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2001-10-28 |
Race Review
No.86 Toyota MR-S Wins 300 Class in Very Busy Race
No.8 ARTA NSX
With a total reversal of the weather from the Saturday qualifying sessions, clouds hung low over Suzuka Circuit Sunday, threatening rain for the race. Just minutes before the starting procedure began, raindrops began to fall, sufficient enough for Race Control to declare a wet race. But the decision was made a bit to quickly as the rain let up before the green lit was given and all of the cars started using slicks.
The No.6 Supra got the best start off the line, Hideki Noda taking the car from 7th on the grid into the lead going into the first corner followed by Kaneishi in the No.8 Honda NSX, Mitsusada in the No.1 NSX, Krumm in the No.22 Skyline GT-R and then three French drivers in succession, Comas in the No.23 GT-R, Dumas in the No.39 Supra and Philippe in the No.18 NSX. Noda did well controlling the race early on, but a miscalculation at the Spoon Curve on lap 9 put him into a half-spin and the car slid off the course and into the gravel bed.
On the very same lap, the rear end of the No.22 Skyline GT-R was bumped by the No.18 NSX driven by Philippe as it went through the chicane putting Krumm and the GT-R through a spin. Krumm managed to recover well, but damage to the bodywork required a pit stop for bodywork. Then, on lap 12, the No.37 Supra driven by Yamaji damaged the front section of his car when he touched another car. Schwager and the No.64 Honda went off the track with the No.62 Porsche driven by Shibahara in yet another duel.
The most sensational scene of the day came during lap 15, and involved the No.18 NSX driven by Philippe and the GT300 class No.81Silvia. Philippe nudged the Nissan causing it to spin. Nakaya made an attempt to drive the No.21 McLaren around the confusion but ended up crashing into the No.81 car.
Stop & Go penalties were numerous throughout the day. The No.18 car received two in the second half of the race alone, once for violating refueling regulations and once for crossing the white line at the pit exit), and the No.39 Supra two as well, a for jump start and overtaking under a yellow flag.
These events had no effect on the day's outcome however, as two powerful Honda NSXs, the Nos.8 and 1 cars respectively, moved into the lead and dominated the field. Tsuchiya, piloting the No.8 car in the second half of the race, drove with amazing accuracy and consistently increased the gap between himself and the No.1 car driven by Michigami through the end of the race.
"The car had a little understeer but there was no problem," said Kaneishi after the race. "I tried to drive carefully and not cause an accident with the back markers. "
Tsuchiya commented "As I lost a match race with Michigami in the first round of the championship, I wanted to avenge the loss to him one day. Even though I heard over the radio that I had a gap of 20-24 seconds over him, I took the precaution to drive carefully all the same."
The No.100 Honda held onto third in the first half of the race with Iida behind the wheel, but contact with the No.901 Mosler driven by Ito ended the car's chance for a podium finish. Third on the podium went to the No.23 Skyline as Kageyama, who ran well in the second half after taking over from Comas, moved into third when the No.36 Supra suffered a fuel pump problem and dropped out of the competition. The two Michelin users finished fourth and fifth in the end.
No.86 Project µ ESPELIR MR-S
Despite carrying heavy handicap weight, the No.81 Nissan Silvia driven by Aoki got off to a good start and led through the initial lap, followed by Matsunaga in the No.0 Toyota MR-S, Yamano in the No.7 Mazda RX7 and Nitta in the No.31 MR-S. Yamano and the No.7 RX7 have fallen a victim of a multi-car accident on lap 11. The No.81 car was hit from behind by a Honda NSX on lap 14, damaging the rear section of the car and forcing a pit stop for repairs. the car. Oyagi took the wheel and rejoined the race, but the damage was too serious and he retired the car after just one lap.
Both Matsunaga and Nitta wound up spinning at the same spot, in the Degner Curve, and ended their races sliding off the track. Tanigawa and the No.77 Subaru moved into the lead, but a problem with the turbo arose with Kobayashi behind the wheel after the driver change. The No.3 Silvia, co-driven by Ide and Yanagida, moved into the lead on lap 20 but bad luck struck the team when the air-jack system of the No.3 car was damaged due to contact with another car. Unfortunately, the team's mechanics had to refuel without being able to jack-up the car. Hopes were still high however, that is until the car was imposed a Stop and Go penalty that stole their gained victory at the very last moment. The No.86 Toyota MR-S driven by Masaoki Nagashima and Koji Matsuda took the lead and crossed the finish line first to claim its first victory.
"It was an unexpected piece of good luck," said Matsuda after the race. " I controlled myself in the first half of the race, just following the group. As I had anticipated, the race was very eventful and we could move up the position."
Nagashima continued, "Matsuda ran steadily and gave me the wheel in good conditions. My strategy was to keep steady lap times., and that led us to this good result."
GT300
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