00-08-06 Round4 Race Report Veteran Pair Wins Eventful Round 4 Race No.8 ARTA NSX The skies were clear and temperatures hot for Round 4 of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, bringing an excellent fan turnout for the event (59,200, announced by the organizer). The green light for the 57-lap race was given on time, and pole sitter Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra quickly moved out in front setting the pace for the rest of the field. Following close behind were three more Supras, No.39 (Firman), No.6 (Noda) and No.36 (Takeshi Tsuchiya). The fastest Honda was the No.8 car driven by Aguri Suzuki running in 5th, and the No.1 Skyline driven by Erik Comas played pacemaker for the Nissans. The challenge started from the green in the GT 300 class, with the No.28 Porsche, Nitta in the No.31 MR-S and Matsumoto in the No.7 Mazda figthing in a three-way slipstream battle for the lead. Polesitter Oyagi in the No.81 Silvia led for the opening lap but then dropped back to fourth. No.39 DENSO SARD SUPRA The thrills and spills came early on as well. Yamada put his No.30 McLaren through a spin in the beginning laps, and there was repeat performances by Nakako in the No.16 NSX and Shwager in the No.64 NSX on lap 9. The first crash came shortly after, the No.21 McLaren driven by Hitotsuyama running off the course and into the track-side tire barrier. This brought the Safety Car out and closed the gaps in the field. Then the unthinkable happened. Driving at reduced speed with the Safety Car still on the track, Hara, in the No.19 Celica, glanced aside momentarily but just long enough to run into the rear of the No.20 MR-S driven by Matsunaga on the straight in front of the grandstand. The green was finally given again on lap 15.Tachikawa still held the lead, but the No.38 Supra suddenly slowed on lap 17 and was forced to retire from the race due to engine problems. This put the No.39 Supra driven by Friman at the front of the field followed by Noda in the No.6 Supra and Suzuki in the No.8 NSX. The teams began calling in their cars for routine stops to change drivers and tires as the race neared the halfway point. A fire broke out suddenly in the No.10 Porsche on lap 26. The driver (Hinoi) managed to escape from the car immediately and assisted in putting out the blaze. The Safety Car took to the track again until the car was cleared from track-side. No.12 CALSONIC SKYLINE Positioning in the field changed dramatically as some teams were able to take advantage of stopping under the yellow, and when the race got fully underway again, it was the No.6 Supra with Wayne Gardner now behind the wheel, that caught the attention of the crowd. Having fallen back in the field, Gardner pushed hard, catching up to and overtaking Hattori in the No.100 NSX, Motoyama in the No.12 Skyline and Masami Kageyama in the No.1 Skyline as he lapped the track. Having moved into third, he began to close the gap on the No.39 Supra driven by Masahiko Kageyama. But his brilliant charge ended on lap 42 in a collision with the No.55 Viper that sent him off the track. No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN SILVIA In the final laps of the race, it was Keiichi Tsuchiya in the lead in the No.8 NSX and Masahiko Kageyama pushing hard from second to catch him. Motoyama began lapping the No.2 Skyline faster and faster and overtook teammate Masami Kageyama for third place. The No.1 Skyline then held off a charge by the No.100 NSX driven by Hattori while Wakasaki in the No.18 NSX and Sekiya in the No.36 Supra battled side-by-side for fifth. At the finish line for the GT500 class it was NSX (Tsuchiya), Supra (Masahiko Kageyama) and Skyline (Motoyama), making a superb end to an exciting day of racing. No.7 RE Amemiya MatsumotoKiyoshi RX7 The GT300 race was decided by the timing of the routine stops. Unfortunately for the No.81 Silvia, Oyagi pitted early on before the Safety Car came out. It was the good timing of the stop by Shibahara in the No.28 Porsche that made the difference. Entering the pits during the yellow, the driver change with Suga was made and the car returned to the field with a substantial margin over the No.81 car now driven by Aoki. Aoki drove well and closed the gap considerably, but couldn't catch Suga before the checkered flag. GT500 WINNER No.8 ARTA NSX Aguri Suzuki: "It was hard race for us. Our plan was for the quickest possible pit work, and it was perfect. I felt a bit of pressure having received the new car from this race. So I'm very happy to win today." Dominik Schwager: "For about last ten laps, Aguri took the radio from the team director and cheered me on. I was running hard and aiming to claim the fastest lap of the race." GT300 WINNER No.28 Eclipse RD TAISAN GT3R Hiroaki Suga: "We were able to make the routine pit stop at the best moment. The team made up for my lap times which were not quick enough." Shinsuke Shibahara: "I began to take part in the JGTC from this year with Taisan, a leading team in the series, and this is my second race in a Porsche. And now I've won a race. Things couldn't be better!."