CP MINE GT RACE in CP MINE Circuit
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 NSX LEADS MAJORITY OF THE RACE BUT SUPRA WINS IN THE END
Round 5 CP MINE GT RACE  
The Central Park Mine Circuit welcomed a huge crowd of 40,100 spectators for a day of exciting battles in Round 5 of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship. A total of 32 cars lined the starting grid under bright blue skies. Pole sitter Kurosawa kept the 18 HONDA NSX in the lead from the onset followed by Kristensen in the 8 TOYOTA SUPRA, Iida in the 100 NSX and three more SUPRAs, Nos. 38, 37 and 36 driven by Takeuchi, De la Rosa and Toshio Suzuki, respectively. Iida squeezed through a hole left by Kristensen to move into second early on. Then on lap 8, the 18 NSX began to lose speed and Kurosawa had to give up his victory hopes, leaving Iida and Kristensen in first and second in the field. Iida's NSX was running well and began widening the gap between Kristensen and the pack of SUPRAs behind the Danish driver.Of the NISSAN drivers, the 2 SKYLINE GT-R driven by Aguri Suzuki was the quickest until he collided with a back marker on lap 15. Bad luck hit the NISMO team again, the 556 SKYLINE mixing it up with another car and forcing Kageyama to retire before the first driver change. Race fans were in awe hearing the thundering noise of the big V10 newcomer 34 DODGE VIPER, but the driver pair Keiichi Tsuchiya / Hideshi Matsuda seemed to have problems with control. Running on a less than optimum setup, the massive VIPER lost balance on the track several times, thrilling all within sight.
 The two SKYLINEs driven by Motoyama (12) and Hasemi (3) began to pick up their pace with the race half over, both drivers skillfully weaving through the competition and overtaking whenever possible. In the last stage, the 39 SUPRA driven by Tanigawa and the 34 VIPER driven by Matsuda went off together at the first corner. Both cars managed to return to the track, but Tanigawa, whose co-driver was Kageyama (the championship points leader going into Round 5), had lost his 6th place position. The only PORSCHE in the GT500 class was driven by the pair 30 Yoji Yamada and Kazuo Mogi. The car performed well and ran steadily throughout the day, finishing 11th in the end.
   In the GT300 class, the TOYOTA MR-2 of 6 Katoh / Fujita and PORSCHE of 71 Hoshino / Kunouchi controlled most of the race early on. But the driver team of 19 Orido / Fukuyama gave an impressive performance in their NISSAN SILVIA, overtaking the field and then leading from midrace in spite of a heavy 80kg handicap weight. Once in front, the NISSAN never relinquished the lead. No.36 CASTROL TOM'S SUPRA Michael Krumm & Pedro De la Rosa  No.19 RS*R SILVIA Manabu Orido & Hideo Fukuyama |