The seventh and final round of the 2004 AUTOBACS JGTC, the "SUZUKA GT 300km," is underway at Suzuka Circuit this weekend, with qualifying sessions being held on Saturday, November 20. A total of 43 cars entered the event; 18 GT500 machines and 25 cars from the GT300 class, thrilling the fans who have gathered at the circuit for the last race of the season.

At the start of the morning session, the temperature was relatively high for this time of the year (21°C, with a track temperature of 24°C). Tad Uematsu in the No.21 Ferrari took the initiative, heading out on track first among the GT500 machinery. However, it was Andre Couto in the No.39 Supra who clinched the quickest lap time with a 1'57.802 at the beginning of the session. Naoki Hattori then clocked a 1'57.082 to take the No.35 Supra to the top of the field 12 minutes after the green light. Juichi Wakisaka put in a fine lap time, claiming a 1'56.896 in his No.6 Supra - a remarkable achievement considering the 100kg success ballast he's carrying onboard. Ryo Michigami also featured with an excellent qualifying performance on his first flying lap, clocking a 1'56.149 in the No.18 Honda NSX to briefly put him top of the timing monitor.

Michael Krumm in the No.22 Fairlady Z (1'55.894) and Takeshi Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra (1'55.420) then both took fastest laps. But it was Benoit Treluyer in the No.12 Fairlady Z who, 18 minutes into the session, clocked the signature time of the hour. His superb 1'54.850 easily broke the circuit record of 1'55.340 set by Jeremie Dufour in the Supra at the final round of the 2003 JGTC season. Treluyer's dominant display garnered him provisional pole position for Sunday's race.

The mid-point of the hour featured both GT500 and GT300 cars battling together. Marco Apicella in the No.36 Supra touched the No.2 Honda NSX (GT300) causing the No.36 car to spin. The contact damaged the Toyota's left front fender and the Team TOM'S driver had to return to the pits for repairs.

Conditions in the afternoon (the second of the two official qualifying sessions) were not so different from the morning (20°C, track temperature 23°C). As usual, the top teams didn't start their qualifying laps until the last stage of the session. With only three minutes remaining, Yuji Tachikawa in the No.38 Supra improved his best lap set in the morning, and clocked a 1'55.780. Then with only two minutes left, Takeshi Tsuchiya in the No.36 Supra set his best lap of 1'54.476, eclipsing the morning's best and giving him pole position. Toshihiro Kaneishi in the No.3 Fairlady Z improved his best lap from the morning and set a 1'54.770 to share the front row with the No.36 car. For the Honda camp, Andre Lotterer in the No.32 NSX was the fastest driver with a lap time of 1'55.776, placing him fourth overall.

When the time came for the GT300 class in the morning session, Go Mifune went out in the No.5 Vemac immediately after the green signal and managed an early best time of 2'07.559. When the session had reached the 7-minute mark, it was Morio Nitta who demonstrated superb skill in spite of the heavy weight handicap of 80kg (the limit for the class) to set a fastest lap time of 2'04.694 in the No.43 Garaiya. Mifune then improved his best lap to 2'05.613 before Hideshi Matsuda in the No.11 Ferrari claimed a fine 2'05.435 to take a provisional front row spot. However, no one could beat the best lap time set by Nitta in the first session. This is a new circuit record for the class.
In the afternoon, Tanaka in the No.10 Ferrari aimed at getting pole position, trying hardest at the mid stage of the session. He improved his best lap from the morning, setting an excellent 2'05.627 - but it wasn't enough to beat the No.43 Garaiya! Masataka Yanagida in the No.81 Fairlady Z made his qualifying lap attempt, claiming a best of 2'05.459 to take third place in the afternoon session.
But it was Tetsuya Yamano in the No.16 Honda NSX who became the center of attention all around the circuit. In spite of the heavy 80kg weight handicap on the car, he fought brilliantly to clock a superb lap time of 2'04.999. Remarkably, this was not enough to beat the lap time Nitta had set in the morning session, though it guarantees the veteran a front row start in tomorrow's race.

(from left) M.Apicella, T.Tsuchiya, M.Nitta, S.Takagi

GT500 Pole Position

No.36 WOODONE TOM'S SUPRA

Takeshi Tsuchiya "We raced with Michelin tires in 2003 and this season we've been on Bridgestones. I realized that my driving style was more suited to the Michelins in the first half of the season. Furthermore, the number of JGTC test sessions has been reduced this year and that hasn't helped. Plus, we've also had several unlucky breaks this season. Even so, I tried to adjust my driving style little by little and I found it has become more suitable for the BS tires in the second half of the season. However, I was really surprised by my lap time anyway."
Marco Apicella "I'm very happy that my team has gotten pole position today. Takeshi has done most of the work this season and my role was really in support of his efforts. We've had a series of unlucky incidents this year, but I hope to have a good race tomorrow and forget all about them."

GT300 Pole Position

No.43 ARTA Garaiya

Morio Nitta "Our aim was to qualify ahead of the M-TEC car and this we achieved. As we set a good lap time in the morning session, we didn't try to improve our lap time during the afternoon, concentrating instead on the race set-up."
Shinichi Takagi "Qualifying ahead of the M-TEC car is one of the conditions that we fixed for this race. I had never imagined Nitta would be able to set such a superb time! I don't think we'll be able to romp home tomorrow; and instead will have to work hard all afternoon. Even so, we have collected a lot of data for the race. We are not worried about the race tomorrow. There is no pressure."