00-09-30 Round6 Qualify Report Honda NSXs Dominate Take the Top Four Slots on the Grid Rainy Qualifying Sessions No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX The qualifying sessions for the sixth round of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) were held under rainy conditions on September 30th at the CP Mine Circuit. Each driver took extreme caution running on the wet track. Juichi Wakisaka,in the No.18 Honda NSX, Akira Iida in the No.100 NSX and Yuji Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra contested for the pole at the beginning and mid-stage of the first session, lapping with time differences of only 1000ths of a second. Michigami, the championship points leader, claimed a fine lap time with his No.16 NSX, and Dominik Schwager in the No.64 NSX and Aguri Suzuki in the No.8 NSX bettered their times as well, temporarily placing all five Honda NSXs at the top of the time monitor. (In the rain conditions like those experienced today, cars with a mid-ship engine layout, such as the NSX, have a great advantage over GT cars with a front-engine mount layout.) By the end of the first 20-minute session, several cars had slid off the track, the No.30 McLaren, No.88 Lamborghini and No.1 Skyline GT-R, and it was Wakisaka in the No.18 NSX quickest with a 1'34.624", Schwager in the No.64 NSX second (1'34.705"), and Michigami in the No.16 NSX third with a 1'35.172". The track surface dried a bit leading into the last 20 minutes of the session, and the Nissan drivers improved their times with Satoshi Motoyama in the No.12 car in fifth and (1'35.304") and Erik Comas in the No.1 car in sixth (1'35.438"). Keiichi Tsuchiya improved his best lap in the last stage of the session as well, placing the No.8 NSX ahead of Michael Krumm in the No.2 Skyline GT-R (1'35.795"). In the GT 300 class, Yogo in the No.910 Porsche GT3 was the fastest in the class at the beginning of the session, and Marco Apicella showed the excellent potential of his Porsche Boxter as well. On the slippery track, the Italian demonstrated skillful driving to claim second fastest lap in the beginning of the session. "The car has been improved since last round, and this time the team has made rapid progress again" said Apicella. In the last 20 minutes, Haruhiko Matsumoto in the No.7 Mazda RX7 and Yasutaka Hinoi in the No.11 Porsche GT2 improved their lap times and moved into the top three. But at the end of the session, Shinsuke Shibahara lapped the No.28 Porsche GT3 in impressive style and claimed the fastest lap. Takahide Tasaki in the No.55 Viper GTS-R, which was switched from the GT 500 class to the GT 300 from this race, drove the big, torquey 8-liter V10 car with narrow tires well, claiming sixth in the session. No.28 RD TAISAN BP GT3R By the start of the afternoon session, the rain was falling even harder than in the morning, and only a handful of cars were able to improve their lap times over the morning session. Iida in the No.100 Honda, Noda in the No.6 Supra and Suzuki in the No.8 NSX fought hard to set quicker laps at the beginning of the session, especially Noda, who improved on his best lap set in the morning session. Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra also managed to better his best time as well. POLE POSITION GT500 POLE POSITION No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX Juichi Wakisaka: "We are carrying a heavy handicap weight, but the rain has helped us. As we got information from the weather forecast that it would be raining in the afternoon, we tried hard in the morning session, and I went out from the track several times. We made a mistake in choosing tires, but thanks to the potential of the car, we could get the pole position." Katsutomo Kaneishi: "I prefer that we have a dry condition for tomorrow's race. If it is dry and if I make a good start for the race, I think I can keep the grid position. There is a lot of risk in rainy conditions." GT300 POLE POSITION No.28 RD TAISAN BP GT3R Shinsuke Shibahara: "I have finally become skillful at bringing out the potential of the Porsche, so I could get the pole. I think our car, which has a rear engine Layout, can maintain traction on the track, and has an advantage at this circuit." Hiroaki Suga: "The car is easy to drive even under rainy conditions, I have felt good since the Friday free practice sessions. Shibahara set the best lap on the very last lap where the checker flag was presented."