JGTC 2002 Round6

2002-09-15

Race Review

Hondas Finish 1-2 at Home Track
First Victory JGTC for Philippe and Lyons
Another Runaway Victory for Vemac in GT300

Cloudy skies were not enough to scare away the fans, and the start of the 63-lap Round 6 race was given in front of a large crowd of 44,000. Pole sitter Hattori in the No.76 McLaren took the lead into the First Corner followed by Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra, Kato in the No.100 Honda NSX and Kageyama in the No.35 Supra, all holding their positions off the grid. The day ended early for the No.87 Mercedes CLK, engine problems causing Yamanashi to pullover into the trackside green in the opening laps. The first contact of the day came on lap 5 when Firman and the No.64 NSX bumped with Kageyama in the No.35 Supra at the First Corner. Both cars went off into the gravel but were able to recover and rejoin the race.

The leaders after five laps were Hattori out in front, followed by Tsuchiya and Kato, and then the NSXs driven by Lyons (No.18) and Ito (No.16).

The No.76 McLaren was running well and Hattori began lapping consistently quicker and increasing the gap over second running Tsuchiya. Lyons, on the other hand, overtook Kato and moved in on the tail of the No.36 Supra. Careful not to rush and push too hard, Lyons patiently waited for the best time to make is move and slipped past Tsuchiya on lap 12. Having secured second, the British raised his pace and began whittling down the time separating him from the lead.

Things got a bit exciting again about mid-race when the other Kageyama went squirely in the No.23 Skyline GT-R suffering a spin on lap 23 that caused the Nissan car to lose three positions, falling from 6th to 9th. Tsuchiya and the No.36 Supra went back under pressure from the NSXs again, this time Ito in the No.16 car piling on the pressure. But the Toyota driver was fearless and did everything to hold Ito off.

The leaders began making routine stops around the 30-lap mark. The fact that the JGTC requires this pit stop makes it a strategically important stage of the race, and positions almost always seem to change. This round was no different...

Top running Hattori took the McLaren in to pass the wheel to Tajima, but pit work took too much time, and with Tajima still parked in front of the McLaren garage both Philippe (No.18 NSX) and Mitsusada (No.100 NSX) passed along the straight in front of the pits. When Tajima returned to the race, the McLaren was sitting in 5th behind Philippe, Mitsusada, Gardner (No.36 Supra) and Michigami (No.16 NSX). But Gardner could not push hard and the ex-motorcycle world champion slowly lost ground, falling back to 6th by lap 41. Comas took over the wheel of the No.23 Skyline from Kageyama, but a broken suspension link on lap 47 forced him to retire the car from the race.

Gardner did his best to pickup time in the final laps of the race, at one time completing a spectacular spin at the last corner. He managed to recover without damaging the car and finished in 6th place overall.

Michigami experienced mechanical difficulties with the No.16 car. After driving well, he slowed down suddenly and made his way back to the pits. But once there, he left the cockpit and took off his helmet, the car retired due to gearbox problems.

Mitsusada made a gallant charge with the No.100 NSX catching up to Philippe and challenging for the lead in the final laps. The two Hondas fought it out in an amazing slipstream battle that continued around the circuit. But the French driver skillfully held Mitsusada off and took the checkered flag in the lead.

Treluyer paired up with Tanaka to drive the No.12 Skyline GT-R, replacing Kazuyoshi Hoshino, who retied from driving last month due to health reasons. The French driver ran the second half of the race. He received the wheel from Tanaka with the car in 13th and he managed to improve their position to 11th by race end.

Sebastien Philippe commented after the race: "I am very happy with this victory. We were not able to show good results after our second-place finish in the opening round at TI Aida. Due to car problems or simply bad luck, we ended up retiring from three races this year. So we've been waiting for this victory for the last five rounds. I didn't see Mitsusada sneak up just behind me in the last part of the race. I was pretty surprised to find him there. But since I knew that the cars were the same, I was confident that I could hold him off."
Richard Lyons: "I was surprised to find myself standing at the top of the podium. Coming to Japan has caused a big change in my career. I could join the Honda team and become a Honda driver. This was a very worthwhile effort... To be able to win at Honda's circuit."

Shibahara started out behind the wheel of the No.62 Vemac and kept the car in the lead off the line. But Mifune kept the No.5 Mosler close in on the Vemac, showing fans an impressive slipstream tail-to-nose battle for nearly a third of the race. The No.77 Subaru driven by Tanigawa kept his position in third, waiting for his chance. On the 23rd lap, the Mosler entered its pit due to engine problems and never rejoined the battle for the victory. The No.77 Subaru took over to rival for the victory. Both cars entered the pits for their routine stops on the same lap and returned to the track nearly simultaneously. It was Mitsuyama in the Vemac that managed to capitalize on the traffic of the faster GT500 cars, and the No.62 car easily kept the lead to the finish line. Third place went to the No.26 Porsche driven by Yogo and Nishizawa, both drivers showing a very consistent drive from start to finish.

At the last part of the race, the No.2 Honda NSX crashed into the tire barrier located at the entrance of pit road due to brake problems. The car caught fire before coming to a stop, and the flames increased after the crash. But the marshals extinguished the fire immediately, and the driver, Takahasi, exited the car safely.

Shinsuke Shibahara commented afterward: "Honestly speaking, I never thought that the No.5 Mosler might so quickt. The car set-up was hard on the tires, so that is the problem we are confronting for the moment."
Shogo Mitsuyama : "I heard that the Subaru was just behind me, so I concentrated on the lap just after coming out of the routine stop. Then I ran at a bit of a slower pace to make sure that I would not spin or crash. It is so nice to win races. Everybody becomes so happy and excited."

The next round (Round 7) of the 2002 AUTOBACS Japan GT Championship will be held at CP Mine Circuit on October 26-27.

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