Round5

MOTEGI GT CHAMPION RACE
9.12 sat / 13 sun - Twin Ring MOTEGI

Race

Honda NSX Duo Nakako/Michigami
Victorious after Driving a Perfect Race

Round 5 MOTEGI GT CHAMPION RACE
Race Report / 13 Sep. '98

     The green light for Round 5 was given under fine blue skies. Ryo Michigami led from the pole and set the pace early on in the No.16 Castrol Mugen NSX. It wasn't long before he had built up a substantial lead over the pursuing pack of Takeuchi in the FK/Massimo SUPRA, Kunimitsu Takahashi in the RAYBRIG NSX, Tsuchiya in the Denso SARD SUPRA and Raphanel, who was running a fine fifth place in the Esso Tiger '97 version SUPRA. The Pennzoil NISMO GT-R was running with a heavy 90kg handicap weight, but Comas showed excellent determination to keep the machine high in the competition. One Nissan mate, Masahiko Kageyama, suffered a setback when his ZEXEL SKYLINE collided with another car on lap two, sending him off the track. Fortune was with him though as he was able to make it to the pits and return to the race after repairs to the front suspension. Goossens and Tajima were forced to retire the 5 ZIGEN SUPRA after only three laps due to a broken oil cooler, the result of Tajima running off into the First Corner gravel on the first lap.

     Veteran driver Takahashi pressed hard to overtake Takeuchi, and as he slipped by it appeared there would be a strong 1-2 placing by Honda NSXs in the end. However, the race was only getting underway, and a number of events were still yet to unfold. On lap 10, Kelvin Burt went off the track in the No.37 Castrol Tom's SUPRA while running in eighth, and engine failure forced retirement of the car; a disheartening end to the weekend for the driver pair of Toshio Suzuki/Kelvin Burt. Raphanel received a black flag as he crossed the line on lap 13, calling him in for a 10sec penalty stop for jumpstarting the race. To add more pain to the day, turbocharger problems developed later on and the team retired the car after completing 43 laps. One of the teams contending for the championship, Yamanishi/Coronel in the Mobil 1 NSX, went off the track on lap 28 after scraping with another car while Coronel was behind the wheel. In spite of the numerous events, the two leading NSXs managed to continue on following their routine stops. The lead, however, switched to the No.100 NSX, under the hands of Iida, after taking advantage of a three-lap appearance by the Safety Car following a heavy crash by the Denso SARD SUPRA driven by Tanigawa. Not all was well though, as Team Kunimitsu soon succumbed to bad luck. Iida had to give up the lead due to a tyre problem with the race two-thirds finished. He managed to make the pits and get a new wheel, but dropped substantially in the field to eighth.

     In the final stages of the race, Takuya Kurosawa slowly increased his speed and set a rythme to catch Nakako. Kurosawa pushed very hard to reduce the gap, but couldn't get close enough to attempt overtaking. A fine battle was held for third, with Fontana in the No.36 Castrol Tom's SUPRA swooping down on the Pennzoil SKYLINE of Masami Kageyama. With the handicap weight causing tyre grip loss, Kageyama had to battle with unruly driving difficulties to together with Fontana's threat. Fontana won out in the end, passing Kagayama on lap 58 and attaining a podium finish for Castrol Tom's.

     In the GT300 class, competition was rife amongst a number of cars, namely the Toyota MR2, Mazda RX-7 and Subaru IMPREZA. The Apex DL Momo Corse MR2 driven by Dunbreck led for the first half of the race, but the class pole sitter team of Katsuo Kobayashi/Hideyuki Tamamoto brought their Subaru IMPREZA out on top during the second half. They managed to keep the lead and finished leading the class for the first time. Massimiliano Angelelli and co-driver Manabu Orido drove their Weds Sport CELICA to a second place finish, putting an Italian driver on the podium for the first time in GT racing in Japan.

     Championship points results following the race widened the gap for the GT500 class leaders (Comas/Kageyama), but the GT300 class leaders (Suzuki/Tachi) lost ground. However, the GT300 class leaders still have a 31-point difference between them and their closest contenders (Moroi Nitta)