36 Supra finish first,
but Comas win the championship.
No.36 Castrol TOM'S SUPRA

Round 7 MOTEGI GT CHAMPION RACE
Race Report / 24 Oct. '99

The green to start the final round of the 1999 GT Championship Series was given under fine blue sky at Twin Ring Motegi on October 24th. It was clear the anticipation was high with both driver and team championships in both classes on the line in the last race of the season.

One of the championship contenders, Takuya Kurosawa, led into the first corner from the pole in the No.36 SUPRA, followed by Ryo Michigami in the No.16 Honda NSX, Michael Krumm in the No.2 SKYLINE GT-R and Hideki Noda in the No.6 SUPRA. Signs that the day was be full of surprises appeared around lap 10 as Noda went into a spin and slid off the track. Then shortly after lap 11, the No.18 Honda NSX drove into the pit lane with engine problems and never returned to the track. With this incident, the battle for GT500 class driver's championship narrowed to a dual between Comas and the driver pair Sekiya/Kurosawa. Michigami found his rhythm and moved up on the No.36 car. He spotted a hole on lap 20 and shot into the lead. Pierre-Henri Raphanel had worked the No.35 SUPRA up to third, and he was followed by Krumm and then Kazuyoshi Hoshino in the No.12 SKYLINE GT-R. Satoshi Motoyama, in the No.1 SKYLINE, was lapping smoothly behind two Nissan cars waiting for openings before passing the wheel to Comas.

It was Takeshi Tsuchiya who led the GT300class in the early stages of the race, but competition in the form of Dominik Schwager appeared, and the No.26 Porsche 996GT3R took the lead.

Coming out of the routine stops for driver changes and fuel, a number of Nissan cars had improved in position, especially the No.1 car now driven by championship contender Erik Comas, who came into the race running third. Masami Kageyama was fourth in the No.12 SKYLINE and Aguri Suzuki fifth in the No.2 car. Suzuki overtook Kageyama a little later on, but the two cars seemed have one common thought in mind: guarding Comas, who was now leading a convoy of Nissan machines around the track.

After receiving the wheel from Kurosawa, Masanori Sekiya was quick to get by the No.16 NSX, now driven by Osamu Nakako, and put the No.36 SUPRA back into the lead. Then, on lap 49, Nakako drove straight off into the gravel and dropped back to fourth by the time he had recovered. Another top runner, Kageyama in the No.12 SKYLINE, was forced to pit again for fuel and fell to seventh. At the finish line, the No.36 SUPRA of Sekiya/Kurosawa took the checkered flag first, giving Toyota Castrol Team Tom's the Team Championship. However, Comas finish in third gave him enough points to claim his second consecutive Driver's Championship. In a gesture of camaraderie, Comas slowed just before the finish line to make way for a second place finish by teammate Aguri Suzuki.

No.26 STP ADVAN TAISAN GT3R

There was a heated battle for driver and team championships in the GT300class as well, but the race victory went to a team and drivers out of the contention; the class was won by the No.26 Porsche driven by Dominik Schwager and Hideshi Matsuda. The points leader pair going into the race, Takeshi Tsuchiya and Yuji Ide were up against Morio Nitta in the No.25 Toyota MR2 (co-driver Shinichi Takagi didn't participate in the first round of the season, so was not in the running). The difference between the contenders was such that the car that placed ahead of the other would be declared champion. As it was, the No.15 SILVIA experienced problems with the brakes. Ide couldn't increase speed and slowly lost good positioning. But the No.25 Toyota did not have it so easy either. The engine was not at 100% when Nitta was driving. Takagi reported feeling vibrations in the second half of the race, however, managed to bring the car home finishing third in the class. Nitta won the Driver's Championship and the MOMOCORSE Racing Team received the Team Championship with Tsuchiya.

Excitement and emotion are two good words to describe the events at the final round of the 1999 GTC Championship Series at Twin Ring Motegi on October 24th. In addition to a spectacular race day with championship contention between more than two drivers in each class, a special ceremony and demonstration event were held to honor Mr.Kunimitsu Takahashi, one of Japan's most renown motorsports figures, after he announced his retirement from professional racing at the end of this season.

In spite of his age (born January 29, 1940), "Kuni-san", as he is known wherever he goes, has maintained until the end the same fighting spirit he revealed to crowds back in 1958 when he began his professional career riding motorcycles. He was the first Japanese rider to win a Grand Prix event (the 1961 West German Grand Prix, Honda 250cc). Switching from two- to four-wheel machines in 1965, he was awarded many a trophy as a works driver for Nissan until leaving the constructor in the early 1970s. Driving for Porsche (956 and 962), he dominated the All-Japan Sports Prototype Car Championship in 1985/86/87 and 89. More recently, in 1995, he won the LM-GT2 Class of the Le Mans 24 Hours from behind the wheel of a Honda NSX.

In this his last year driving as a pro, he (and co-driver Akira Iida) claimed victory in the second round of the JGTC in a Honda NSX and finished 25th in the Motegi 7 Hours Motorcycle Endurance Race. He has also served the sport off the track as well, as the president of the GT Association since 1994. Revered and respected by many, Kunimitsu Takahashi's retirement is surely to go down as a day of great importance in Japanese motorsports history.