JGTC 2001 MALAYSIAN ROUND - Qualify Review

2001-06-23

Qualify Session#2 Review

Supra Sweep for Front Row in Malaysia

Although the second qualifying session started late in the afternoon, the temperature didn't really show any signs of subsiding. Both categories took the track for the first twenty minutes, but nobody was able to improve on their morning session times.

The GT500 cars were called off the circuit and the GT300s had their twenty minutes alone on the track. Ide and Yanagida couldn't improve on their morning time, but that was still enough to keep them on the pole for tomorrow. Team SriLanka did not start the second session as they were stricken with an engine problem late in the first session and were forced to do an engine swap. Their morning time was also good enough to keep their off pole starting position for tomorrow. This is the best official JGTC result for the Mosler MT900 and it looks like it will be a strong contender for the rest of the season.

The GT500s took the track for the last twenty minutes of the second qualifying session. Things were pretty quiet until the last 8 minutes or so of the session as all the teams were saving their new tires for a last minute attack. With less than 5 minutes remaining in the session, cars darted out of the pits on fresh rubber looking to gain a position or two at the last minute. Tachikawa was hungriest of all and placed is AU CERUMO SUPRA smartly on the pole with a lap time of 1:59.184. Wakisaka's strong time of 1:59.374 from the morning session was good enough to keep his ESSO ULTRAFLO SUPRA in second while Michael Krumm held on to third with a 1:59.574.

Two Toyotas, a Nissan, and two Hondas occupy the first five positions for the start of tomorrow's race. The Nissans of Kazuyoshi Hoshino/Satoshi Motoyama and Erik Comas/Masami Kageyama ended up at the bottom of the GT500 grid chart but it is likely that they were on a harder compound and shouldn't be counted out of the potential contenders for the podium. The race will be long and hot and there is bound to be a fair amount of attrition. The battle will be fast and furious and the fans are sure to get their money's worth.

Pole Position Drivers
#38 Yuji Tachikawa: "I made a mistake on my attack lap and thought that we would be 2nd or 3rd. Takeuchi told me to "hold back" and Mr. Sato told me to "Go for it!" and I wasn't fully focused."
Hironori Takeuchi: "Having a weight handicap of 50kg tomorrow will be good practice for the Fuji race, but it is sure to slow us down a lot. I think that I'll just keep everybody lined up behind me like a racing school!"

#3 Yuji Ide: "I want to win tomorrow! It is my first time to race here and I heard that it is a very difficult race, so just want to make up my mind that I am going to win."
Masataka Yanagida: "The weight handicap that we will have tomorrow is just the amount that we will have for the next race at Fuji Speedway in Japan, so I will have a chance to get the feel of the car in that condition. I think that our rivals for this race will be the #900 Mosler and the #31 MR-S."

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