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2001-08-05
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Qualify Review
Katayama Takes Pole with 15 Cars within One Second!!
No.33 Team UKYO SUPRA
Round 4 of the JGTC opened at Fuji International Speedway on August 4th with Ukyo Katayama coming out on top of the qualifying sessions. In keeping with the JGTC regulations, the engine of his No.33 Supra was allowed to be mounted with a larger air restrictor-a ranking two levels higher than the last race. Taking advantage of the situation, Ukyo completed the 4.4km circuit in 1'25.268" in the afternoon second session to claim the pole.
"Taking part in the series as private team this year, the aim is to win showing our own ability. So I'm very happy to get the pole position," said Katayama after the sessions. "The mechanics worked hard and did well, and the car has improved since the Malaysian round. The car we are running in is last year's version, and we targeted this round in our strategy for political reasons. For us, from mid-season, the weight handicap system should be an effective tool for us, and I felt confident today because the car ran well."
Erik Comas showed some powerful driving in the No.23 Skyline GT-R, clocking the fastest lap (1'25.523") in the morning session. In the interim between the sessions, he commented, "I almost made a perfect lap. It was not my ideal time but very close. I think it's possible to be two-tenths quicker. The car ran quite well on new tires for the first three laps, and the second qualifying session should be little bit quicker." The French Nissan driver improved his best lap time to 1'25.311" in the second session, but failed to surpass Katayama's time and had to settle for second on the gird in the end. Dominik Schwager in the No.64 Honda NSX was the quickest Honda driver in the first session, putting in a best time of 1'25.624", with third fastest lap in the morning being put in by Andre Couto in the No.30 McLaren F1 GTR (1'25.752").
The temperature dropped before the afternoon session giving better conditions for several cars to improve their lap times, but a car sprayed oil throughout the track causing the session to be red-flagged. After good efforts by the track marshals, the green flag was given again after a 40-minute delay. An impressive performance was given by Juichi Wakisaki in the No.6 Supra in the latter part of the second session; he clocked a fine 1'25.377 in spite of a heavy 60kg handicap weight to qualify third overall.
No.19 WedsSport MR-S
Minoru Tanaka gave a superb performance in the No.19 Toyota MR-S, clocking a best lap of 1'33.706" for the GT300 class in the morning session, but co-driver Satoru Goto suffered a spin during his stint behind the wheel. "The car slid suddenly when I applied the brakes at the end of straight. I'm pretty sure it was a brake problem," said Goto after the session. Close behind was Takayuki Aoki in the No.81 Nissan Silvia with a 1'33.783", followed by Yuji Ide in the No.3 Silvia, who improved his lap time in the second session to 1'34.558".
Nobody could touch the time set by Tanaka in the morning session, giving the GT300 pole to Minoru Tanaka/ Satoru Goto and the No.19 Toyota MR-S. "We developed the car through a lot of testing. The pit radioed me that I was behind, so I tried to cool down once and refocus again. It seems to have worked," said Tanaka after the sessions.
(from left) M.Kondo, U.Katayama, M.Tanaka, S.Goto
Copyright 2001 JGTC.net. http://www.jgtc.net
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