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2002-06-22 |
Qualify Review
Gripping two-way battle for top spot
between Mobil 1 NSX and Tom's Supra
in final minutes of qualifying!
Report on the first Official Qualifying session for Round 4 of the 2002 Autobacs JGTC Championship, held at Sepang International Raceway.
As in the first practice yesterday, the No.36 TOKUHON TOM'S SUPRA took top spot for the morning qualifying this morning. It was followed closely (only four thousandths of a second behind) by the No.64 mobil 1 NSX in second place. No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX of Richard Lyons and Sebastien Philippe completed the top three.
Next on the timesheets were the other three HONDA NSXs in the series. The No.100 RAYBRIG NSX in fourth; the No.8 AUTOBACS Racing Team Aguri in fifth, and the No.16 Mugen NSX out the top six.
After the Honda steamroller, the No.23 Nismo Castrol Pitwork GT-R of Erik Comas and Masami Kageyama followed only six thousandanths of a second back. A couple more Toyota Supras lay between it and the other Nismo car, the No.22 machine of Satoshi Motoyama and Michael Krumm. rounding out the top twelve was the No.12 CALSONIC SKYLINE of Japanese legend Kazuyosho Hoshino and Tetsuya Tanaka, and the No.37 ZENT TOM'S Supra of Takuya Kurosawa and Paulo Montin.
One notable change from yesterday's session was the dramatic improvement of the No.88 NOMAD Diablo JGT-1 driven by Marco Apicella and Hisashi Wada. They improved their time almost exactly five seconds over yesterday's best time.
In the GT 300 Class, the No.3 Hasemi Motorsport Unisia Jecs Silvia topped the times, followed by the No.7 Amemiya MATSUMOTOKIYOSI Aspra RX-7. Next up was the R&D Sport Vemac RD320R, with two Toyota MR-Ss (No.31 ARTA and No.19 Racing Project Bandoh WedsSport) in fourth and fifth in class. Rounding out the top six in GT 300 was the NSX of the Verno Tokai Dream 28 team. They had been quickest in the second practice session yesterday.
Report on the Second Official Qualifying session - Saturday afternoon.
The Second Official Qualifying Session for Round 4 of the 2002 AUTOBACS JGTC Championship got under way at 3:30 pm at Sepang International Circuit today under clear skies and temperatures hovering around 36 degrees Celsius. The track was recorded at 52 degrees.
Immediately after the session started, the No.64 Mobil 1 NSX of favourite Ralph Firman and Tsugio Matsuda spun, bringing out a red flag and stopping the session. Things were soon underway again as the cars were back on the track after only eight minutes.
Throughout the session, the Hondas were very strong and it looked as if it was just a question of which one would take pole. However, only seconds before the session ended, the No.36 TOKUHON TOM'S Supra, driven by Takeshi Tsuchiya, clinched top spot with a time of 1:59:328. He said: "We got a clear lap toward the end so were able to get a good time. The car feels good, I thought I could grab pole. It was a three-way battle with Ralph and Kaneishi-san at the end".
Up to then, the Supra's was the fastest time of the weekend. However, almost as soon as the timesheets showed the Supra on top, the No.64 Mobil 1 NSX stole the coveted position with a dramatic display of speed and an unbeatable time of 1:59:291. It was a superb achievement considering they had spent nearly 50 minutes of the session in the pits working on the car after the early spin.
Ralph seid. "We had a spin at the start of the session because I was trying to avoid another car that had spun and I couldn't see where he was through all the dust. We were able to get back to the pits no problem though. As the gearbox had been making a lot of noise, we took the opportunity to check it while back in the pits. Then it was just a case of the 'box holding out, which it did, and I was able to get the time".
In GT 300, the top entrant was the No.62 Vemac driven by Shinsuke Shibahara. "We were third yesterday, and third or fourth this morning so it wasn't bad, but not fantastic either. The team had the right strategy by sending me out late, after 4pm, as we gambled it would be cooler. It worked! I did my last attack on new tires at the end of the session and we got the time. For the race we may change the settings a little, we'll see. By the way, we don't use coolsuits so it could be a bit of a worry if it's really hot for the race".
Next up was the WedsSports MR-S, driven by Minoru Tanaka. "After the first qualifying this morning, the car felt great, I thought we could get pole without any problem. In fact, I bet the mechanics that I would! When I saw the time of 2:10:214 on the dashboard monitor, I was sure I'd done it. I was soon told over the radio that Boss had won the bet and we were second".
Third in this class was the No.7 Re Amemiya Racing RX-7 driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi. "We knew we couldn't do better than a 2:10.2, that was our upper limit so we really pushed for that. The Vemac was just too quick. Anyway, we're in a good position for the race; not the fastest, but we have a good chance of finishing on top tomorrow".
Next up was the No.3 Silvia from Hasemi Motorsport, driven by Masataka Yanagida. "We've got a 60kg handicap but were able to set a good time. The team set the car up perfectly. As for the team, we're going for the win tomorrow".
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