GT500

The race started at 14:00. The cars moved into formation on the starting grid under the same soft spring sunlight filtering through the thin layer of clouds that had hung high in the sky since morning. At starting time the air temperature was 18 degrees C. and the track temperature was 25 degrees. There would be almost no change in these temperatures right down to the final lap.

At the first corner after the start, the brakes of No.66 triple a SARD SUPRA GT(Andre Couto)locked and the car spun out. It appeared that there was a light collision with No.35 BANDAI DIREZZA SC430(Peter Dumbreck) at that moment. No.23 XANAVI NISMO Z(Satoshi Motoyama)was also drawn into the confusion, causing all three machines a big time loss. The damaged No. 23 and No.66 cars tried to return to the race, but the Orange Disk Flag came out and they were forced to return to the pit. No.35 SC430 was given a 10-second penalty stop. Later, perhaps as a result of the initial collision, No.23 Z would pull off to trackside on the 16th lap and retire from the race.

On the last corner of lap 17, No.32 EPSON NSX(Hideki Muto)spun and hit the course-side barrier while running in 6th position. Muto returned to the pit but the damage was so extensive that he had to retire from the race at that point. For a while before the spin, Muto had been under pressure from No.22 MOTUL AUTECH Z(Michael Krumm)and No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z(Benoit Treluyer)riding on his tail. It was surely in the struggle to hold his position that Muto spun out.

Meanwhile, the leading No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX(Ryo Michigami) and second place No.100 RAYBRIG NSX (Sebastien Philippe) were beginning to widen the gap on the rest of the competition. In 4th position was No.1 ZENT CERUMO SC(Toranosuke Takagi). Takagi had lost some ground in the confusion at the start, but he had been able to move in position up due to the No.32 car's spin-out and the time penalty placed on No .8 ARTA NSX(Ralph Firman).

Among the leaders, No.1 SC was the first to make its routine pit stop at the end of lap 31. Yuji Tachikawa took over as driver and returned to the course. Running in 3rd position, No.3 Yellow Hat YMS TOMICA Z made its pit stop on the 34th lap and Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira took over from Yokomizo. It was on the 38th lap that the leading No.18 NSZ and 2nd position No.100 NSX pulled into the pit and changed drivers, with Takashi Kogure taking over for Michigami and Shinya Hosokawa replacing Philippe. They returned to the course in 4th and 5th positions. On lap 41, No.100 NSX changed positions with No.1 SC. On lap 42 No.1 SC passed No.3 car, which later spun out while under pressure from No.100. It seemed like there was some contact between the machines and it left No. 1 in third position as No. 100 moved up to 4th.

At this point, the No.12 Z that had been running in the lead made its pit stop. Kazuki Hoshino took over as driver and returned to the course in 5th position, only to be passed immediately by No.22 Z(Sakon Yamamoto)and later by No.3 on lap 50.

With Kogure now at the wheel, No.18 NSX continued to run at a fast pace, building up a more than 20-second gap over the 2nd place machine by lap 50. Furthermore, the 2nd place machine, No.1 SC, received a 10-second stop penalty (for passing in a yellow flag zone). This dropped No.1 back to 7th position. As a result, No.100 car moved into 2nd place, giving the NSX camp a 1-2 lead. Over the remaining 15 laps the two NSX machines held their positions all the way to the finish. The victory went to No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX(Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure). No.100 RAYBRIG NSX finished 2nd and No.22 Z finished 3rd.

The final stages of the race saw a heated battle between No.12 (Hoshino), No.8 (Daisuke Ito) and No.1 (Tachikawa). It was No.1 (Tachikawa) that pulled ahead to finish 5th as the top Toyota finisher.

GT300

The GT300 class race was able to start without getting wrapped up in the confusion of the GT500 start. The pole position starter No.46 Kicchouhouzan DIREZZA Z (Kota Sasaki)held the lead going though the first corner. In the early stages of the race it was the No.110 TOTALBENEFIT GREENTEC BOXSTER driven by Hideshi Matsuda that ran strongly from 4th position on the grid to move up to 2nd place by lap four. On lap six Matsuda went on to pass No.46 Z and take the lead. After that he continued to run strongly with a 2- to 5-second lead. Behind Matsuda there was intense racing going on as a pack including No.46, No.13 ENDLESS ADVAN CCI Z (Masami Kageyama), No.27 direxiv ADVAN 320R (Nobuteru Taniguchi) and No.11 JIM CENTER FERARRI DUNLOP(Tetsuya Tanaka)changed positions from time to time in their battle for 2nd.

It was eventually Taniguchi in No.27 car who emerged from the pack, moving into 3rd position on lap 38 and then passing No.27 (Taniguchi) and No.13 (Kageyama) to take the lead soon after No.110 BOXSTER made its pit stop on lap 37. The last of the top group to make its pit stop on lap 50 was No.27. Shogo Mitsuyama took over as driver only to have trouble getting the machine started leaving the pit. This delay brought Mitsuyama back on the course in a position where the 2nd place machine, No.110 BOXSTER(Ichijyo Suga), was right on his tail going into the first corner. Although his tires weren't warmed up yet, Mitsuyama was able to block Suga in machine No.110 skillfully enough to hold his position. And, although Suga drew up side by side with him for a moment on the straight, he was able to hold on and return to the main stand still in the lead.

As his tires warmed up and he was able to get full performance out of his No.27 car, Mitsuyama began to pull away from the rest of the competition and run on that way to the finish. This gave DIREXIV MOTORSPORT its first GT victory in only its second year of SUPER GT competition. Emerging from an intense battle with No.13 (Fujii) and No.110 (Suga) to finish 2nd was No.11 Ferrari (Aoki). Following in third for the second straight round was No.110.

Comments

GT500 Class Winner

No.18 TAKATA Dome NSX

Ryo Michigami

All weekend things had been going well, so I thought we could probably win and that is what we did�ABefore the race, we were talking with the other NSX drivers and saying that it would be great if we could get a 1-2 NSX finish. So I'm glad that eventually that is what happened. Last year we weren't able to race well, so everyone on the team agreed that we had to try get good results this year, and I personally did a lot of thinking about what I had to do. Things started getting better from the first round and I think that momentum led to today's result. I am very happy with it.

Takashi Kogure

I feel fantastic. Since I became a GT regular last year, Michigami has taught me a lot. It was very easy for me to run in the race today because of the great shape Michigami had the machine in after the first half of the race. I also want to thank the team for building such a good machine that has made it possible for Michigami and me to win.

GT300 Class Winner

No.27 direxiv ADVAN 320R

Shogo Mitsuyama

It inspired me to see Taniguchi run so long and so well today and I knew I had to live up to that by driving hard myself. At the driver change the starter wouldn't turnover at first. Then our team Director, Ms. Haga, shouted "Turn!" and that seemed to do the trick. Thanks to that, we only lost a little time. Once the tires got warmed up I was able to run confident and relaxed. I want to keep winning like this and go for the title.

Nobuteru Taniguchi

In the early stages of the race I was making myself hold back. I ran with the confidence that I could then start to push it in the second half of my run. The team and Vemac and the ADVAN tires were all great. This has been a fantastic day for me. I want to thank everyone.