GT500

The race started at 14:00 hours. The sun began to shine thought the clouds from before noon. Shortly before the start some threatening clouds moved in but no rain fell. For the first time in the race weekend the track was completely dry. Just before the start the temperature was 23 degrees C. and the track surface temperature had climbed to 30 degrees.
Due to pre-start machine trouble, the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SUPRA(Manabu Orido) had to start from the pit, along with the No. 3 Yellow Hat YMS TOMICA Z(Naoki Yokomizo) and the No. 87 TRIKE JAPAN MURCIE RG-1(Koji Yamanishi)of the GT300 class.

After the start, the lead machines came through the first lap in their starting order with the pole position starter No. 1 ZENTCERUMO SC driven by Toranosuke Takagi in the lead. From that point, No. 1 and second place runner No. 32 EPSON NSX driven by Loic Duval began to pull away from the pack. Meanwhile, an intense battle for 3rd position began behind the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX driven by Sebastien Philippe. In the heat of that battle the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z driven by Benoit Treluyer swung wide to the outside on the third turn of lap 5 and spun out on the ensuing hairpin curve. This caused No. 12 to drop far back in the pack. On the 13th lap the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z driven by Tsugio Masuda passed No. 100 on the last curve to move into 3rd position. After that, No. 23 moved up gradually to the tail of No. 32.

On lap 34, No. 32 collided with the No. 7 Amemiya AsparaDrink RX7 of the GT300 class. This opened up a gap that allowed No. 23 to slip past into 2nd position. The collision resulted in a drive-through penalty for No. 32. On the next lap No. 1 made its pit stop and a change of drivers was made at this time from Takagi to Tachikawa. No. 23 pulled into the pit at the end of lap 37 and drivers changed from Matsuda to Satoshi Motoyama. Right in from of No. 23 was another car returning slowly to the pit that caused a slight time loss. Still, the No. 23 team's pit work was fast enough to get Motoyama out on the track in front of No. 1.

This began a close-fought battle between Motoyama in No. 23 and Tachikawa in the No.1 machine. The gap between the two would widen and close again as they came up behind slower cars, but when they had clear laps they both set new best-lap times as they battled for the lead. This continued several dozen laps.

The battle was finally decided on the last turn of the 72nd lap. No. 1 (Tachikawa) moved past No. 23 (Motoyama) on the inside at a moment when Motoyama had lost his acceleration timing behind a GT300 machine he was trying to lap. After making a clean pass, Tachikawa went on to open up a quickly widening gap over Motoyama.

The checkered was waved at the end of lap 81. The winner was No. 1 ZENT CERUMO SC(Yuji Tachikawa/Toranosuke Takagi). As defending champions, this team had been plagued with trouble this season and unable to win points like they wanted, but with this race they finally got their first win of the season. Second place went to No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z(Satoshi Motoyama/Tsugio Matsuda).

The 3rd place finisher was the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z(Michael Krumm>Richard Lyons). Having started from 5th position and dropped to 6th at one point, this team had gained time with quick pit work and fast in-lap/out-lap driving. In the closing stages of the race it looked like the No. 36 OPEN INTERFACE TOM'S SC430(Andre Lotterer>Juichi Wakisaka) might take 3rd, but Lyons in the No. 22 machine ran a fast pace and Wakisaka in No.36 was unable to pull off one of his patented come-from-behind moves. Finishing 5th was No. 32 EPSON NSX(Loic Duval>Hideki Mutoh), which surely would have been among the leaders had it not been for the drive-through penalty resulting from the collision in the early stages of the race. Still, they managed to finish first among the NSX machines. The ranking leaders, No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman>Daisuke Ito) finished 8th. No.18 TAKATA Dome NSX(Ryo Michigame>Takashi Kogure) suffered electrical system problems that resulted in a long pit stop that caused them to fail to complete the prescribed number of laps, but Kogure was still able to record the fastest lap in the closing stages of the race. This gave the team a valuable three points.

GT300

A finish that will go down in GT history! Top four finish within 0.7 sec.
Kiccho housan DIREZZA Z wins a race to the wire
ENDLESS ADVAN CCI Z falls short by a hair

The GT300 class race was one breathtaking scene after another right from the early stages of the race. On the third lap, the spectators held their breath as three machines, the No. 88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1 (Marco Apicella), the No. 96 EBBRO BTEC MAZIORA 350R(Tsubasa Kurosawa) and the No. 46 Kiccho housan DIREZZA Z(Kota Sasaki), raced into the first curve side by side. It was No. 46 that came through that turn in the lead. On lap 13, No. 96 collided with No. 11 JIM CENTER FERRARI DUNLOP (Tetsuya Tanaka) moving up from behind, causing them to lose ground. The result was a penalty on No. 11. After that, No. 88 would drop back even more. The sixth place starter, No.14 HANKOOK ENDLESS PORSCH (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita) spun out on the first curve of the 5th lap and ended up stuck in the dirt on the inside of the curve, unable to restart and return to the race. Meanwhile, No. 46 was running strongly in the lead. In second place came the No. 13 ENDLESS ADVAN CCI Z driven by Masami Kageyama and in third position came the No. 47 Kiccho housan DIREZZA Z driven by Hironobu Masuda, giving the Fairlady Z machines a sweep of the top three positions at one point.

After the routine pit stops, No. 46(Sasaki>Taku Banba) was still in the lead followed by No. 13(Kageyama>Tomonobu Fujii) in second position. Moving past No. 47 (Yasuda>Masaoki Nagashima), which was having trouble maintaining a good pace because of the timing of its encounters with GT500 machines, came the No. 27 direxiv ADVAN 320R (Nobuteru Taniguchi>Shogo Mitsuyama) to claim 3rd place. Driving at an even faster pace, however, was No. 2 Privee Zurich Apple Shinden (Kazuho Takahashi>Hiroki Kato). In the early stages of the race No. 2 had lost position considerably, but after the driver change Kato was able to regain ground rapidly. Kato eventually went past No. 27 into 3rd position. In the latter stages of the race as the lead car, No. 46, slowed down somewhat, No. 13 in second and No. 2 in third place closed the gap quickly from behind. On the last lap, these three ran tail-to-nose right down to the last curve. Coming out of the curve onto the final straight, the three machines pulled side-by-side in the race to the finish line. In the end, No. 46 was able to hold on to its lead by a hair's breadth, with No. 13 trailing by just 0.401 sec. and No. 2 another 0.034 sec. back in 3rd place. A mere 0.35 behind No. 2 in 4th place came No.27, making this an unforgettable dead heat rarely seen in the history of GT racing. Just 0.785 sec. separated the 1st and 4th place finishers.

Comments

GT500 Class Winner

No.1 ZENT CERUMO SC

Yuji Tachikawa

I am very happy. I finally got a win [this season]. Motoyama (XANAVI) was very fast out there. I was looking for a chance to pass him while he was caught behind some slower machines. Since we had been unable to win [from the PP] in round 3 at Fuji Speedway, we was out for revenge today, with everyone from the team, Toyota and TRD working together to make sure we won. So I'm very pleased that I was able to get the win. Now we have a chance to go for the championship. I want to go out and make it two [championships] in a row.

Toranosuke Takagi

Before the start I promised Tachikawa that I was going to get him a ten-second lead, but I was pushing so hard that I made a mistake and damaged the tires (embarrassed laugh). So, I was having trouble during the second half of my drive because of the tires. Anyway, I'm so relieved that we won. Last year we didn't do well in races where we had a handicap, so the key [to winning the title] will probably be whether we can get results in races like this.

GT300 Class Winner

No.46 Kiccho houzan DIREZZA Z

Kota Sasaki

I feel that this victory was a long time in coming. I'm very relieved. The machine was running well yesterday, and I knew why things hadn't gone as well as they should have. So I was confident today. I am also sure that the machine has the durability we need for the next 1,000-km race. So, I hope to go out and make it two in a row.

Taku Bamba

I am happy but I also have some regrets (embarrassed laugh). It was Kota who won it for us today. I got to anxious and made a mistake (got trapped behind slower cars) when I was trying to get out of the way of Tachikawa(the GT500 leader). But with this win we now have a chance for the title as a team. I want to continue to win but also to improve myself [as a driver] from here on.