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2001-10-27 |
Qualify Review
- Top Three Positions on the Grid
Silvia Quickest in GT 300 Class Despite 80kg Handicap
No.8 ARTA NSX
Bright sunny skies and seasonally hot weather welcomed both teams and fans, giving excellent conditions for the Friday free practice and Saturday qualifying sessions of Round 6 of the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) at Suzuka Circuit, Mie Prefecture, and setting the stage for the Sunday ,October 27, race. Even with a slightly altered track, which has been shortened by 4.9 meters, a majority of the GT500 managed to break the 2-minute lap barrier.
Spirits are high among the Honda NSX teams. The cars have been quick in all sessions and dominated qualifying, taking the top three places on the grid. Katsutomo Kaneishi, second quickest in the first qualifying session, completed his time attack lap in only 1'58.290" in the closing minutes of the second session. His No.8 Honda will start from the pole for the first time this season.
"The car ran well since test sessions held on October 1-2, and was in good form in yesterday's free practice sessions as well," said Kaneishi after the sessions. "I made a mistake when shifting gears in the morning session... But the car was much improved in the afternoon session, and I could drive as hard as I could. I'm very happy to get my first pole position in the JGTC."
Ryo Michigami drove the No.1 Honda through the quickest lap in the morning session, clocking a fine 1'58.893", and then improved on that with a 1'58.523" in the second session. But Kaneishi beat him out at the last moment. The next fastest time was that of Sebastien Philippe in the No.18 NSX. His morning session time of 1'59.333" set him in a preliminary fourth just behind the No.12 Skyline GT-R, but he bettered his time in the second session, 1'59.035", to get third on the grid.
The quickest non-Honda car was the No.12 Skyline GT-R driven by Satoshi Motoyama who claimed 1'59.195" in the first session. He couldn't improve on his morning performance, but the only drivers in the field ahead of him at the start of the race will be the top three NSXs.
The fastest Toyota was the No.39 Supra with Jeremie Dufour. He claimed the fifth quickest lap (1'59.249") ahead of Andre Couto in the No.30 McLaren GT-R, who improved his best morning lap to 1'59.292" in the second qualifying session.
No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN SILVIA
The No.0 Toyota MR-S was allowed the installation of a larger air-restrictor than last race in keeping with JGTC regulations, and Masahiro Matsunaga made good use of it. clocking the quickest time (2'10.285") in the morning session. Takayuki Aoki showed an excellent qualifying performance in the second session as well. The championship points standing leader with Nobuyuki Oyagi fought well in spite of a very heavy 80 kg handicap. He drove the No.81 Silvia with tremendous skill and finished at 2'10.158." The No.81 Nissan secured the GT300 class pole position.
"The car was not running so well in the free practice sessions on Friday or during today's first qualifying session," Aoki reported afterwards. "But we changed the car setup and it was a hit. This is one of the reasons we are on the pole position. There was oil on the track, and I thought I could improve the lap in the last minute of the session. So I gave it a try at the very last minute."
Third on the grid in the GT300 class is Tetsuya Yamano who is second in the championship along with Haruhiko Matsumoto in the No.7 Mazda RX-7. Carrying a 50kg handicap weight, Yamano took the RX-7 to the challenge. He tried hard to improve on his best morning lap in the afternoon session and circled the course in 2'10.294", but it wasn't fast enough to beat out the times of the two top cars.
(from left) K.Tsuchiya, K.Kaneishi, T.Aoki, N.Oyagi
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