Race Weather:Fine | Course:Dry

The race started at 14:00. The skies overhead were clear, but strong winds began to blow from around noon. At the time of the start, and the temperature was 27 degrees C. and the track surface temperature was 39 degrees.
During the formation lap the 2nd qualifier, the No.1 Houzan TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer) , came to a stop on the Dunlop Corner. This eliminated one of the leading contenders before the race even began. And, it marked only the beginning of what would turn out to be a race full of upsets and mishaps.
In the early stages of the race, the pole starter, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) , ran consistently at the front lap after lap. Behind it, the order of machines had changed dramatically from the starting order. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer) and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa) had succeeded in moving up, while the No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) and the No. 17 REAL NSX (Katsutomo Kanaishi) had lost position. At the end of the 10th lap the top three were No. 18, No. 12, and No. 38.
On the Dunlop Corner of lap 14, the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (Seiji Ara) collided with a GT300 class machine. No. 24 spun out and crashed, taking the No. 17 REAL NSX (Katsutomo Kanaishi) with it and forcing both cars out of the race.

No.22 MOTUL AUTECH Z
Among the top three, the No. 12 machine developed brake trouble after the 20th lap. It was passed by No. 38 as a result and would further lose much ground later in the race when it suffered a left front tire puncture. After these events the top three positions were held by No. 18, No. 38 and the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval). As the machines began to make their first pit stops, this order would change, but when all the cars had finished their pit stops, the top three had been able to maintain their positions. Behind them, however, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z was moving up at a fast pace, having changed drivers from Michael Krumm to Tsugio Matsuda. On lap 43 Matsuda passed No. 32 and on lap 48 he passed No. 38 (Tachikawa > Toranosuke Takagi). Having thus dropped back to 4th position, No. 32 suffered big damage in a collision with a back-lapper that spun out on the Netz Corner of lap 53. The drivers were not injured but a fire resulted. This brought out the red flag to stop the race temporarily. The cars were then lined up on the home straight in their race order by class and the race restarted after a rolling lap. Three machines went into the first curve side by side after the restart, resulting in a spin-out and big loss in position by No. 38. In connection with this, a penalty was placed on the No. 35 BANDAI DUNLOP SC430 (Peter Dumbreck) , which moved No. 22 and the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama > Richard Lyons) up into 2nd and 3rd positions behind No. 18 (Kogure > Ryo Michigami) in the lead.

No.6 Forum Eng. SC430
Despite having lost the 20-second lead it had built up before the red flag due to the stopping of the race, No. 18 continued to run fast laps and maintain its lead. But, on lap 67 that pace began to deteriorate. It was no longer developing top speed on the straights and its lap times had fallen to GT300 class levels. Trouble had developed in the transmission and, deciding that the machine would be unable to finish the race in this condition, the team called Michigami into the pit, where it took about a dozen minutes to exchange the transmission. Despite the fast work that made it possible for No. 18 to return to the race, any hopes of victory or even a strong point finish were now long gone.
With this, the lead was now owned by No. 22, but almost immediately after assuming the lead it was time for the second pit stop. On the next lap, No.23 also entered the pits running a close 2nd. Now it was a race between two machines of the same team and it was Motoyama in No. 23 who was able to take the lead and hold it after returning to the track slightly in front of Matsuda in No. 22. This new order saw No. 23 in the lead followed by No. 22 in 2nd position. Moving up behind them was the No. 6 Forum Eng. SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka > Bjorn Wirdheim) , which had steadily climbed from a 14th-position start. At one point the three lead machines were racing in a line head to tail, but gradually the gaps between them began to widen. That is how things stayed as the race entered the final stages.
After a long and grueling race of three and a half hours that had seen one upset after another, the final ten laps went by with no significant changes or trouble. Taking the checkered in 1st place for its first win of the season was the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z. In 2nd came the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z and in 3rd the No. 6 Forum Eng. SC430. Despite having dominated the top places in the qualifying, the best that the NSX teams could do was to place the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Dominik Schwager > Shinya Hosokawa) in 5th. For No. 23, this was the first win since round eight of last season at Autopolis. And this was the first 1-2 finish for the NISMO machines since the fourth round of the 2001 season at Fuji.

The early stages of the GT300 class racing saw the pole starter running in the lead followed by the No. 88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1 (Marco Apicella > Koji Yamanishi) , and the two Porsche machines No. 33 HANKOOK NSC PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita > Yuya Sakamoto) and No. 26 YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Shinichi Yamaji > Nobuteru Taniguchi). Chasing them was the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Niita > Shinichi Takagi). Making skillful use of the timing of their being passed by GT500 machines, Niita in No. 43 was able to eventually pass the two Porsche machines.

No.88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1
After that the Porsches were unable to pick up the pace and gradually lost ground. Moving up to replace them were the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R (Haruki Kurosawa > Shinsuke Shibahara) , the No.2 Priv_e KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi > Hiroki Katoh) and the No. 101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima > Hiroaki Ishiura). Of these, No. 62 was eventually forced to retire from the race due to damage sustained in a collision with another machine. No. 2 also fell back. Being unable to hold the fast pace.

No.101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S Meanwhile, the No. 43 and No. 101 teams on Michelin tires chose a single pit stop strategy. This allowed them to pass No. 88, with its inferior fuel economy, and the resulting time necessary for a second pit stop. This put No.43 in the lead. No. 101 lost time due to contact with the No. 7 RE AMEMIYA RX-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri > Ryo Orime) but was able to make it up due to the time lost by the competitors in their second pit stop. This made the order of the top three at the finish No. 43 in 1st, No. 88 in 2nd and No. 101 in 3rd.
Having taken a year off from racing last year, the victory for No. 43 ARTA Garaiya was its first since round three at Sepang two years ago. And, this win extended driver Morio Niita's record of most GT300 wins to 14.