 Comas/Kageyama Wrap Up SKYLINE GT-R Series Championship! Elimination Ruins Victory Celebration for NSX Drivers Kaneishi/Wakisaka
Round 7 SUGO GT CHAMPIONSHIP To give time to clear the stopped machine, the rest of the field circled the track in formation, finally getting the green after four laps. Ryo Michigami, in the No.16 NSX, kept the lead from pole into the first corner followed by Kunimitsu Takahashi in the No.100 NSX, Jyuichi Wakisaka in the No.18 NSX and Hideki Noda in the No.38 Toyota SUPRA. Michigami was quick to increase his gap over second running Takahashi, and then Wakisaka overtook Takahashi for 2nd place on lap 2. Noda, who had shown good form throughout the weekend, overtook Takahashi on lap 10. It was Takeshi Tsuchiya in the No.50 SKYLINE GT-R who played the role of pacemaker for the Nissan drivers, starting his move up through the field from ninth in the early stages of the race. But the No.12 GT-R driven by Kazuyoshi Hoshino overtook the young Tsuchiya to take sixth on lap 13. Masanori Sekiya, driving the No.36 SUPRA, got into a rhythm and moved in to overtake teammate Kelvin Burt in the No.37 car, but suddenly went off the track and crashed into a tire barrier. Another SUPRA was lost from the race on lap 22 when the No.39 car driven by Tatsuya Tanigawa got into a spin and went off. He managed to recover and return to his pit for repairs, but the SARD team decided to retire from the race. Going into the middle stage of the race, bad luck hit on Team Kunimitsu Honda when a fire broke out in the No.100 car on lap 32. Akira Iida, who had only finished two laps after being passed the wheel from Takahashi, quickly brought the NSX to a stop on the track-side green and escaped with no injury. Ex-world champion motorcyclist Wayne Gardner, in the No.8 SUPRA, ran well to keep fifth place until the top runners began making routine stops for tires, fuel and driver changes. Following the driver changes, the spectators were treated to exciting battle for the top between Katsutomo Kaneishi in the No.18 NSX, Osamu Nakako in the No.16 NSX, and Hironori Takeuchi and Toshio Suzuki in the No.38 and No. 37 SUPRAs, respectively. Running behind the lead group was another SUPRA and three SKYLINE GT-Rs: Minoru Tanaka (No.8 SUPRA), and Takuya Kurosawa (No.12), Masahiro Hasemi (No.3) and Satoshi Motoyama (No.50) in the GT-Rs. Tanaka dropped his positioning after being imposed a 10sec stop-and-go penalty due to a yellow caution violation. On lap 64, the Chrysler VIPER GTS-R caught fire with Anthony Reid driving. He was also able to escape rapidly and without injury. The Safety Car entered the track in response to the fire, and when the green light was given to restart the race, the line up was Katsutomo Kaneishi in the No.18 NSX followed by Osamu Nakako in the No.16 NSX, SUPRA drivers Toshio Suzuki (No.37) and Hironori Takeuchi (No.38), and then the SKYLINE GT-Rs of Takuya Kurosawa (No.12), Masahiro Hasemi(No.3) and Masami Kageyama (No. 23). Hasemi pilled the pressure on Kurosawa but failed to get by, and the top group finished in this order. In the GT300 class, the 1998 Championship pair of Keiichi Suzuki / Shingo Tachi drove their No.25 Toyota MR2 to a perfect race: Tachi led from the green light until the routine stop, where Suzuki took charge and ran well in front to take the checkered flag. The battle for second was much different however, with a number of teams taking turns at the position. The No.44 MR2 driven by Peter Dumbreck held onto second through the first half of the race. When he passed the wheel to Morio Nitta, the Subaru IMPREZA of Katsuo Kobayashi / Hideyuki Tamamoto moved into second followed by the Mitsubishi FTO driven by Akihiko Nakaya / Takahiko Hara. The No.77 car of Kobayashi / Tamamoto stopped after lap 64 due to transmission problems, clearing second for Nakaya / Hara. Third place went to Manabu Orido / Katsumi Yamamoto in the No.19 CELICA. Following the post-race inspection of machines, the No.18 Honda NSX was disqualified due to a violation of the technical regulations (air restrictors). No.23 PENNZOIL NISMO GT-R Erik Comas / Masami Kageyama  |
