If the events of the season's first race in the 2004 AUTOBACS JGTC Series are any precursor as to what lays ahead, it's going to be a wild and eventful year. The start of the race itself was a peculiar one. An impressive 58,500 fans gathered for the season opener, excitedly anticipating the green as the Safety Car circled the track not once, but four times before allowing the field to complete its rolling start. There had been no accidents and it wasn't raining, but track conditions had to be carefully checked due to the accumulation of water on the surface following the overnight rain.
The pole-sitter No.22 Fairlady Z driven by Kageyama and No.12 Nissan driven by Ide both started on slick tires and quickly dropped position in the field, most of the cars behind them choosing to start with intermediate rubber. The No.38 Supra driven by Ara jumped from the second row on the grid into the lead immediately. Dufour, behind the wheel of the No.39 Supra, seemed confident under the slippery conditions and moved in to challenge the No.38 Supra in the opening laps. The French driver overtook Ara on lap 10 to take the lead. Not far behind, a Nissan - Supra battle broke out between Comas in the No.3 Fairlady Z and Iida in the No.6 Supra, who was lying in third. Comas pushed to find an opening but Iida held him off, keeping the door closed lap after lap. The clouds started to break around the 15th lap, letting beams of sunlight spot the circuit. With this, the teams began preparing for an extra pit stop for tire changes. The race leader, Dufour, chose lap 19 to pit and change to slicks. His move was quickly followed by a number of other teams on lap 20. Then again on lap 46, Dufour entered the pit to hand the wheel over to his Portuguese co-driver, Couto, who set a fast pace with the No.39 Toyota, clearly controlling the field.

The No.1 Fairlady Z of the NISMO team started off the day with a "Drive-thru Penalty", received for changing tires on the grid just before the start of the race. Even after dropping position due to the drive-thru, defending Driver's Champion Motoyama did an excellent job of recovering throughout the first half of the race, lapping consistently quicker through the field and taking fourth before passing the wheel to Lyons. The team crew did a marvelous job in the pit and sent the car back to the track in lightning speed time. The Irish Nissan driver showed shear determination and closed the gap, moving into second and only 15sec off the lead car, Couto, by lap 53. But Couto, too, was in good rhythm with the No.39 Supra.

With only four laps remaining, Couto was imposed a "Stop & Go" penalty for overtaking when the yellow flag was out, sending the SARD team into shock. Lyons cruised by the distraught Couto and received the checkered flag first, giving the NISMO team a victory in the Fairlady Z's debut GT500 race. Wakisaka crossed the finish line second and Couto in third, still managing to make the podium.
The best placed Honda was No.32 car driven by Matsuda and Lotterer, finishing in tenth place.

No.1 Xanavi NISMO Z (GT500 Winner)

Satoshi Motoyama: "I'm really happy. Honestly, I have to say I thought we were going to finish second towards the end of the race, but the situation changed completely. The race was a bit confusing in the first laps, and the fact that we were penalized... But the car ran very well and we could keep a good pace, so I drove with conviction to the end of my stint. I was a bit shocked that we were penalized, but as the race distance is long, I drove thinking of getting as many points as possible."

Richard Lyons: "I wasn't convinced about the penalty for the No.39 car when I heard it on the radio, I drove without letting up until the end. The car ran well throughout the entire race. I saved the tires as much as I could at the beginning of my stint, and then pushed hard to catch up with the No.39 car. I think I could have caught it even it hadn't been penalized. I'm trying for the title with Satoshi."

No.10 JIM Gainer ADVAN F360

Pole sitter Yamano controlled the first laps in the No.16 Honda NSX, followed by Osamu in the No.63 Vemac, Sasaki in the No.30 Toyota MR-S, Aoki in the No.19 Celica and Tanaka in the No.10 Ferrari. But the Honda lost position due to the wet track, and the No.80 Fairlady Z and No.43 Garaiya worked their ways to the head of the pack and fought it out for first. Midway through the first drivers' stint, the track drying a bit, Yamano brought the No.16 NSX back up into the top group.

After the driver's change, leading the field were Yogo in the No.10 Ferrari, Takagi in the No.43 Garaiya and Taniguchi in the No.19 Celica. Yogo put in a good performance, driving consistently and keeping his Dome-designed Ferrari out in front. Yogo, also last year's GT300 TI Aida winner (Porsche GT3R with co-driver A. Asai) crossed the finish line first, giving his team their first victory with this car. Takagi brought the Garaiya to the flag in second, and the No.16 NSX in third. Rookie JGTC driver Yagi behind the wheel, fought his way to the podium, overtaking Taniguchi's Celica on the final lap.

No.10 JIM Gainer ADVAN F360 (GT300 Winner)

Tetsuya Tanaka: "First of all, I want to express my sincere appreciation to the team. They're always enthusiastically working to arrange the team structure, entering two cars for example. Our efforts have been rewarded with this result. In the GT300 class, all of the top teams opted for slick tires for the start. Honestly speaking, it was hard to drive with slicks under those conditions. But we were all in the same boat. I was forced to do it."

Atsushi Yogo: "Many thanks to the team owner, manager and sponsors for having a car that allowed us to win the race. I'm really happy to win the race today because the team manager said to me before going out, 'We're going to win the opening race!' Even though the one-lap speed for qualifying was not so good, the feeling of the car in race configuration with a full tank was really good. That gave me the confidence. I think Tanaka had to work hard at the beginning of the race due to the wet conditions, and I hope that he'll be able to pass the wheel to me at the next race with a 10-second margin like he did today!."

Round 2 of the 2004 AUTOBACS JGTC will be held at Sportsland SUGO on May 22 and 23.