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2003-05-24 |
Only Third Race and Ferrari F360 scores GT300 Pole
No.1 ESSO Ultraflo Supra
The qualifying sessions for Round 3 of the 2003 AUTOBACS JGTC Series, the "SUGO GT CHAMPIONSHIP," were held at Sportsland SUGO in Miyagi Prefecture on May 24. The 43 cars entered for the round gave their best efforts to put in quick times around the 3,737.50m track under cloudy skies.
As many have predicted, the Toyota on Michelin tires is a good combination, the No.36 car driven by Takeshi Tsuchiya clocking an excellent lap time of 1'18.273" on only the third time around the course in the morning session. But defending Driver's Champion titleholder Juichi Wakisaka wasn't interested in a backseat position and put the No.1 Supra through a superb lap, timing a 1'17.805 (new circuit record for the GT500). carrying a handicap weight of 40kg. The field tried to topple him from the provisional pole in the afternoon session, but Wakisaka proved quickest then, too, but not able to top the time he established in the morning. (1'17.931"). He will start from pole position for the 81-lap race.
Following the sessions, Wakisaka commented: "The car didn't have enough grip on the front yesterday, but the team's engineer fixed the problem and the car was perfect this morning, allowing me to get the best qualifying run. I actually thought I was driving better in the afternoon, but I could not improve on the best lap set in the morning. I think it was due to changing track conditions."
Another quick Toyota over the day was the No.38 Supra with Tachikawa behind the wheel. He put in a best morning session time of 1'18.408" and improved it to a fine 1'18.197" with an impressive lap in the afternoon, giving the car third on the grid for the race.
Tachikawa: "The car ran quite well, but there was a bit of understeer. We concentrated on setting up the car in the race configuration rather than for qualifying."
Treluyer was the quickest driver for the Nissan Skyline GT-Rs in the morning session. The French driver lapped the course in 1'18.493 with the No.12 car carrying a 40kg handicap weight. The winner of Round 2, the No.22 Nissan driven by Kageyama and Lyons, was not far off the mark with a 1'18.876". Even so, it seems that the heavy 60kg handicap kept them from challenging the top runners. Motoyama was just behind the No.22 car in the morning practice. But the No.23 Skyline GT-R and Motoyama came back with a fine run in the afternoon, breaking the 1'18" barrier with a 1'17.953" and putting the car second on the grid.
The Honda NSXs were again working hard to challenge the Toyotas and Nissans. Michigami started the charge in the morning session with a time of 1'18.363 in the No.18 car of Dome Racing Team, setting the third quickest time. Ito ran well in the No.16 NSX, too. He suffered a spin severe enough to bring out the Red Flag in the afternoon session, and then turned around and clocked a 1'18.400" in the last minutes of the session to take fourth on the grid overall. The No.18 car will start fifth, and No.16 car sixth.
No.11 JIM RodeoDrive ADVAN F360
The Ferrari 360 Modena and driver Tanaka became the center of attention throughout the circuit qualifying day. In the closing moments of the GT300 class stint in the morning session, Tanaka sprinted around the track in 1'24.689", setting a new circuit record for the GT300.
"Thanks to the team mechanics who worked so hard until late, I was able to set that lap time. I think the car and track characteristics are well matched now," said Tanaka following the session.
Behind the Ferrari were Sasaki in the No.31 Toyota MR-S with a 1'24.777", Taniguchi in the No.7 Mazda RX7 (1'24.959") and Nitta in the No.43 Garaiya (1'25.023"). Taniguchi, quickest driver during the JGTC test sessions held on April 18 and 19, commented afterward: "I found that the car was running good on the track without traffic. So I think that the lap time was our best under the current situation."
Nitta pushed the Garaiya hard to improve on the morning lap in the second session, and claimed a 1'25.002". But the situation changed in the afternoon, Mifune worked his No.5 Vemac the same way, improving the best lap in the final moments of the afternoon session (1'24.722"). The lap was slightly slower than the Ferrari, giving the Vemac the No.2 spot in the GT300 grid.
A Toyota Celica has been introduced by Racing Project Bandoh for this round. The car was developed by TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and is fully compliant with the new 2003 technical regulations. The original engine was replaced with a 2-liter single-turbo 3SG-TE, which was equipped in the Supra last year. This power plant is mounted longitudinally in the engine compartment and front- wheel-drive has been swapped to the rear. Even though the car was completed only a few days ago, the team worked fervently, enabling Tanaka to lap the circuit in 1'25.958", 15th.
No.19 WedsSport CELICA
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