SUGO GT CHAMPIONSHIP
5.29sat / 30sun - SPORTSLAND SUGO
Round 3 SUGO GT CHAMPIONSHIP 
Sportsland SUGO was favored with fine weather for the May 30th (Sunday) event as it welcomed an excellent turnout of 40,600 spectators (announced by the organizer) for the third round of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship.
A field of 38 cars took the green for the 81-lap race, with pole sitter Noda getting off the line well and taking his No.6 Toyota SUPRA into the first corner ahead of the pack, closely followed by Iida in the No.100 Honda NSX and Suzuki and Sekiya in the No.37 and 36 SUPRAs, respectively. In the midst of the traffic, Tsuchiya in the No.15 Nissan SILVIA led the GT300 class with the No.25 Toyota MR2 driven by Nitta hot on his tail. Highly reminiscent of the qualifying sessions, these two cars ran neck-and-neck, quickly increasing the gap between them and the third place running Orido in the No.19 CELICA. The top group of Noda, Iida, Suzuki and Sekiya all ran pacing at about the same time differences, but a heated skirmish erupted amongst fifth running Wakisaka in the No.18 NSX, Okada in the No.30 McLaren, Raphanel in the No.35 SUPRA and Michigami in the No.16 NSX.
On lap 14, the No.39 SUPRA driven by Keiichi Tsuchiya slowed due to transmission problems. Honda teams, too, suffered setbacks with Wakisaka crashing the No.18 NSX out of the race on the very next lap, and Iida pitting the No.100 NSX with an obviously unplanned stop early on due to unknown vibration. He was fortunately able to rejoin the race but lost considerable time for the repairs. With these events, SUPRAs now dominated with a 1-2-3-4 formation. The No.16 NSX driven by Michigami was running in 5th followed by Okada's McLaren, Coronel in the No.64 NSX and Takeuchi in No.38 SUPRA. The fastest contender for the Nissan cars was Krumm in the No.2 SKYLINE GT-R running in 9th place. Behind him were the four SKYLINE GT-Rs of Hoshino (No.12), Comas (No.1), Hasemi (No.3) and Kinoshita (No.11). By lap 20 Noda had built up a 10sec lead over the nearest threat, the No.37 car of Suzuki in second.
In the GT300 class, Tsuchiya continued to hold off Nitta for the lead. Matsumoto, driving the No.7 Mazda RX-7, worked his way into third, but he was forced back to the pits due to deferential problems after his 32nd lap.
After stopping for routine pit stops and driver changes midway through the race, Gardner held the lead driving the No.6 SUPRA, Kurosawa in the No.36 car was running in second, Katayama was behind the wheel of the No.37 car in 3rd, and Yamaji was sitting in 4th driving the No.35 car. Nakako was the fastest running NSX at the time, with the No.16 car in 5th. Aguri Suzuki was in 6th in the No.2 SKYLINE, fastest of the Nissan drivers. On lap 46, the No.38 SUPRA driven by Tachikawa slowed and pulled off onto the track-side green just after the pits, forced to retire with a broken propeller shaft.
In the GT300 class, Ide took over the wheel of the No.15 SILVIA from Tsuchiya and was leading, followed by Takagi in the No.25 MR2 and Kobayashi in the No.77 Subaru IMPREZA. As the latter stages of the race developed, the young Honda driver Yamanishi worked his No.64 NSX hard to catch the No.12 SKYLINE driven by Masami Kageyama, finally overtaking him. Then, Motoyama picked up the pace of the No.1 SKYLINE and moved in to challenge the two cars, giving fans a spectacular side-by-side battle with Kageyama. Katayama damaged a rear tyre causing him to slow and pit on lap 55.
On lap 64, the unbelievable happened. Having led throughout the race, the No.6 SUPRA suddenly burst into flames. Gardner stopped the car at the last corner and escaped seemingly unhurt. This brought out The Safety Car, reducing gaps between cars and setting the stage for a final dash to the checkered flag. Kurosawa in the No.36 SUPRA became the leader, Yamaji in the No.35 SUPRA was in 2nd, Nakako in the No.16 NSX was 3rd, followed by Suzuki in the No.2 SKYLINE.
The extensive lead Tsuchiya/Ide (No.15 SILVIA) and Nitta/Takagi (No.25 MR2) had built up throughout the race was eliminated, handing opportunity to others on the track. As if that wasn't enough, Takagi was forced to enter his pit to change a punctured rear tire.
The Safety Car stayed out on the track for nine laps, and with only 10 laps left, a sprint to the finish began. Just after the green, Aguri Suzuki lost a hard-earned 4th position when a punctured tyre sent him back to the pits for repairs. The front pack of Kurosawa, Yamaji and Nakako held a three-way skirmish for the lead, intimidating each other with moves as each vied for the victory. Nakako closed in and got into the slipstream of the No.35 SUPRA on the last lap, but Yamaji held him off and sealed the 1-2 finish for TOYOTA Castrol TEAM TOM'S. An amazing four-way slipstream battle between Wada (No.11 SKYLINE, back marker), Yamanishi (No.64 NSX), Takahashi (No.100 NSX) and Katayama (No.37 SUPRA) added an extra thrill to the end of the race. GT500 Class Takuya Kurosawa (post-race): "I tried to drive without any mistakes in a situation where everything was going well."  GT300 Class |
