SEASON'S FINAL POLE QUALIFYING DOMINATED BY NSX
Round 6 SUGO GT Championship
25 Oct. '97
Qualify Report
Sportsland Sugo was the site for Round 6 of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the final race of the 1997 series. Racing fans who made it out to the qualifying sessions on Saturday well received their money's worth; the course record set last year by a McLaren FT GTR being broken by not one or two but six cars in the field, as every driver drove his best in contending for the final pole of the season. But in the end, the results reflected much the previous outing at Mine circuit, with the two Honda NSXs demonstrating their superiority in cornering speed.
Akira Iida spirited his No. 100 NSX to the fastest lap in the morning session just ahead of Takuya Kurosawa in the other Honda. Times improved for many during the second session, but nobody could touch the time set by Iida earlier in the day. The best times recorded behind the Hondas came from the Supras of Masanori Sekiya/Toshio Suzuki and Hironori Takeuchi/Katsumoto Kaneishi of the Castrol Toyota Team, while the leading driver pair in the points standing, Michael Krumm and Pedro De la Rosa, competing with a 90kg handicap weight, had to settle for 9th on the grid. But pessimism had not set in, as was understood by the comment of De la Rosa after qualifying, "Even though we have 90kg of handicap weight, the car remains very consistent. I think we're okay for tomorrow."
The Skyline GT-Rs of Nissan had a tough day. The 8th spot on the grid was the best that could be mustered, which was secured by the normally fast-running Erik Comas in the No.2 GT-R.
In the GT-300 class, Sportsland Sugo welcomed two newcomers to the series: a Subaru Impreza driven by Katsuo Kobayashi/Naohiro Furuya and a Renault Spider driven by Tomohiko Sunako/Akira Yoshitomi. Both teams spent the day working bugs out of their cars, but put in times that qualified them for the race. The driver pair of Takeshi Tsuchiya/Masaoki Nagashima drove their Toyota MR2 to the fastest times in both sessions, with Tsuchiya setting a new lap record for the GT-300 class.
SUGO GT CHAMPIONSHIP Qualify Certifications
SPORTSLAND SUGO INTERNATIONAL RACINGCOURSE(3.704256km)
| 10.25 Sat. | Wether: Cloudy | Course: Dry | SEIKO TIMING |
| Po |
No |
C-Pos |
Machine |
Driver |
Time |
| 1 |
100 |
500 |
1 |
RAYBRIG NSX |
K.Takahashi |
A.Iida |
1'21.805 |
| 2 |
18 |
500 |
2 |
avex DomeMugen NSX |
T.Kurosawa |
K.Yamamoto |
1'22.147 |
| 3 |
37 |
500 |
3 |
Castrol TOM'S SUPRA |
M.Sekiya |
T.Suzuki |
1'22.244 |
| 4 |
38 |
500 |
4 |
Castrol CERUMO SUPRA |
H.Takeuchi |
K.Kaneishi |
1'22.341 |
| 5 |
8 |
500 |
5 |
POWER CRAFT SUPRA |
W.Gardner |
N.Nagasaka |
1'22.426 |
| 6 |
5 |
500 |
6 |
5ZIGEN SUPRA |
E.Tajima |
M.Goosens |
1'22.525 |
| 7 |
510 |
500 |
7 |
RH CERUMO SUPRA |
B.Gachot |
P.Belmondo |
1'22.810 |
| 8 |
39 |
500 |
8 |
Denso Sard SUPRA GT |
M.Kageyama |
T.Tanigawa |
1'22.815 |
| 9 |
36 |
500 |
9 |
Castrol TOM'S SUPRA |
M.Krumm |
P.De la Rosa |
1'22.861 |
| 10 |
2 |
500 |
10 |
ZEXEL SKYLINE |
A.Suzuki |
E.Comas |
1'23.290 |
| 11 |
3 |
500 |
11 |
Unisia Jecs SKYLINE |
M.Hasemi |
T.Tanaka |
1'23.545 |
| 12 |
34 |
500 |
12 |
STP Taisan Advan VIPER |
K.Tsuchiya |
H.Matsuda |
1'23.659 |
| 13 |
556 |
500 |
13 |
KURE R33 |
M.Kageyama |
M.Kondoh |
1'23.848 |
| 14 |
13 |
500 |
14 |
Endless Advan GTR |
M.Kinoshita |
M.Fujimura |
1'24.094 |
| 15 |
12 |
500 |
15 |
Calsonic SKYLINE |
K.Hoshino |
S.Motoyama |
1'24.635 |
| 16 |
30 |
500 |
16 |
SOK PORSCHE |
Y.Yamada |
K.Mogi |
1'25.297 |
| 17 |
88 |
500 |
17 |
LOC DIABLO GTR |
T.Wada |
H.Wada |
1'26.342 |
| 18 |
25 |
300 |
1 |
Tsuchiya MR2 |
T.Tsuchiya |
M.Nagashima |
1'26.916 |
| 19 |
81 |
300 |
2 |
Daishin SILVIA |
N.Ohyagi |
T.Kinoshita |
1'27.932 |
| 20 |
26 |
300 |
3 |
Taisan StarCard RSR |
K.Suzuki |
M.Nitta |
1'28.953 |
| 21 |
27 |
300 |
4 |
Shell Ferrari F355 |
T.Ohta |
S.Andscar |
1'28.997 |
| 22 |
71 |
300 |
5 |
Sigmatech 911 |
K.Hoshino |
M.Johnai |
1'29.022 |
| 23 |
7 |
300 |
6 |
RE Amemiya SuperG RX7 |
S.Yamaji |
H.Matsumoto |
1'29.030 |
| 24 |
21 |
300 |
7 |
Dunlop-BP-BMW |
Y.Hitotsuyama |
F.Mizuno |
1'29.063 |
| 25 |
51 |
300 |
8 |
Cobra PORSCHE |
M.Ishihara |
K.Iketani |
1'29.123 |
| 26 |
19 |
300 |
9 |
RS*R SILVIA |
M.Orido |
H.Fukuyama |
1'29.205 |
| 27 |
6 |
300 |
10 |
Wise Dunlop BP MR-2 |
H.Katoh |
T.Fujita |
1'29.388 |
| 28 |
60 |
300 |
11 |
Wise Dunlop BP Cavalier |
K.Satoh |
M.Tanaka |
1'29.624 |
| 29 |
91 |
300 |
12 |
Buddy Club MR-2 |
M.Matsunaga |
J.Mihara |
1'30.494 |
| 30 |
54 |
300 |
13 |
Schnell PORSCHE SDR |
N.Tanaka |
K.Saitoh |
1'33.024 |
| 31 |
28 |
300 |
14 |
TEAM FCJ Ferrari |
M.Yamazaki |
P.Van Skuto |
1'31.107 |
| 32 |
55 |
300 |
15 |
Castrol SF RX7 |
T.Fukazawa |
M.Nagashima |
1'31.445 |
| 33 |
70 |
300 |
16 |
Gaikokuya Advan PORSCHE |
Y.Ishibashi |
N.Komiya |
1'31.457 |
| 34 |
77 |
300 |
17 |
Csuco Subaru IMPREZA |
K.Kobayashi |
N.Furuya |
1'31.658 |
| 35 |
20 |
300 |
18 |
AI AUTO GAB PORSCHE |
K.Takahashi |
H.Suga |
1'32.630 |
| 36 |
16 |
300 |
19 |
BMW 325coupe |
M.Sekine |
T.Fujishima |
1'32.643 |
| 37 |
17 |
300 |
20 |
Kageisen:RE Roadstar |
T.Nogami |
T.Hosono |
1'34.001 |
| 38 |
57 |
300 |
21 |
SiFo Spider Ver.GT |
T.Sunago |
A.Yoshitomi |
1'34.440 |
| 39 |
911 |
300 |
22 |
Nine-Ten TIB PORSCHE |
S.Haga |
N.Takahashi |
1'34.457 |
| unqualified |
| |
910 |
300 |
|
Nine-Ten PORSCHE |
S.Sodeyama |
H.Tamamoto |
|
| |
4 |
500 |
|
Dunlop PORSCHE |
T.Kaneumi |
Mitsutake Koma |
|
| |
72 |
300 |
|
WAKO'S BMW M3 |
N.Makiguchi |
T.Asami |
|
| |
333 |
300 |
|
PORSCHE |
M.Shimizu |
F.Sakamoto |
|
| |
10 |
500 |
|
Chatraise PORSCHE GT2 |
K.Iida |
R.Firman |
|
|
