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2003-08-03 |
First Win for Toyota Celica in JGTC
No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX
Round 5 of the 2003 AUTOBACS JGTC, and the final JGTC race at Fuji Speedway before it undergoes remodeling, took place in front of large crowd of 51,000 spectators who braved the humid hot summer day to experience the historical event. It was a truly eventful race, with incidents and accidents dotting the 300km distance to the checkered flag. It was an exciting victory for the Dome Racing Team, drivers Ryo Michigami and Sebastien Philippe doing a fantastic job to bring their Honda NSX across the finish line first in the GT500 class. In GT300, it was a first ever victory in the JGTC for the Toyota Celica, Takayuki Aoki and Minoru Tanaka skillfully driving the No.19 car into the limelight.
Takeuchi shot off the line from the pole, putting the No.38 Supra into the lead from the green. His pace was fast from the start, allowing him to hold onto the lead without a serious challenge from the rest of the field. Kurosawa held on to second in the No.37 Supra, teammate Tsuchiya in the No.36 car in third, and the No.18 Honda NSX, first stint being driven by Philippe, running fourth. Philippe was in good form, running consistently faster with the Honda and moved in to challenge the Supras in the opening laps. He quickly overtook Tsuchiya and then slipped by Kurosawa and into second by lap 16. Tsuchiya, on the contrary, couldn't manage to keep pace with the other frontrunners. A team decision to change the aerodynamics of the car just before the race had backfired on them, and the car fell back to seventh before the routine stop. The No.1 Supra, Iida behind the wheel, showed signs of good potential. In spite of being weighted down with a heavy 90kg handicap, he started from fifth on the first lap and worked his way up to third before pitting. Krumm echoed the challenge in the No.23 Skyline. Carrying a 70kg handicap, he fought his way into fourth before the driver's change.
The day was not so bright for the other Skylines however, the No.22 car colliding with the No.12 car. The NISMO GT-R rejoined the race immediately, but the No.12 car was forced to pit for repairs to a damaged rear suspension and some bodywork.
The top runners began making stops after 30 laps, and when they had all finished by around lap 37, it was still the No.38 Supra out in front with Tachikawa at the wheel. In order behind him were Motoyama in the No.23 Skyline, Michigami in the No.18 NSX and Wakisaka in the No.1 Supra. It wasn't before long though and Michigami challenged and overtook the No.23 car, moving into second place. Running fifth was Apicella in the No.37 Supra, but teammate Comas was now driving the No.36 car and looking to makeup some lost time. He quickly passed the Italian for fifth.
The battle for positioning seemed to have come to an end, and the race results decided as the final lap approached. But suddenly the unthinkable happened. As if in a nightmare, the right front tire of the No.38 Supra suffered a puncture, causing Tachikawa to slow down. The No. 18 and 23 cars passed him on the last lap, depriving Toyota Team CERUMO of a victory that was in the palm of their hands.
Ryo Michigami commented after the race, "It was unbelievable. We won the last race on the track before renewal construction begins. A track known to be disadvantageous for the NSX. There were two exciting moments for me today. One, after Motoyama passed us during the tire change, I overtook him because his tire hadn't warmed up enough. And then in the last laps when I saw the smoke coming up from the tire of the No.38 Supra!"
Sebastien Philippe added, "I struggled in traffic a little, but otherwise I drove a steady race. I could run flat out in the last corner and delay braking by 20m compared to the other cars. These are the advantages of our car. Top speed is not so quick, but the traction and braking are good."
No.19 WedsSport CELICA
Reminiscent of the qualifying sessions, the two Celicas dominated the category from the start, Aoki in the No.19 out in front and Jyonai in the No.71 car running second. Hoshino, in the No.81 Silvia, was lying in third. Yamada gave an impressive performance in the No.55 Viper, catching up to challenge the GT300 leaders. Hoshino overtook Jyonai, and then the winner of the previous round overtook both Jyonai and Hoshino to move into second.
Following the routine stops, the No.71 Celica was back in second place, but Sawa then was bumped by the No.22 Skyline at the Hairpin Curve on lap 43, sending the Celica to the track side and into retirement. In the second half of the race, a good effort was made by Sasaki in the No.31 Toyota MR-S, who fought his way into fourth after Tanaka in the No.19 Celica, Uematsu in the No.81 Silvia and Goto in the No.31 Toyota MR-S. The No.26 Porsche driven by Nishizawa improved his position too. He overtook the Viper to take fourth, and the top runners finished the race in this order.
Takayuki Aoki commented, "The Celica has had the potential to win since the previous race. The mechanics, the entire team was so motivated to win this race. I managed to pull away from the rest of the field from the start and pass the wheel to Minoru (Tanaka) with a gap of almost 20sec. So I was confident that he would come home first."
Minoru Tanaka said, "The mechanics worked hard all night long to prepare for the race. I was hoping to reward them, and a victory is the only way I can do that. So I'm very happy. The Celica is strong and quick. Even though there are several uncertain factors in a race, we can drive without a big drop in lap time. That is the most important characteristic of the Celica."
Round 6 of the 2003 AUTOBACS JGTC will be held at TWINRING MOTEGI on September 13 and 14.
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