 |
2001-11-11 |
Race Review
- Takeuchi/Tachikawa (No.38 Supra) Claim Driver's Championship and NISMO Team's Title -
No.71 Toyota MR-S Survives GT300 Race for the Win
- DAISHIN Silvia Takes Driver's Title and TAISHIN ADVAN Team's Title -
No.30 SOK McLaren GTR
Fine blue skies greeted the 46,400 spectators (organizer announced) who came out to witness the final showdown for the JGTC 2001 Series championships in the GT500 and 300 classes at CP MINE Circuit. Okada kept the No.30 McLaren at the front of the field with a fine start off the line and lead the pack into the first corner. Following in the order of grid position were Treluyer in the No.18 Honda NSX, Hoshino in the No.12 Skyline GT-R in third. Wakisaka got his No.6 Toyota Supra off the line well and picked up a position, overtaking Krumm in the No.22 GT-R.
Grappling incidents started in the first lap with Kaneishi in the No.8 Honda bumping the No.38 Supra driven by Takeuchi (point standings leader) from behind and causing him to spin. Takeuchi was able to recover, but found himself at the back of the field. Yamaji in the No.37 Supra felt the repercussions of the accident as well, having to run off the track to avoid the cars.
Okada did an impressive job of setting a pace to control the race with second running Treluyer in the No. 18 NSX doing his best to keep the pressure on the leader from second. Following team orders, Comas used the No.23 Skyline GT-R hold off the No.1 NSX driven by Mitsusada so that fifth place Krumm in the No.22 GT-R could build a safety gap. But when the top runners began overtaking back markers, the gaps between the cars began to shorten again. Having done his best to help his teammate, Comas overtook Krumm when he was struggling to get by a back marker and went to work on catching the leader. The French driver showed veteran skills, lapping consistently quicker and fighting his way through the field: moving into fourth on lap 16 and third on lap 23.
Contention was strong everywhere as was expressed by the scenario involving two Honda NSXs, that of Mitsusada in the No.1 car and Kaneishi in the No.8 car. The two cars were neck-and-neck fighting hard for sixth place (and the championship title) when, on lap 34, Kaneishi took the No.8 car slightly off the track in a side-by-side duel. Unable to correct, he went through the gravel and crashed into a sponge barrier ending his day.
After completing routine pit stops, it was still the No.30 McLaren out in front, setting the stage for a perfect sweep on the weekend. Couto maintained his cool and drove hard to increase the gap over his closest rival, the No.23 Skyline driven by Kageyama. (Couto claimed the fastest lap of the race.) The two top runners kept their positions to the checkered flag. Finishing third and fourth behind them were two French drivers, Philippe in the No.18 Honda and Dumas in the No.39 Supra respectively.
"Andre did a super lap during the qualifying sessions to take the pole position," said Okada afterward. "I wanted to keep concentration today and give the wheel to Andre in good position. I did that, and then he did a great job as well."
Couto commented following the race, "Okada did a good job to make a big margin over the second placed car. I could lap with a good rhythm. I pushed, but tried to make sure to finish the race."
The Driver's Championship title went to Takeuchi/Tachikawa in the No.38 Toyota Supra. They had a hard race with the collision early on and other problems that caused intervention by the mechanics in the pits. Even with their 16th place finish, the two were thrilled to end the season with the Driver's Championship title.
"When I spun after being pushed by Kaneishi, I thought it's over (for the season)" said Takeuchi after the race. "But I continued to drive with what little hope we had."
Tachikawa continued, "When I watched our car spin on the track, I thought 'That's it. We're probably finished.' Even so, I pushed hard and then we had other problems with the car. I think our mindset of being determined not to give up was turned in the right direction".
The Constructor's Championship title went to NISMO.
No.71 SIGMA MR-S
The leader of the GT300 class changed frequently throughout the race. Pole sitter Shibahara in the No.62 Porsche controlled the race in the early stages but suffered a spin causing him to fall back. The No. 19 Toyota MR-S driven by Tanaka took over the lead, but he too ended up going off the track, giving the lead to Matsuda in the No.24 Porsche. Ide in the No.3 Silvia and Matsumoto in the No.7 Mazda RX7 gave excellent performances battling for the Driver's Championship title, while the point standings leader, Oyagi in the No.81 Silvia, wasn't able to find a good pace and chose to drive carefully, gradually dropping position in the field.
The battle between the No.3 Silvia and No.7 Mazda continued after their routine stops, the two cars ran side-by-side switching positions a number of times. But a disappointing end awaited them. Going into the final stage of the race, the two cars bumped, sending them both off the track and giving the lead to the No.71 MR-S. The Toyota then held the lead to the checkered flag.
"I tried to keep an average speed and maintain a constant lap time when the GT500 cars overtook me," said Jonai after the race.
Tajima commented, "Three MR-Ss won six rounds up until the last race. We wanted to win this one ourselves. I wanted to win the race by all means."
The No.81 Silvia finished in sixth place giving Nobuyuki Oyagi and Takayuki Aoki the Driver's Championship.
"We worked as usual. This is the result of what has been accumulated by all team members working together, " commented Oyagi after the race.
Aoki added, " This is the first championship title for me. So I'm very happy. I glad I could join a good team, and I believe this is the result of everybody's efforts. Good engine, good tires and good mechanics."
Team TAISAN ADVAN took the Constructor's Championship title for the 2001 season.
(From Left) T.Aoki, N.Oyagi, H.Takeuchi, Y.Tachikawa
 |
BACK |  |
HOME |
