|
2004-12-17 |
The official schedule for the 2004 JGTC All-Star event at California Speedway got underway as the green flag for Friday's free practice sessions was waved. The first session was run from 2:00 to 3:00pm, with the night session taking place from 5:00 to 6:50pm. Both were run on the "Motorcycle add Course" (2.68miles), a combination of oval and road course surfaces and the site of tomorrow's "JGTC 2004 All-Star 200". While drivers praised the speed they were able to attain on the oval section, there was some concern about the infield as passing was not an option due to the narrowness of the track.
The "JGTC All-Star Sprints" are composed of two 24-minute races. These will be performed on the "Interior Test Course" (1.45miles) on Sunday, with the unofficial practice session held on Thursday afternoon. The drivers didn't hold back when giving their first impressions of the road course track as Andre Lotterer commented afterward: "The track is bumpy and very busy to drive, much like a kart track. However, the grip level was not so bad." He claimed the fastest lap of the day in his No.32 Honda NSX.
The brilliant 2004 JGTC Driver's champion pair, Satoshi Motoyama and Richard Lyons showed their title-winning abilities as they clocked the fastest lap in Friday's first free practice session, breaking the timing beam at an impressive 1'24.808 (Lyons). "This is an interesting track. The oval section is wide and safe. As it was quite dusty, I just drove trying get the feeling of the car on this surface; and to wipe away any sense of incongruity caused by the banking."
In the GT300 class, the No.43 Garaiya driven by Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi was the fastest car, Nitta clocking a 1'30.204 in the bright orange machine.
Friday's second session was started under the setting sun in order to give the entrants a chance to run in the dark. Although Round 3 at Sepang (Malaysia) ended at dusk, the JGTC All-Star 200 is the first true night race for the series. Several red flags denoting accidents were shown during Friday's evening session, though none of these were overly serious.
Reported by Tetsuya Tsuzuki
2004 All-Star California Speedway Free Practice
2004.12.17 | Weather : Fine | Course : Dry | Motorcycle add Course 2.3miles |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 500-1 | Xanavi NISMO Z | S.Motoyama / R.Lyons | 1'24.695 | 1'23.812 | BS |
| 2 | 32 | 500-2 | PIAA NSX | T.Matsuda / A.Lotterer | 1'25.496 | 1'23.915 | BS |
| 3 | 18 | 500-3 | TAKATA DOME NSX | R.Michigami / S.Philippe | 1'25.958 | 1'24.776 | BS |
| 4 | 37 | 500-4 | DYNACITY TOM'S SUPRA | J.Courtney / T.Kataoka | 1'24.797 | 1'24.852 | BS |
| 5 | 22 | 500-5 | MOTUL KEY VALUE Z | M.Kageyama / M.Krumm | 1'26.015 | 1'25.069 | BS |
| 6 | 12 | 500-6 | CALSONIC IMPUL Z | B.Treluyer / Y.Ide | 1'25.181 | 1'25.174 | BS |
| 7 | 3 | 500-7 | G'ZOX SSR HASEMI Z | T.Kaneishi / E.Comas | 1'25.386 | 1'25.201 | BS |
| 8 | 100 | 500-8 | RAYBRIG NSX | S.Nakano / H.Kato / B.Jouanny | 1'26.973 | 1'25.329 | BS |
| 9 | 35 | 500-9 | DIREZZA DUNLOP Supra | N.Hattori / S.Wakisaka | 1'25.672 | 1'26.087 | DL |
| 10 | 8 | 500-10 | ARTA NSX | K.Kaneishi / D.Ito | 1'27.364 | 1'26.607 | BS |
| 11 | 43 | 300-1 | ARTA Garaiya | M.Nitta / S.Takagi | 1'30.204 | 1'30.348 | BF |
| 12 | 16 | 300-2 | M-TEC NSX | T.Yamano / H.Yagi / H.Kurosawa | 1'31.398 | 1'30.518 | DL |
| 13 | 81 | 300-3 | C-WEST DAISHIN ADVAN Z | M.Yanagida / N.Omoto | 1'34.014 | 1'30.563 | YH |
| 14 | 5 | 300-4 | Project µ B-1 Mach-Go 320R | T.Tamanaka / G.Mifune | 1'32.937 | 1'31.035 | YH |
| 15 | 80 | 300-5 | ENDLESS DAISHIN ADVAN Z | M.Kinoshita / K.Hoshino | 1'32.937 | 1'31.323 | YH |
| 16 | 77 | 300-6 | CUSCO SUBARU ADVAN IMPREZA | K.Kobayashi / T.Tanigawa | 1'33.492 | 1'32.267 | YH |
| 17 | 7 | 300-7 | AMEMIYA ASPARA DRINK RX7 | S.Yamaji / H.Iiri | 1'33.309 | 1'32.423 | YH |
| 18 | 63 | 300-8 | LEYJUN DUNLOP 320R | OSAMU / T.Tsubobayashi | 1'33.947 | 1'32.437 | DL |
| 19 | 19 | 300-9 | WedsSport CELICA | T.Aoki / N.Taniguchi / M.Orido | 1'32.568 | 1.54.057 | YH |
| 20 | 55 | 300-10 | ECLIPSE TAISAN ADVAN Viper | E.Yamada / P.Van Schoote | 1'34.285 | 1'33.996 | YH |
| 21 | 2 | 300-11 | Privée Zurich KUMHO NSX | K.Takahashi / A.Watanabe / H.Yoshimoto | 1'36.527 | 1'35.029 | KH |
| 22 | 6 | 300-12 | Stuttgart Performance | G.Escalette / B.Rosser | 1'38.550 | 1'36.829 | YH |
| 23 | 00 | 300-13 | Bernheim Porsche Racing | S.Bernheim / D.Dement | 1'38.847 | 1'37.457 | YH |
| 24 | 118 | 300-14 | 928 International | M.Anderson | 1'38.633 | no time | YH |
| 25 | 421 | 300-15 | Johnny Pag Racing | G.Segal / D.Puddster | 1'45.257 | no time | YH |
| |||||||
|
Tire = BS:Bridgestone / YH:Yokohama / DL:Dunlop / BF:BF Goodrich / KH:Kumho | |||||||
BACK