In a repeat of the series' last visit to the track, the #38 Zent Cerumo Supra was victorious at the legendary circuit located near the base of Mount Fuji. After a strenuous battle with the pole-sitting #32 EPSON NSX, the car of Toranosuke Takagi and Yuji Tachikawa fought a battle that went right down to the wire in the 66-lap event.

Starting third, the Cerumo car briefly fell to fourth on the opening lap, though quickly regained the position, moving up to second place on the fourth tour. It was a position the car would hold onto until moving up one more place - with only two laps remaining.

The lead pair maintained a steady 3-second gap in the early stages, though pulled out a much larger margin over the chasing pack. Leading that group were the #36 and #37 OPEN INTERFACE TOM'S Supras, with the #8 ARTA NSX of Ralph Firman following closely behind. Starting seventh, Andre Couto had moved the #39 DENSO SARD SUPRA GT up to fifth after a masterful pass on Ralph Firman at Dunlop Corner on lap 10. He then passed the #37 TEAM TOM'S Supra for fourth within another half a lap. Behind Couto, a fantastic battle raged for fifth spot between the #6 ESSO Ultraflo Supra, the #37 Tom's Supra and the #8 ARTA NSX.

Meanwhile, the #3 G'ZOX Hasemi Z had recovered to 13th place by lap 13, moving past the #18 Takata Dome NSX from Team Honda Racing two laps later. The quickest of the Nissan entries was making remarkable progress considering its fall to the back of the GT500 pack on the first lap. Immediately behind, the #12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z gave chase to the charging Z car.

Behind the leading NSX, a pack of five Supras lead the next quickest Honda, the #8 ARTA NSX. The dayglo orange car was under intense pressure from the hard-charging Peter Dumbreck in the #35 YMS Yellow Hat Supra, the Scot having come from the rear of the GT500 class at the start of the race. Behind him, the two factory Nissan Fairlady Z machines ran in tandem, the #22 Motul Pitwork Z leading the #1 Xanavi machine.

In eleventh place was the #25 Eclipse ADVAN Supra, the car that would go on to set the fastest lap of the race before going out with electrical problems shortly before the routine pitstops.

After starting 7th, the #3 G'ZOX Hasemi Z was punted off track on the first corner of the opening lap, dropping the car to 20th place. It would take a relentless fightback by drivers Toshihiro Kaneishi, and particularly veteran Erik Comas, to eventually bring the Nissan a well-deserved fourth place, a mere three seconds off the podium.

Meanwhile in GT300, the second-placed #10 Mach Go Ferrari Dunlop went out on the first lap, contact from the #13 Endless ADVAN Z causing terminal suspension damage. Shortly after, the #777 Ryozanpaku Takamizawa ADVAN GT3 Porsche suffered a spectacular right rear suspension failure after being hit hard by the #34 Bandai Supra at Dunlop Corner. It wasn't long before the #2 Privee Zurich RD320R was out too, the car managing only 17 laps before its suspension failed all on its own.

Other Vemac entries were running strongly in the early part of the race however, the #62 Willcom Vemac 350R third, one spot ahead of the #5 Promiu MACH 5B -1320R machine fourth. The joy was not to last for the specialty maker as the #62 car, after spinning at Dunlop Corner, cut back across the track, only to be broadsided by the #43 ARTA Garaiya. Clearly driver error on the part of Vemac pilot Shinsuke Shibahara, it was a bitter pill for the team that had been showing promise all weekend.

The mandatory driver switches began in earnest on lap 28, with the first of the frontrunners coming in, lead by Takeshi Tsuchiya in the #36 TEAM TOM'S entry. The #39 DENSO SARD SUPRA GT then spun at Dunlop corner on lap 30, Andre Couto quickly recovering without losing a position. When the red and white Supra came in for the driver switch a couple of laps later, disaster struck. In what could have been a video grab from the team's Round 2 pit misfortune in early May, the Toyota sat in the pits, stranded as the crew battled with an ill-handling air gun. The car lost a full 60 seconds while the team tried an alternate unit to change wheels on the right side of the car. The car would eventually return to the track, albeit in a lowly thirteenth place.

By the time the order had settled, it was the #32 NSX again leading the #38 Supra; with the #6 Esso Ultraflo Supra, #35 YMS Yellow Hat Supra, #8 ARTA NSX and #3 G'ZOX Hasemi Z car rounding out the top six.

Back in GT300, the Pole-winning #0 EBBRO M-TEC NSX was showing the others just how it's done, pulling out a 30 second advantage by the halfway-point of the event. The reigning category champion would go on to win by an even larger margin, ahead of the #11 Jim Gainer Ferrari Dunlop, itself edging out the #30 RECKLESS MR-S, the strongest of the Toyota contingent in GT300 all weekend. Next up, the strongest of the Nissan Fairlady Z entries, the #46 Dream Cube's ADVAN Z lead the similar #13 Endless ADVAN Z ahead of the #19 Weds Sports Celica in sixth.

Winners in GT500 the last time out, the #100 Raybrig NSX was feeling the weight of its success ballast and running well back when driver Sebastien Philippe was hit with a further blow - a drive-through penalty on lap 38 for passing the #913 Fields ADVAN Corvette C6 as it crawled into the pitlane. The penalty ruined any chance he and driver partner Jeremie Dufour had of scoring points this weekend.

By lap 40, double JGTC champion Erik Comas had moved the #3 G'ZOX Hasemi Z up to fourth place after a particularly smooth move on the #35 YMS Yellow Hat machine, fellow Japanese GT veteran Naoki Hattori now at the wheel. The previously strong #8 ARTA NSX was now showing signs of wear, slipping down the order in the latter stages.

Conversely, the #36 TOM'S Supras was steadily moving up. Points-leader James Courtney now at the wheel, the Australian charger had moved from 11th at the driver switch to eighth by lap 48. He would move up two more spots within the next ten laps, and then snag another pair of positions with just two laps to go. His finishing result means that his lead in the driver's standings (51 points) is not only secure, it has grown from five to eight points over today's winner, the #38 Zent Cerumo Supra.

Both of the factory-backed Nissan Fairlady Z entries had uneventful runs to 9th and 10th at the flag, providing the smallest of points-payoffs for the team's efforts. Further back, the #12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z ended the day thirteenth, a spot the blue machine had run at or below for most of the afternoon. Apart from the #3 G'ZOX machine, the lack of pace of the Nissans is in stark contrast to the dominance the manufacturer had enjoyed for so long in the series.

At the front of the field, the longest battle for position on the TV monitors was clearly between the #32 EPSON NSX and the chasing #38 Zent Cerumo Supra. For close on 15 laps, Yuji Tachikawa could not, try as he might, get past the Honda in front. It finally happened only two tours from the flag with a daring move that stuck after the red Toyota got beside Tsugio Matsuda in the EPSON NSX on the main straight. The pair ran side-by-side down to the Coca Cola corner where the Supra got by for good. By the flag, the Toyota was over one second clear and took its second victory at the circuit this season.


Yuji Tachikawa - #38 Zent Cerumo Supra / GT500 Winner
"That was tiring! Without that effort however, we couldn't have fully enjoyed this victory. This will take time to sink in! It was really difficult to get by the NSX, and try as I might, I just couldn't make the move stick at the end of the straight.
When the rain fell lightly, I just waited for the car in front to make a mistake. That didn't happen, so I had to get by no matter how hard it was.
Therefore, I'm extremely pleased with this win. It was hard-fought, and the team really deserves this victory. They gave us a fantastic car today, and this has re-ignited our hopes for the championship after taking no points last time out."

Andre Lotterer - #32 EPSON NSX / GT500 2nd
"My race was fine, no problems. In the middle of the stint, the tires got a little greasy which allowed the Zent car to come back, but then after that it got better. It got more consistent and I was able to pull away. And then at the pitstop we had no problems. Tsugio drove a really strong race, but Tachikawa was very strong, coming back lap-by-lap. He fought very hard but Toyota was too strong for us. It looked good all weekend, but they were stronger. I wanted to win so badly so I'm a little bit disappointed. The tires were very good. Initially I was pulling away quickly and then it got a little bit slippery; but then they came back so for me it was good."

Haruki Kurosawa - #0 EBBRO M-TEC NSX / GT300 Winner
"I was able to hand the car over to Hosokawa with a healthy margin, but he had to push hard for his stint too. In the second half, he built the gap over the pursuing cars, even though he overran occasionally. As for the #10 Ferrari, we knew they were on the same tires as us, tough they were running on soft rubber. With this knowledge, we knew where we stood throughout the race.
After dropping points at SUGO, we're very pleased to get things back on track here. We're pushing hard for the best possible result in the series."

The 2005 AUTOBACS SUPER GT next visits southern Japan as the series returns to Autopolis for Round 7 of eight-event season. The track is famous for its massive elevation change at over 50 meters; as well as the track surface itself. The event takes place in three weeks' time, on the October 14-16 weekend.