JAPAN SPECIAL GT Cup in FUJI Speedway



Supra, Supra, Supra

Round 4 JAPAN SPECIAL GT Cup
9 Aug '97
Qualify Report




Round 4 of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship started off with an impressive show by TOYOTA SUPRAS, with seven Supras placing in the top 10 in the first qualifying session on Saturday. As the second qualifying session was plagued with rain, the early day high performance of the Toyota machines garnered them the top four places on the grid, with pole going to the CASTROL TOM'S SUPRA driven by Michael Krumm/Pedro de la Rosa; Krumm breaking the Fuji International Speedway record with a time of 1'28.625.


The number two spot on the grid went to the CASTROL CERUMO SUPRA of Hironori Takeuchi/Katsutomo Kaneumi, which also clocked a faster time than the previous record. The HONDA NSXs also received their fair share of attention with the driver pairs of Takuya Kurosawa/Katsumi Yamamoto and Kunimitsu Takahashi/Akira Iida claiming sixth and seventh grid positions, respectively. The leader in the overall points standing, Aguri Suzuki, completed his first test as a SKYLINE GT-R driver, scoring a humble ninth position on the grid. Yet, after the session the NISMO driver stated optimistically, "Our car can run as fast as the rivals when using race settings."


In the GT-300 class, the team of Takeshi Tsuchiya and Masaoki Nagashima were fastest in their TOYOTA MR-2. Tsuchiya gave an excellent performance setting a lap time more than 2 sec faster than the number two MAZDA RX-7 driven by Shinichi Yamaji and Haruhiko Matsumoto.


Two newcomers are making their debuts in the Round 4 event: a CHEVROLET CAMARO and a TOYOTA CAVALIER. The former is an IMSA version modified for GTC regulations, while the latter is the only front-drive car in the GTC entry list. As both teams lacked sufficient time to prepare, they're each still searching for a good setup.


With the wet conditions of the afternoon session, none of th cars were able to improve on their morning times.
JAPAN SPECIAL GT CUP Qualify Certifications
Fuji International Speedway (4.470km)
8.9 Sat. | Wether: Cloudy/Rain | Course: Dry/Wet | SEIKO TIMING
Po No C-Pos Driver Machine Time
1 36 500 1 Michael Krumm Pedro De La Rosa Castrol TOM'S SUPRA 1'28.625 R
2 38 500 2 Hironori Takeuchi Katsutomo Kaneishi Castrol CERUMO SUPRA 1'28.783 R
3 8 500 3 Wayne Gardner Tom Kristensen POWER CRAFT SUPRA 1'29.161
4 510 500 4 Bertrand Gachot Paul Belmondo RH CERUMO SUPRA 1'29.607
5 18 500 5 Takuya Kurosawa Katsumi Yamamoto avex DOME MUGEN NSX 1'29.780
6 100 500 6 Kunimitsu Takahashi Akira Iida RAYBRIG NSX 1'29.800
7 37 500 7 Masanori Sekiya Toshio Suzuki Castrol TOM'S SUPRA 1'29.865
8 5 500 8 Eiichi Tajima Marc Goossens 5ZIGEN SUPRA 1'29.875
9 39 500 9 Masami Kageyama Tatsuya Tanigawa DENSO SARD SUPRA GT 1'29.939
10 2 500 10 Aguri Suzuki Eric Comas ZEXEL SKYLINE 1'29.965
11 556 500 11 Masahiko Kageyama Masahiko Kondoh KURE R33 1'30.157
12 3 500 12 Masahiro Hasemi Tetsuya Tanaka UNISIA JECS SKYLINE 1'30.438
13 13 500 13 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Mitsuo Fujimura ENDLESS ADVAN GTR 1'30.633
14 12 500 14 Kazuyoshi Hoshino Satoshi Motoyama CALSONIC SKYLINE 1'31.015
15 10 500 15 Kaoru Iida Ralph Firman CHATERAISE PORSCHE GT2 1'31.548
16 30 500 16 Yohji Yamada Kazuo Mogi SOGOKEIBI PORSCHE 1'31.889
17 34 500 17 Keiichi Tsuchiya Hideshi Matsuda STP TAISAN PORSCHE GT2 1'32.311
18 4 500 18 Tatsuhiko Kaneumi Mitsutake Koma DUNLOP PORSCHE 1'34.004
19 25 300 1 Takeshi Tsuchiya Masaoki Nagashima TSUCHIYA MR2 1'35.197
20 7 300 2 Shinichi Yamaji Haruhiko Matsumoto RE Amemiya SuperG RX7 1'37.371
21 27 300 3 Tetsuya Ohta Anders Oolofsson TEAM FCJ FERRARI 1'37.646
22 81 300 4 Nobuyuki Ohyagi Takayuki Kinoshita DAISHIN SILVIA 1'37.696
23 19 300 5 Manabu Orido Hideo Fukuyama RS*R SILVIA 1'37.743
24 26 300 6 Keiichi Suzuki Morio Nitta TAISAN STARCARD RSR 1'37.796
25 6 300 7 Hiroki Katoh Takahiro Fujita WISE DUNLOP BP MR-2 1'37.841
26 21 300 8 Yasushi Hitotsuyama Mizuno Huminori DUNLOP-BP-BMW 1'37.872
27 51 300 9 Masamitsu Ishihara Katsunori Iketani COBRA PORSCHE 1'38.512
28 71 300 10 Kaoru Hoshino Masaki Johnai SIGMATECH 911 1'38.926
29 910 300 11 Seiichi Sodeyama Hideyuki Tamamoto NINETEN PORSCHE 1'39.006
30 72 300 12 Norio Makiguchi Takeshi Asami WAKO'S BMW M3 1'39.266
31 55 300 13 Toshihiro Fukazawa Masaaki Nagashima Castrol SF RX7 1'39.467
32 91 300 14 Masahiro Matsunaga Junko Mihara BUDDY CLUB MR-2 1'40.176
33 20 300 15 Kenji Takahashi Hiroaki Suga AI AUTO GAB PORSCHE 1'40.612
34 88 500 19 Takao Wada Hisashi Wada JLOC DIABLO GTR 1'40.678
35 79 300 16 Masanori Sugiyama Hiroyasu Aoyagi NACWEST SYLVIA 1'41.043
36 28 300 17 Masahiro Yamazaki Masami Sugiyama TEAM FCJ FERRARI 1'41.940
37 60 300 18 Kumi Satoh Minoru Tanaka WISE DUNLOP BP Cavalier 1'42.126
38 16 300 19 Motoji Sekine Toshiya Fujishjima YB BMW 318i coupe 1'42.318
39 70 300 20 Yoshimi Ishibashi Nobuo Komiya Gaikokuya ADVAN PORSCHE 1'42.357
40 17 300 21 Toshihiko Nogami Tomoyuki Hosono KAGEISEN:RE ROADSTAR 1'44.129
41 47 500 20 Masahito Yamamoto Katsuhiko Okamoto ADVANCE AUTO GT CAMARO 1'44.764
42 333 300 22 Masatomo Shimizu Shigekazu Saeki PORSCHE 1'45.504
43 15 300 23 Takeshi Odagiri Takatoshi Onoda KAMCO Workstation GTR 1'46.927
23 300 24 Toshiyuki Hirano Hisanori Kuboyama HIRANO MOTORSPORTS R32M DNR

Qualify Limit Time (130%) 1'55.513


'R' : Course Record (Old Record 1'28.812)

presented by Fuji International Speedway