2001-09-10 Race Preview It seemed that the Skyline GT-Rs had lost their edge compared to the results of the Supras and NSXs in the first half of the season, but the impressive 1-2 podium finish of the NISMO team in Round 4 of the JGTC at Fuji Speedway shook the series back into reality. The overwhelming victory by Michael Krumm and Tetsuya Tanaka in the No.22 car gave fair warning that the fight for the championship is still hot and put the Nissan drivers into the lead of the points standings for 2001. The No.23 Nissan driven by Erik Comas and Masami Kageyama finished a strong second as well. To date, the Skyline GT-R has performed well at Twin Ring Motegi (2nd in 1998 and 1999,and victory in 2000), the site of the fifth round. But the No.22 Skyline GT-R will be carrying a heavy 60kg handicap weight, so expectations are that the No.23 car will be the machine to contend with in the Motegi round. The Toyota Supras remain hot on the trail of the series leaders and stand strong as a menace threatening to reclaim the championship points lead anytime. Counting the non-points race in Malaysia, one of the Supras has taken the checkered flag first in three out of five events and they have sat at pole position for the race start three times. The fastest lap at the GT-A test sessions held at Twin Ring Motegi on July 24-25 went to Takeshi Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra of TOYOTA TEAM TOM'S. Juichi Wakisaka, driving a Supra for ESSO TOYOTA TEAM Le Mans, put in the third fastest time. The driver pair of Wakisaka and Hideki Noda is currently third in the points standing. As the handicap weight of their car will be reduced for the Round 5 race, the pole sitter and winner of Round 2 will be a looking for a victory. Keep an eye on the Supra of TOYOTA TEAM CERUMO as well. The driver team of Hironori Takeuchi, Yuji Tachikawa and Shigekazu Wakisaka took the car to a pole-to-checkered flag victory in the Suzuka 1,000km race (August 28). Although the Honda NSXs have been consistently offensive in recent rounds, it is said that Twin Ring Motegi is a "Stop & Go" corner circuit that requires added traction and braking performance from the cars. The mid-ship layout of the NSX should provide some advantage. Indeed, the No.1 NSX of the Mugen Dome Project team (Ryo Michigami and Hidetoshi Mitsusada) claimed a fine fourth quickest lap at the GT-A test sessions on July 24-25,and sit second in the championship points standing only one point off the leaders after Round 4. The No.18 NSX entered by the same team (regular drivers Hiroki Katoh and Sebastien Philippe) will have a substitute driver for the Motegi round. Katoh will be taking part in the FIA Sports Car Championship in Nurburgring on the same day in a Dome car, so Benoit Treluyer will share the wheel of the No.18 NSX with Philippe. With four races left in the season, Treluyer has already claimed the 2001 All-Japan F3 Championship for the Mugen Dome Project team at the last event at Sendai Hi-land. It will be interesting to see how two French drivers, both of which have won the Japanese F3 title (Philippe won the 2000 championship with the same team) will do in the Honda NSX. Having a chassis layout similar to the NSXs, the two McLaren F1 GTRs entered by TEAM TAKE ONE and HITOTSUYAMA RACING also put in promising performances as the testing done at Motegi, claiming second and sixth fastest laps respectively, and the McLaren of TEAM TAKE ONE finished on the podium in the 1,000km race held at Suzuka. Contention is hot in the GT300 this year as well, and spectators have been treated to closely fought battles in every round. Tied for first in the points standing with two victories (rounds 2 and 4), the TEAM DAISHIN driver pair, Nobuyuki Oyagi and Takayuki Aoki, will be carrying a heavy 80kg weight handicap for the Motegi event. Sharing the points leadership are Tetsuya Yamano and Haruhiko Matsumoto in the RE AMAMIYA Racing Mazda RX-7, touted by many as favorites for the championship. They finished in fourth in Round 4 in spite of a heavy 60kg handicap weight. They should show steady racing at Motegi in order to acquire as many points as possible. After clocking the fastest lap at the GT-A test sessions on July 24-25, the Toyota MR-S entered by RACING PROJECT BANDOH finished third in Round 4 and drivers Minoru Tanaka and Satoru Goto are said to be in good shape and looking forward to a strong finish. The form of the No.71 MR-S of Sigmatec Racing Team (Guts Jonai and Eiichi Tajima) has shown exceptional improvement as well, with Tajima setting the fastest lap in Round 4 and the second fastest lap at the Motegi test sessions. Among the Porsche 996 GT3Rs, which by majority one of the most invincible cars in the lower world GT class, the No.24 car driven by Hideshi Matsuda and Kazuyuki Nishizawa (TEAM TAISAN ADVAN) was the fastest in the test sessions at Motegi (third in the GT300 class). Hisashi Wada and Jukucho Sunako of 910 RACING ran well too. Their second place finish in Round 3 is the best result for the Porsches this season. The many Porsche fans throughout Japan are anticipating a Porsche victory. The Subaru Impreza of CUSUCO RACING has always done well at Twin Ring Motegi. The motives and strategies of Katsuo Kobayashi and Tatsuya Tanigawa will be closely watched by rival teams. The green light for Round 5 will be given September 16 at Twin Ring Motegi. 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