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2003-05-03 |
Mosler Takes Its First Pole in GT300
No.38 au CERUMO SUPRA
The "All JAPAN FUJI GT-500," the second round of the 2003 AUTOBACS JGTC Series, moved into high-speed today (May 3), with qualifying sessions at Fuji International Speedway (Shizuoka Prefecture). Being a national holiday, and blessed with a clear blue sky, fans flocked to the circuit to watch their favorite cars and drivers battle it out for the pole position of the 500km race on Sunday. All 45 cars entered for the event were on the track vying for the top times in their respective classes.
As many had predicted in the days leading up to the event, the Toyota Supras were strong. The excellent performance of the car was apparent after the morning session, with the top six places on the timing monitor dominated by Toyota Just 17 minutes after the start of the GT500 stint, Y.Tachikawa broke the Series' circuit record with a time of 1'23.969". But that wasn't good enough for Tachikawa in the afternoon session, so he shaved off nearly another 10th of a second to claim the pole with a time of 1'23.886" only 5 minutes remaining in the session.
Commented Tachikawa afterward: "We changed the set-up of the car for today, and it proved to be good. But the other cars are quick as well, and we no longer have the advantage on the straight that we had last year. Both the NSX and Skyline are fast running straight-line, so it will be difficult to overtake them there. We got the pole, so now I hope to keep the lead and hold them off until the finish line."
Teammate H. Takeuchi added: "We retired in the first round at TI, and we must prevent ourselves from repeating that here tomorrow. This round was full of incidents last year, so we have to be careful. Of course, our goal is win the race. That's what counts for the championship title."
Sitting next to Tachikawa on the front row tomorrow will be the Michelin-equipped No.36 Supra. T.Tsuchiya finished the morning session third overall (1'24.490"), but improved on the best lap to end the day with a fine 1'24.255" and second on the grid.
His comment after the sessions: "I think I was able to give my best performance today under the present situation."
Slipping into the Supra lineup in third place on the grid is the No.22 Skyline GT-R. R.Lyons clocked the seventh fastest lap in the morning session (1'24.776"), but came in the afternoon with the aim to steal the pole and improved the team's best time to 1'24.282".
"I was aiming for pole position or fourth, and I missed both. The front is very good and fourth is good as well because you get no handicap weight. But that's okay..." said Lyons after the sessions. After a comment that he was the fastest GT-R, Lyons replied laughing, "I expected nothing else."
The second quickest GT-R was the No.23 car and driver M. Krumm. He managed a time of 1'24.621" carrying a 50kg handicap, placing eighth overall on the grid.
Next to the No.22 Skyline will be another Supra. N.Hattori put in the fourth fastest time of the day driving the No.35 KRAFT Supra. The team took possession of a 2003 model for this race, and Hattori did a fine job of showing the potential running on Dunlop tires (1'24.363").
The Honda teams struggled in the qualifying sessions, not one of their cars capable to challenging the faster Toyota and Nissan cars. The top times of the day were put in by D. Ito and the No.16 NSX in the morning with a time of 1'25.132", and then a 1'24.896" to settle in at 11th overall. R.Michigami drove the No.18 Honda to a 1'25.163 for 12th on the grid, just ahead of the No.64 Honda with T.Matsuda behind wheel (1'25.229").
"We knew that the NSX is going to have to fight hard here, but the differences are much more than we had anticipated. We had problems with under- and over-steering when working with tire choice and car set-up, but all the same, the balance of the car is not so bad. There's nothing else we can do but race our best!" quoted by Ito.
The Vemac RD350R made its debut in this round. The car is still in early development stage, S.Shibahara could set only a lap of 1'28.436" to place the No.62 car in 17th place just ahead of the No.88 Lamborghini Diablo which stopped at the last corner during the morning session due to electric problems.
No.9 MOSLER MT900R
The morning session for the GT300 class was dotted by spins and accidents, and the red flag came out twice. H.Matsuda of Team GAINER thrilled spectators when he put the team's Ferrari at the top of the timing monitor momentarily, but he was pushing a little too hard and suffered a spin going into Suntory Corner, and stopped on the inside turf. His best lap of 1'32.905" garnered the car a preliminary fifth for the grid. Teammate T.Tanaka made his attempt in the afternoon session. He improved the lap time to 1'32.507", but grid position remained unchanged.
The pole position for the GT300 went to the No.9 Mosler MT900R. The car put in the second fastest lap in the morning session with K. Tsutsui at the wheel (1'32.535"), and then I. Suga improved the time with an impressive circuit record-breaking lap in the GT300 (1'31.356"), giving the car first-time honors on the pole.
Commenting later, a smiling Suga said, "I'm personally surprised at having the pole. We knew that the track temperature was dropping towards the end of the second session, so we pushed at the very last moment."
The Nissan Fairlady Z, making its second appearance of the season, is certainly to be a favorite of many fans, and seem to be getting a lot of attention. M. Kinoshita put the No.3 Z into third on the grid with a fine 1'31.662" in the afternoon session. The Fairlady Z will start in the second row of the GT300 class.
M.Kinoshita commented after the session: "I was satisfied with the first session. I was able to set a lap time quicker than we had expected. Then we improved the set-up and overall balance."
The Porsches did not fair so well overall, but the No.26 car driven by S.Yamaji was fastest in the morning session (1'32.334") even carrying a 30kg handicap weight. He improved his time to 1'31.685" in the afternoon to take up third position on the grid.
"We had problems with the car during the Friday free practice sessions, but mechanics did a perfect repair job. I think that what we have is already enough," said Yamaji after the sessions. "We will check the pace of the rivals and turn the end into a sprint race in the last 10 laps."
The Garaiya GT300R was seventh fastest in the morning session with M. Nitta driving (1'33.265"). He improved the time in the afternoon session, clocking a best lap of 1'32.709", but it was not good enough to move up the gird position.
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