00-05-28 Round3 Race Report Young Driver Pair Ito/Schwager Win an Eventful Round 3 Race Although the sky was cloudy on Sunday May 28th, contrary to the weather forecast for heavy rain, no precipitation fell on Sportsland SUGO. The green flag as given to start the 81-lap race in front of a fantastic spectator turnout of 40,100 (announced by the organizer). Polesitter Wakisaka, driving the No.18 Honda NSX, started well and led the 35-car field into the first corner followed by Schwager in the No.64 NSX, Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra and Nakaya in the No.21 McLaren F1 GTR. Bad luck hit on the 1998/1999 JGTC Driver's Champion, Erik Comas, as the engine of the No.1 car blew up on lap 4th. He removed the wheel of the Skyline GT-R, retiring for the day. (This is the first retirement from a race since Comas joined the NISMO team in 1997.) Matsumoto, in the No.7 Mazda RX-7, held his position from the GT 300 class pole to lead followed by Fukuyama in the No.26 Porsche, Yogo in the No.910 Porsche and Hara in the No.19 Celica. Matsumoto opened up a comfortable lead, but the crowd was given a great show with the battle for 2nd, a three-way side-by-side slugout between Fukuayma, Yogo and Hara. The Hondas of Wakisaka and Schwager seemed to be opening a gap on the 3rd running Nakaya, but not for long as Nakaya found his groove and began playing catch up with Schwager, cutting the time separating them lap by lap. Then suddenly, the No.21 McLaren slid off the track into the gravel after spinning out (a scene repeated by a number of cars in various places around the circuit as the race progressed). Around lap 23, Schwager picked up his pace and closed the gap on Wakisaka to battle for the lead. At the same time, Suzuki and the No.37 Supra was being challenged by Michigami in the No.16 Honda for third. In the GT 300 class, the TAISAN team experienced a disheartening setback when the the Orange Ball flag was shown for the No.26 car of Fukuyama, sending him to his pit for repairs to the car (waterhose break). The cars made their routine stops for driver and tire changes and fuel midway through the race. The No.7 RX-7 lost precious time (over 57sec) during the stop due to extensive pit work, and re-entered the race back in the field. Engine problems later on resulted in retirement from the race. The opposite was seen for the NISMO pit crew, who put the No.2 Skyline back out on the track with Katayama behind the wheel in only 20.1sec. When the top runners had finished their stops, Kaneishi and the No.18 NSX held the lead followed by Ito in the No.64 NSX and Ara in the No.37 Supra. The second half of the race could have been named "Spin City" in view of the action on the track. Katayama, coming out of the pits well up in the ranks, ended up spinning several times and dropping position. But he wasn't the only one. Ara in the No.37 Supra spun out and lost position, and then on lap 65, the whole circuit came alive when the leader, Kaneishi, gave first place to Ito in the No.64 NSX when he, too, found himself spinning. Having fallen of the pace, Kaneishi didn't back up to full speed and was passed by Nakako. In the final stage, the GT 500 class was running Ito in first, Nakako in second, Kaneishi in third and Raphanel fourth. Then Kaneishi spun out again and Raphanel got by, giving the No.18 car a fourth place finish, with the other lead cars crossing the line in the aforementioned order. GT500 WINNER No.64 Mobil 1 NSX Daisuke Ito: "We introduced the new 2000 version car for this race. We started driving the car on Friday for the free practice sessions making tests along the way. In my turn at the wheel, I pushed gradually harder, and then the lead car made a mistake that placed us in front." Dominik Schwager: "At the beginning, I was fighting over-steer. I pushed hard and got close to the twice, but I didn't want cause a collision. If the leader had not been a Honda, I wouldn't have backed off, but I played it sage and stayed close behind. We made no mistakes, everybody did a good job, and the car ran well. This is a team victory." GT300 WINNER No.19 WedsSport CELICA Takahiko Hara: "As the team worked with the aim of taking a victory here in Sugo, this is the fruit of the efforts of the entire staff." Shigekazu Wakisaka: "I tried to run steadily for a good result. But I felt a sudden fear that I nearly collided with some other cars."