Changes in track after qualifying session results in rescheduling to 87-lap race from previously announced 75 laps.

The No.1 Nissan Fairlady Z, Motoyama behind the wheel, took the lead off the line followed by Treluyer in the No. 12 Fairlady Z, Courtney in the No.37 Toyota Supra and Michigami in the No.18 Honda NSX. Before the end of the first lap, Lotterer put the No.32 NSX through a spin as he attempted to overtake the No.22 Fairlady Z, bringing spectators to their feet and hinting of the eventful race ahead. "I just pushed too hard," commented Lotterer afterward.

Treluyer displayed brilliant driving as he kept the gap on the leader tight and then slipped the No.12 car by Motoyama on lap 12 to take the lead. Courtney, too, was looking to squeak by the No.1 car, but bumped Motoyama from behind, putting the No.37 Supra into a spin. Michigami navigated to miss the congestion, but hit the No.1 Fairlady Z. Both cars went into the pits at the end of the lap; the day ending early as both cars never again left their garages.

Out on the track, Lotterer had worked his way back up through the field and was sitting in third at the end of lap 12. But the No.43 Garaiya stopped trackside on lap 14, introducing the first Safety Car of the day and shutting down Lotterer's momentum. When the lead car crossed the line on lap 15, a number of cars chose to pit for their first routine stop, thinking that sufficient laps had been completed. (Specific to this event, supplementary regulations stipulated that 15 laps must be completed before a pit stop to be counted as one of the two mandatory stops in this race.) Car Nos.37, 3, 32 and 35 all came off the track believing that they were within the rules stipulated for the event.

The Safety Car left the track on lap 16, and Treluyer had the No.12 Nissan running strong in the lead, followed by Kageyama in the No.22 car and Nakano in the No.100 NSX. But the No.100 NSX was tapped by Courtney in the No.37 Supra on lap 22, sending Nakano into a spin, and causing both drivers to lose precious time. At the end of lap, Treluyer went in for the team's first routine stop and passed the wheel to Ide, who seemed a bit anxious to get into the race and overshot a section of the infield causing him to lose time, although only slightly. Kageyama held the No.22 Nissan in the lead for the next 16 laps, but an error in the chicane sent him into a spin that landed the car in the banking. He recovered well, but had dropped back to third behind the No.32 and No.8 Hondas.

�@ Midway through the race, car positioning changed frequently. When the leader, Lotterer, pitted the No.32 car on lap 51, the No.3 Fairlady Z, now with Kaneishi behind the wheel, moved to the front. Following not far off the pace was Ide in the No.12 Nissan. Matsuda rejoined the track in No.32 Honda, sitting in third. For a number of laps, the No.32 NSX, No.3 Fairlady Z and No.35 Supra juggled back-and-forth for second. On lap 68, the No.5 Vemac stopped on the trackside, causing the Safety Car to be called out again. Kaneishi took advantage of the Yellow Flag and pitted the No.3 car while running second. And since there wasn't any control at the end of the pit lane, he managed to rejoin the race without losing position. (Under normal circumstances, the car would have been prevented from entering the track until the pack had passed.) The Safety Car left the track on lap 72, and the green was given.

On lap 74, the No.12 Fairlady Z (Ide) was imposed a "Drive-through penalty" due to overtaking a car under the yellow flag. And then on the following lap, the No.37 Supra went into the pits, losing the position just given to it. Kaneishi pushed the No.3 car hard to reduce the gap between him and Matsuda, leading in the No.32 Honda. The 2001 German F3 Champion caught up to the Honda in the final laps, but failed to get past him before the checkered flag. The No.32 Honda NSX crossed the finish line first, followed by Kaneishi in the No.3 Nissan and Wakisaka in the No.35 Toyota.

After the race, a 60-sec penalty was imposed on the No.32 and No.35 cars due to failure to abide by the supplementary regulations (one pit stop after lap 15), giving the victory to the No.3 Fairlady Z and drivers Kaneishi-Comas.

GT500 Winner - No.3 G'ZOX SSR HASEMI Z

Erik Comas : "It looks like we may have won. The first pitstop made by the No.1, No.35, No.32 and us (No.3 car) was actually on lap 15. The regulation says after lap 15, so it looks like it was a misunderstanding between the teams. However, it was confirmed to us later on in the race that this pitstop will not count. That's why we made an extra one - a third stop, on lap 71. After the ruling, we're hoping our 2nd place will turn out to be 1st. That's what we understood 20 laps before the finish."

Nitta was the driver for the pole sitter No.43 Garaiya, which got off the line well and held onto the lead followed by Kurosawa in the No.16 Honda NSX, Yanagida in the No.81 Nissan Fairlady Z and Tanigawa in the No.77 Subaru Impreza. Nitta set a steady pace and was looking strong, but bad luck struck the team on lap 10, the driveshaft of the car breaking. The car rolled to a stop trackside, causing the Safety Car to be introduced. Kurosawa consequently took the lead, with Yanagida in the No.81 Fairlady Z and Yamaji in the No.7 Mazda RX-7 close behind.

Kurosawa pitted on lap 15 (also given a 60-sec penalty after the race), making way for the No.7 Mazda to take the lead. Running in second and third were the No.81 Nissan and No.16 NSX respectively. When the No.7 car went into the pit, the No.16 NSX took the lead again. By mid-race, the top three cars, the No.16 NSX, No.7 Mazda and No.81 Fairlady Z, had pulled away from the rest of the field.

As the leader of the GT500 class began the 55th lap, two GT300 cars battling further back in the pack gave the crowd a spectacular performance that had a most shocking end. Running in the infield, the lapped No.26 Viper closed the door on the No.7 Mazda as they jostled for position. The Mazda ran out of road and crashed hard into a concrete retaining wall, ending the day with a rather violent impact.

The No.16 Honda finished the first with a large amount of gap ahead of the No.81 Fairlady Z which improved the position during the two thirds distance. Third place went to the No.77 Subaru.

GT300 Winner - No.16 M-TEC NSX

Tetsuya Yamano: "A whole range of things happened during my stint. There were accidents and debris from other cars on the track so I couldn't maintain my line. Therefore, I focused on driving consistently until the flag. The team was fantastic today. The pit crew gave me two excellent stops, including one when the Safety Car was out. This allowed me to run at the top and maintain the lead after the second stop. In the first half of the race, Haruki drove fabulously. All I had to do was keep the car on the track to the end. However, because there were so many crashes, I had to really keep my eyes open and not make any mistakes until the finish. In this sense, it was an easy race."

Haruki Kurosawa: "I drove the first two stints, and the car was very stable throughout so there was very little variation in my lap times."