Noda/Gardner Pair Scores First GTC Win

Round 5 Japan Special GT Cup
Qualify Report / 8 Aug. '99

The Fuji Speedway welcomed a huge crowd of 62,700 (organizer announced) for the August 8th running of the "JAPAN SPECIAL GT CUP" round five of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (GTC) Series. Unlike the unruly weather that plagued qualifying on Saturday, the start of the race was given under fine blue skies and Japan's hot summer sun.

Carrying on from where they left off in the Saturday qualifying, Sekiya, Raphanel and Suzuki, in Tom's Team SUPRAs Nos. 36, 35 and 37, respectively, led the pack through the initial laps of the race. It wasn't long, however, before the No.6 SUPRA driven by Hideki Noda successively challenged each of the Tom's cars, taking the lead in the first corner on lap 11. His rhythm set, Noda gradually widened the gap between the number two running Sekiya. Suzuki suffered a flat tire on lap 8 forcing a return to the pits, leaving fourth position to Tachikawa in the No.38 SUPRA working to catch third running Raphanel. Refusing to let the SUPRAs control the pack, Akira Iida picked up the pace of his No.100 NSX overtaking Tachikawa first and then closing the gap and slipping by the Frenchman's SUPRA on lap 15. Noda's SUPRA, running quick and smooth, pulled away from the rest of the group into a comfortable solo lead. Sekiya, having chosen a soft compound tire, was unable to pursue Noda opening the opportunity for Iida to charge his position.

It was a thrilling day in the GT300 class, with the brand new Porsche 996GT3 driven by Hideshi Matsuda showing immaculate performance, overtaking to claim the lead on lap5 and never relinquishing it again. The No.15 SILVIA driven by Takeshi Tsuchiya contacted another car and suffered a spin on the same lap, causing loss of valuable time. Coming up from sixth on the opening lap and running a strong second, breathing down the tail end of the Porsche, was Haruhiko Matsumoto in the No.7 Mazda RX-7.

The overall race standings on lap20 showed Noda holding a fine lead, followed by Sekiya in second, Iida in third, and then Raphanel, Tachikawa and Hideki Okada, driving a McLaren F1GTR, in sixth for the GT500 class; and Matsuda holding onto first, Matsumoto running second, and a fight for third between Akihiko Nakaya in a Mitsubishi FTO and Nobuyuki Oyagi in the No.81 SILVIA in the GT300 class.

Mid-stage through the race (laps 24-38), routine pit stops were made for driver and tires changes and fuel. Some remarkably superior pit work by the crews of the No.1 and 12 SKYLINE GT-Rs, literally jumped the cars into top contention. Having ran in 11th and 10th places, respectively, in the first half of the race, Satoshi Motoyama was running fourth in the No.1 GT-R and Masami Kageyama fifth in the No.12 GT-R. Motoyama worked the car well and passed Kurosawa moving into third. Meanwhile, another car rose up from the field to challenge the leaders. Jyuichi Wakisaka, having taken over the wheel from Katsutomo Kaneishi, rejoined the race in sixth place and skillfully began picking his way up through the ranks. As he lapped gradually faster, the gap between fifth running Kageyama was soon closed and the battle began. He found the hole to go by on lap46 and set his sights on Kurosawa. On lap52, Hironori Takeuchi, running in second in the No.38 SUPRA, bumped another car and spun, throwing him back to sixth and putting Motoyama in second. Wakisaka, having made well of Kurosawa, began to close in on Motoyama. With five laps remaining, he moved in tight and turned the heat on. Motoyama did his best to hold him off, but the NSX slipped by the Nissan driver.

Motoyama, running with a 60kg handicap weight, soon had Kurosawa in his rearview mirror. Kurosawa searched hard for a hole to get by, but this time Motoyama held off the Toyota driver's charge and they finished the race in this order.

Following the routine pit stops in the GT 300 class, the No.26 Porsche, driven throughout the second half of the race by Dominik Schwager drove well, lapping consistently quicker and working his way to overtake the No.7 RX-7 driven by Tetsuya Yamano on lap35. The young German driver fought well to lead to the checkered flag.

Following the race, Noda commented: "We ran a perfect race today. At Sugo, we ran a perfect race as well, but there was a problem in the last stage of the race. The TRD staff did well to improve the car's reliability. But I was worried until we crossed the finish line." Wayne Gardner commented: "This is the first win in Japan for me after the Suzuka 8 Hours bike race, and the very first car victory for me here. The car ran perfectly, the tires were perfect. Hideki drove perfectly and the team did fantastic pit work."