GT500

The race's formation lap began at 13:45 under clear skies. At the time of the start the air temperature was 21 degrees C. and the track temperature 31 C.

The line of 15 GT500 machines and 26 GT300 machines finished the formation lap and returned to the start line, but before the start the No. 66 triple a SARD SUPRA GT(Andre Couto)pulled into the pit due to alternator problems. The other machines, led by the No.1 ZENT CERUMO SC(Yuji Tachikawa)in the pole position, all started from their original grid positions. The start went smoothly and all the machines went through the first lap without mishap. In the 4th lap, however, the No.1 car suddenly slowed down. It returned to the pit and the left rear wheel was changed, but after another lap it was forced to return to the pit once again and enter the garage for repair work that took a long time. This left the No.35 BANDAI DIREZZA SC430 driven by Peter Dumbreck in the lead. In second position was No.36 OPEN INTERFACE TOM'S SC430(Andre Lotterer) and in third the No. 32 EPSON NAKAJIMA NSX(Loic Duval).

In the meantime, Erik Comas in the No.24 WOODONE ADVAN KONDO Z machine and Akira Iida in the No. 6 Mobil 1 SC were working their way up through the pack aggressively from the 12th and 14th grid positions respectively. Still in the early stages of the race they had succeeded in climbing to 4th and 5th positions. On the first turnoff the 16th lap No.24 Z passed No.32 NSX to take 3rd position. No.6 SC also went past No.32 car later on lap 26. Unable to pick up the pace, No.32 pulled in for a pit stop on lap 30. Changes in the top order began to take place as the first third of the race was ending, with No.36 making its first pit stop at the end of lap 32 and No.6 at the end of lap 38.

While running in the lead, No.35 made its first pit stop at the end of lap 39. After a driver change(Dumbreck>Naoki Hattori)and the other pit work, it returned to the race in 2nd position, having been overtaken by No.36 SC. This was because No.36 had saved time by not making its driver change at the first pit stop in order to reduce pit work time. This make the top three No.36(Lotterer), No.35(Hattori)and No.6(Tatsuya Kataoka)in that order.

The No.24 machine had completed its routine pit work and returned to the track only to find that the front right wheel was not properly mounted, thus requiring it to return to the pit and lose all it had gained in the early running.

The gap gradually narrowed between the leader, No.36, and second place, No.35. At the end of lap 60 that gap was down to 0.3sec. Perhaps it was this pressure that cause No. 36 to collide with a car it was lapping on the "Panasonic corner" of lap 67, forcing it to return to the pit with a burst left rear tire. This pit stop was used to change drivers (Lotterer>Juichi Wakisaka) and do the other routine pit work and return to the race.

Seeming to take their signal from this, the other leading machines also began to make their second pit stops. Hattori was still at the wheel of the No.35 car on lap 72. No.6 led the race to lap 75 before changing drivers to Iida again. At this point No.35 was the effective leader, followed by No.36. A little farther back, No. 6 followed in third position. When No.36 was given a drive-trough penalty for a pit work violation, No.6 was able to close the gap and finally pass it on lap 101. This put the three SC430 machines in the top three positions in the order of No.35, No.6, No.36. It looked for a while like that was how the race would end, but in the final lap at 35-second penalty was slapped on No.36., when it was decided that its collision on lap 67 had been the result of a dangerous move.

This moved the No.23 XANAVI NISMO Z(Satoshi Motoyama/Tsugio Matsuda) into third place. This was a gratifying finish for No.23 car, which worked up steadily through the competition after having been force to start from the back of the grid due to an engine change made necessary by trouble that occurred in the morning practice session.

The No.35 BANDAI DIREZZA SC430(Naoki Hattori/Peter Dumbreck) took the checkered in first place at the end of lap 110 to win the race. This was the first GT500 victory for TOYOTA TEAM KRAFT and the first win for Hattori since the last round of the 1996 season at Mine. It was also the first victory for a car running on Dunlop tires since the last round of the 1997 season at Suzuka. Second place went to No. 6 Mobil 1 SC(Akira Iida/Tatsuya Kataoka) and third to No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z(Tetsu Motoyama/Tsugio Matsuda).

GT300

In the GT300 class there was a collision on the first turn between the pole starter, No.2 Priv_e Zurich APPLE Shiden driven by Kazuho Takahashi, and No. 110 TOTALBENEFIT GREENTEC BOXSTER driven by Ichijo Suga. No.2 was also lost ground due to a drive-trough penalty for using non-regulation tires. This gave the lead to the No.26 TOMO TAISAN ENDLESS GT3R machine driven by Shinichi Yamaji. Following in second position was the No.14 HANKOOK ENDLESS PORSCHE driven by Mitsuhiro Kinoshita. After changing drivers to Kazuyuki Nishizawa at the first pit stop, however, No. 26 began to slow and lose position. Taking over the lead was No.14. But, after changing drivers to Kyosuke Mineo, it also lost ground and was eventually passed on lap 65 by No.46 Kiccho houzan DIREZZA Z(Kota Sasaki/Taku Bamba). Running in the lead on lap 69, No.46 collided with No.7 AMEMIYA ASPARADRINK RX7(Tetsuya Yamano/Hiroyuki Iiri). Meanwhile, the No.62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Shinsuke Shibahara/Hiroyuki Yagi), which had shifted its pit timing compared to the other car, was able to take the lead. Then, thanks to time save by making only one pit stop, No.101 TOY STORY Racing MR-S(Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi)was able to take over 2nd position. Following in 3rd was No.11 JIM CENTER FERRARIDUNLOP (Tetsuya Tanaka/Takayuki Aoki), but shift mechanism trouble in the later stages of the race forced an unexpected pit stop that allowed No.14 to reclaim 3rd.

The victory thus went to No. 62 VEMAC(Shinsuke Shibahara/Hiroyuki Yagi). Second place went to No.101 MR-S(Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) and third to No.14 Porsche(Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Kyosuke Mineo). The Hankook tires used by No.14 are in their first year of GT competition, and this result gave them a podium finish in only their third GT race.

Comments

GT500 Class Winner

No.35 BANDAI DIREZZA SC430

Naoki Hattori

In the past two rounds, we'd been the last of the SC430s. Where so much had been going wrong, we were finally able to find some direction, and there were some things that we tried for the first time today. I'm grateful for our tires, and for the team staff members. When I switched off with Peter, there was a gap (between the first two places and the rest), and I focused only on using this to my advantage. I went all the way into the final lap thinking to myself "I'm going to win." I'm really glad we did.

Peter Dumbreck

For me I was a little bit nervous coming into this race because my last race at Okayama was not so good. I made a bad start and... So I had to be careful in this race. The start went really well. I followed Tachikawa for a lap and a half then he pulled over so I took the lead. Then from there I just had to be careful with yellow flags, not any overtaking any GT300 cars with yellow flags. I had good stint. I was relaxed and I think my time was good. So I have to say a beg thank you to Dunlop and also to Toyota Team Kraft. I don't know when you won the last race so...It been a while since I've won a race and I think its the same for Hattori, we are both very happy to be here.

GT300 Class Winner

No.62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R

Shisuke Shibahara

As far as myself, I went through a lot at last year's Fuji (collision with another vehicle), so I would like to express my gratitude towards my team and sponsors for allowing me to race again this year. With all of this, Fuji made me quite nervous, but Yokohama Rubber supplied us with new tires that went well with the machine, and Mr. Yagi put us in a good position as well. After we switched, I timed my pit-in, and I think this went very well.

Hiroyuki Yagi

I think we were able to come together as a team for a very good race. The team worked on the machine until late at night, and I wanted to repay them, so I tried hard this weekend.