00-10-01 Round6 Race Report Hoshino and Motoyama Go the Distance in Their Skyline GT-R Claim Victory in Eventful Race No.12 CALSONIC SKYLINE The start of Round6 race was given with weather conditions in strong contrast to the rainy qualifying sessions. Under fine blue skies and rising thermometer (31 C), 32,900 GT enthusiasts (official announcement) gathered for the start of the 76-lap race. Schwager made the best start at the wheel of the No.64 Honda NSX, taking the lead into the first corner followed by pole sitter Wakisaka in the No.18 NSX. As they passed through the corner, however, the No.18 car bumped the No.64 car sending it into a half-spin and stopping it on the track. Schwager was unable to react, and a multi-car pile up ensued. Out of the race at the first corner were the No.64 car, Katayama in the No.2 Skyline, Okada in the No.30 McLaren, Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra and Suzuki in the No.8 NSX. The Safety Car entered the track and ran a full seven laps while the cars and debris were removed from the course. When the green flag was shown for the restart, Wakisaka and the No.18 NSX took the lead again. But it was Hoshino in the No.12 Skyline who quickly became the center of attention. Pushing hard from third place, he caught up with Mitsusada in the No.16 NSX and overtook, tucking the Skyline in between the No.16 car and Wakisaka. The No.18 car managed to hold onto the lead, but Hoshino kept the pressure on driving hard. Comas and the No.1 Skyline showed his admirable skill as well, getting by the No.16 car on lap 11, clocking the fastest lap of the race on lap 14, and picking up his pace in an attempt to close in on Hoshino. Another French driver, Raphanel piloting the No.35 Supra, followed Comas in fourth place ahead of Firman in the No.39 Supra. The accidents and incidents were numerous throughout the day: Mitsusada took his No.16 NSX through a spin and recovery on lap 16, and then Firman ran the No.39 Supra ran into Raphanel (No.35 Supra) on lap 31. The Frenchman was forced to retire from the race, but the British driver limped back to the pit for repairs. The No.100 NSX driven by Hattori made a spin on lap 33. In the GT300 class, Shibahara held the lead in the No.28 Porsche GT3R followed by Nitta in the No.31 Toyota MR-S, Yogo in the No.910 Porsche GT3R, and Matsuda in the No.26 Porsche GT3R. But the No.31 car lost ground due to a spin later on with Takagi driving. On lap 40, the No.19 Celica driven by Wakisaka and the No.910 Porsche GT3R driven by Wada contacted sending both cars off the track and out of the race. No.26 Shell TAISAN ADVAN GT3R The highlight of the second half of the race was the drive by Motoyama, who took over the wheel from Hoshino. He fought an amazing fight, gaining little by little on the leading No.18 Honda driven by Kaneishi, and was assisted by the traffic of a back marker who slowed the leader and enabled Motoyama to rapidly reduce the gap. Finally, on lap 48, Motoyama caught and overtook Kaneishi for the lead. Kageyama was running third in the No.1 Skyline. Behind him, Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra and Michigami in the No.16 Honda were raging a fierce battle for fourth, which Michigami presided in the end. The top runners finished in that order. With this result Comas and Kagayama take over at the top of the series point standings. In the GT300 class, Fukuyama gave an excellent performance and driving with the No.26 Porsche GT3R moving up his position steadily. He overtook the leader late in the race and ran at the front of the pack to the checkered flag. GT500 WINNER No.12 CALSONIC SKYLINE Kazuyoshi Hoshino: "Motoyama did a good job. When the green flag was shown after the Safety Car laps, I tried to move up rapidly and did well, because it is difficult to overtake rivals once the race gets settled down." Satoshi Motoyama: "As we are still in competition for the title, there was quite a bit of pressure on the team for this race. When I overtook the No.18 Honda, there was a slow car in front him. You have to make the move when you can, and I managed to do it." GT300 WINNER No.26 Shell TAISAN ADVAN GT3R Hideshi Matsuda: "I don't think we're in the clear yet, as our car was not so quick. There's lot to do. If the rivals were running smoothly, we couldn't have won the race today." Hideo Fukuyama: "It was a hard race. We took this race by the skin of our teeth. The No.910 car was much quicker than our car today"