mistakes. However, I did make a little bit of a mistake on the first flying lap on new tires. Following that, I calmed down during the next lap where I was caught by traffic. Then I tried again and set my best lap."
Following him were Tetsuya Yamano in the No.16 Honda NSX and Masataka Yanagida in the No.81 Nissan Fairlady Z (350Z). This order has not been changed since Thursday's free practice session. Yamano fought a good fight to break the barrier of 1'30 too, setting a lap time of 1'29.956. Yanagida clocked a 1'30.692. The only American car competing this weekend, the No.26 Viper entered by Team TAISAN, which has been absent from the JGTC this season, ran with a roar at the California Circuit. Eiji Yamada made a best lap of 1'32.914.
As for the two local entrants, Geoff Escalette in the No.6 Porsche entered by Stuttgart Performance was the faster with a lap time of 1'36.658.

Drivers in the GT500 class began to make qualifying laps after the GT300 class segment. Benoit Treluyer in the No.12 Fairlady Z set the fastest lap of 1'23.289 to go top on the timing monitor. James Courtney in the No.37 Supra ran well too, setting a 1'23.665 for second place. But it was Richard Lyons in the No.1 Fairlady Z who clocked a 1'23.323 to take second place. Then in the dying moments of the session, Lyons demonstrated his 2004 JGTC driver's championship-winning ability, claiming a 1'23.124 to take pole. "It's quite an interesting track, though very bumpy in the infield section. Because of the dummy chicanes, it's going to be challenging during the race. You can't see your way through the tires so it's a new challenge every time. The track is somewhat technical, though more fun. My last lap was very good; in fact it felt almost perfect. We hope we can continue this form through the race. To do well, we'll have to be consistent through the chicane. The keyword is caution; a mistake there could cost us the race."
The fastest Honda was the No.18 NSX driven by Ryo Michigami. He set a best lap of 1'23.842 to take fourth place on the grid.