Qualifying Session 1

EPSON NSX and Kiccho houzan DIREZZA Z perform well on Dunlop tires
The first qualifying session started at 11:00 a.m. The rain that had been falling from the day before continued through the morning. The first 20 minutes of the session was for the GT300 class. A red flag came out when the No. 77 CUSCO SUBARU ADVAN IMPREZA ran off the track about five minutes into the session, stopping the session temporarily. While preparations were being made to restart the session a fog set in that caused another 20-minute delay before the session could be started again. Once the timed laps resumed, it was Kota Sasaki in the No. 46 Kiccho houzan DIREZZA Z who took the initial lead with a lap time that dipped under the 1 min. 34 sec. barrier. Sasaki went on to better that with a 1 min. 32.828 sec. lap that put him well ahead of the competition. Following him in 2nd and 3rd positions with times in the low 1 min. 33 sec. range were Tetsuya Tanaka in the.11 JIM CENTER FERRARI DUNLOP and Takuya Kurosawa driving the No. 96 EBBRO BTEC MAZZIORA 350R. After that, the No. 96 machine went off the track and the red flag came out to stop the session for the second time. As the GT300 class' 20 minutes ran out and the GT500 class machines started to come out on the track, a couple more GT300 machines ran off the track and the red flag came out for the third time.

When the track was finally clear for the GT500 class to start their exclusive session there only 18 minutes left on the clock. The fastest three machines during the first ten minutes of the session were the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z driven by Benoit Treluyer, the No.3 Yellow Hat YMS TOMICA Z driven by Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira and the No. 32 EPSON NSX driven by Loic Duval. After the No. 3 machine's driver change, however, the second driver, Naoki Yokomizo, crashed and badly damaged the left side of the machine. Once again the red flag was brought out to stop the session. After restarting, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z driven by Michael Krumm recorded the 4th fastest time with five minutes remaining in the GT500 session. During the ensuing 20-minute mixed session for both classes the rain let up and the track condition began to improve. With this, teams from both classes intensified their attempts to record fast laps. In the heat of these efforts, Shinya Hosokawa in the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX ran off the track, bringing out the fifth red flag of the day and stopping the session.

Once restarted, the intensity of the time attacks increased, despite this being a mixed session with both classes out on the track. The competition was especially intense around the 10th place cut-off line for the afternoon Super Lap and there were frequent changes in position around 10th position. With two minutes remaining before the end of the session and the drivers pushing to get in one last qualifying time, another group of cars ran off the track to bring out yet another red flag and effectively end the morning session.

As a result, the top qualifier in the GT500 class was No. 32 EPSON NSX with a time of 1 min. 24.836 sec. Among the SC430 machines, No. 1 ZENT Cerumo SC sat in 3rd position, followed by No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z. Despite a 5th place time, the No. 3 Yellow Hat YMS TOMICA Z team's Yokomizo was unable to record a qualifying time, so the 11th place No. 6 Mobil 1 SC qualified instead for the Super Lap.

In the GT300 class, the No. 46 Kiccho houzan DIREZZA Z was the fastest qualifier at 1 min. 32.828 sec. and all of the top four teams were ones using Dunlop tires. Another noteworthy development was the debut of the new machine No. 77 CUSCO SUBARU ADVAN IMPREZA, which managed to qualify among the top ten for the Super Lap.

Qualifying Session 2

Tire choice the deciding factor in the Super Lap
Due in part to the delays (red flags) in the morning sessions, the afternoon qualifying session got a late start at 14:50 hours. The first 15 minutes were exclusively for the GT300 class and the next 15 for the GT500 class. All the teams used this time to work on their final settings. Once again, several machines ran off the track and the session had to be stopped twice for short intervals. One of the accidents involved the morning's top finisher in the GT500 class, No. 32 EPSON NSX. There was damage to the car's rear bumper but they were able to make repairs in time to compete in the Super Lap as scheduled. Also, the 10th qualifier in the GT300 class, the No. 77 CUSCO SUBARU ADVAN IMPREZA developed drive train trouble at the end of the first session. Efforts were made to repair it but the problem could not be fixed in time for the Super Lap. Meanwhile, the rain had turned into a fine misty drizzle and the track began to dry in some sections, making for very complex conditions. This led some teams to choose slick tires for the Super Lap while others stuck with rain tires.

The Super Lap began with the GT300. This first machine to run, the No. 88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1 driven by Marco Apicella, recorded a 1 min. 28.040 sec. lap on slick tires. The third runner, the No. 2 Priv_e Zurich Apple Shiden driven by Hiroki Kato, ran a 1 min. 28.161 sec. lap also on slicks. In contrast, second runner No. 47 Kiccho Houzan DIREZZA Z (Hironobu Yasuda) fourth runner No. 777 Ryozanpaku apr MR-S (Minoru Tanaka) and fifth runner No. 101 TOY STORY Racing MR-S (Morio Nitta) all failed to break the 1 min. 32 sec. barrier on rain tires. Seeing this difference, the runners of the second half of the Super Lap all decided to run on slick tires. However, it seemed to be a day for the Yokohama tire teams, with none of the Dunlop teams able to beat the times of No. 88 and No. 2. As a result, the class pole position went to No. 88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1. This is the team that won the season opener but it will be their first pole position.

In the following GT500 class Super Lap, the first runner, the No. 6 Mobil 1 SC driven by Akira Iida ran a 1 min. 24.506 sec. lap on slick tires. But the second runner, No. 18 TAKATA Dome NSX (Takashi Kogure) ran off course on slick tires during its warm-up lap. Seeing this, the following No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama) , No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer) both chose rain tires. All the other teams also chose rain tires and this seemed to be the right choice for the higher powered GT500 class, as they continued to run times faster than No. 6. Of the two Fairlady Z machines that ran on slick tires, No. 23 recorded a 1 min. 23.605 sec. time to qualify fourth but the No. 12 machine spun out on the last corner.

Of the machines that ran on rain tires, the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO SC (Yuji Tachikawa) was by far the fastest. Tachikawa ran the first section faster than any of the competition and continued to widen the gap over the second half of the course. His 1 min. 21.823 time was more than a second faster than the 2nd-place time. This gave Tachikawa his second pole position of the season and 12th of his Super GT career, extending his own record for most PPs ever by a driver. Qualifying 2nd was No. 32 EPSON NSX, the top qualifier in the morning session, and in 3rd position was fellow NSX team No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX. Qualifying fastest of the Fairlady Z machines was No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z in 4th position.

T.Takagi, Y.Tachikawa, M.Apicella, Y.Hinoi

GT500 Class Pole Position

No.1 ZENT CERUMO SC

Yuji Tachikawa

I wasn't thinking about winning the pole position. I was just completely absorbed in my driving, so when the time turned out to be that fast it surprised me. When the last corner is wet it can really affect your times, so I went out on the course with wet tires. I am happy to have gotten the record for most pole positions, but the most important thing right now is tomorrow's race. I had the pole position in round 3, too, but machine trouble eventually ended my race before it even began. I'm out for revenge this time.

GT300 Class Pole Position

No.88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1

Marco Apicella

I never thought I was going to win the pole position. The conditions out on the track today were changing so quickly that there was no time to think about anything else. It was difficult to decide on the tires, but I finally decided to go with.