00-08-05 Round4 Qualify Report Supra on Pole Toyota Plays Its Cards and Bumps the NSX The qualifying sessions of the fourth round of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) were held on August 5th at Fuji International Speedway. A large field of 43 cars took to the track to compete for the poles in the GT500 and 300 classes. So keen was the contest, only 1sec separated the top 15 cars in the GT500 class. Spectators were treated to a taste of what the day had in store early on in the morning session, when the No.39 Supra driven by Ralph Firman put in the session's fastest lap at 1'26.875". Grouped closely together behind him were Takeshi Tsuchiya and Noda in the No.36 and No.6 Supras, respectively, giving all a look at the renewed qualifying performance of Toyota. Of the Honda NSXs, which have dominated the pole in all three previous rounds this year, Aguri Suzuki claimed the second fastest lap in the morning, completing the course at 1'26.892". He and co-driver Keiichi Tsuchiya will pilot the new 2000 version NSX from this race. This is the only Honda not currently carrying a heavy handicap weight. In the GT 300 class, Matsumoto took the No.7 Mazda RX-7 through the paces and recorded a 1'35.112" to claim the top position at the begging of the session, followed by Yogo in the No.910 Porsche and Tanigawa in the No.77 Subaru. But midway through the session, Aoki put in a fine lap with the No.81 Silvia, timing in at 1'33.767" and moving the car to the top of the class. The fight for the poles grew intense later in the day. It wasn't until near the middle stage that a car broke the 1'27" barrier in the GT500 afternoon session. This time it was Takeshi Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra with a time of 1'26.456". Others followed quickly though, with Okada in the No.30 McLaren F1GTR clocking a 1'26.925", Krumm in the No.2 Skyline a 1'26.982", Tachikawa improving the best time of the No.38 Supra to 1'26.461", and then Firman taking the lead of the class again with a 1'26.322". It was the determination of Tachikawa that paid off, however, his efforts being rewarded with a fantastic lap time of 1'26.212" and a seat at the pole in Round 4. For the Nissan Skyline, Erik Comas improved on his times throughout the day giving a best performance of 1'26.944" for the Nissan drivers, but then Motoyama clocked a 1'26.864" at the end of the session. Aoki held onto his claim for the pole in the GT300 class by bettering his time to 1'33.497 halfway through the afternoon session. Shibahara, driving the No.28 Porsche GT 3, challenged hard in the second session, but could not beat the time set by the Nissan Silvia. POLE POSITION GT500 POLE POSITION Yuji Tachikawa: "Our car has been improved, and I'm very content in the fact that we could achieve our goal properly. I think taking the pole position proves just how much the car has been improved." Hironori Takeuchi: "Having a long interval between Round 3 and this race, Toyota, TRD and Cerumo worked hard to improve the overall performance of the car. Of special notice is the increased engine power. Because of this, I think we could take pole position thanks to Toyota and TRD." GT300 POLE POSITION Takayuki Aoki: "The team had aimed for fourth position in qualifying so far in view of the weight handicap system. But today they gave me the go ahead to drive all out. I tried it, and I think we got this good result thanks to the team, who gave me a car with the potential to aim for the pole." Nobuyuki Oyagi: "Aoki set a time of 1'33" in the first session. This was according to expectations, and we were satisfied with this result. But when the temperature fell for the second session, there was an extra effort by both the team and Aoki, and it's for that reason that I think we were able to get the pole position."