SUGO GT Championship in SPORTSLAND SUGO
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 UNSTABLE WEATHER CREATED RACE, BUT SUPRA WINS AGAIN
Round 6 SPORTSLAND SUGO   Unstable weather created unnerving race conditions throughout the day. The start came under rainfall, which soon stopped causing the top runners to choose slicks when they pitted for tyres. Then rain began to fall again in the final stage of the race, making the track perilous for the drivers.
In the last stage, the weather turned bad again and rain began to fall. With all of the cars having changed to slick tyres when pitting, every top runner was seen spinning on the track at least once. It was in the midst of this turmoil that 5 Tajima found his opportunity. He took the lead in the 75th lap and held onto it to the finish, scoring his team's first victory in the GTC.
   In the GT-300 class, a three-way battle for first was held between the two PORSCHEs of 71 Hoshino/Jounai and 26 Suzuki/Nitta and the TOYOTA MR2 of 25 Tsuchiya/Nagashima.
Round 6 SUGO GT Championship Winners
 No.71 SIGMATECH 911 Kaoru Hoshino & Masaki Johnai 
No.19 RS*R SILVIA Manabu Orido & Hideo Fukuyama 
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Pole sitter 100 Iida put his NSX into a spin just after the first corner on the opening lap, and 18 NSX driven by Kurosawa took the lead. Kurosawa wasted no time in opening the gap between himself and the pack of contending SUPRAs on his tail (8 Gardner, 37 Sekiya, 38 Kaneishi and 5 Goossens). Of the NISSAN SKYLINE GT-Rs, Masahiko Kageyama was the fastest with the 556 car running 6th.
Even though the leading car of Kurosawa was running well in front of the rest of the field, the 35,600 spectators (officially announced) were treated to a thrilling battle for second place. There was also excitement from the back of the field, with Iida skillfully working to overtake and make up for the first-lap spin. Beginning from 19th at the end of the first lap, he recovered to 7th by lap 12 and then 5th by lap 20. Over this time, the rain stopped and the skies over the circuit began to turn blue. Just as the weather was clearing, Krumm collided with the No.39 SUPRA of Kageyama. There was no noticeable damage to Kageyama's car, but the car of the championship point leaders Krumm and De la Rosa was forced to pit for repairs.
When the forerunners had completed their routine stops in the middle stage, Yamamoto, who took over the wheel of the No.18 NSX from Kurosawa, maintained a comfortable lead. But the contest for second intensified with challenges occurring around the circuit between the three SUPRAs of 8 Nagasaka, 37 Suzuki and 38 Takeuchi and Takahashi in the No.100 NSX. This group, while frantically fighting amongst each other for position, was also reducing the gap held by Kurosawa with each passing lap.
Of the Nissan teams, the No.2 SKYLINE GT-R of Suzuki/Comas finished a gratifying third even after Suzuki went into a spin on the last lap. Krumm and De la Rosa rejoined the race after a long pit stop, and managed to finish the race in 33rd place. Even so, they won the GT500 championship by points standings.
It was a match of equally shrewd people all pursuing the win. In the end, the PORSCHE 911 GT2 of 71 Hoshino/Jounai crossed the finish line first. The championship points leader pair 19 Manabu Orido/Hideo Fukuyama drove their NISSAN SILVA at a steady pace, and finished in 5th place in spite of the field's heaviest handicap weight (100kg). The 5th place finish was sufficient for them to clinch the 1997 GT-300 class championship.
