Race Weather:Rain | Course:Wet | Air Temp. 22°C | Track Temp. 25°C

The race started at just after 14:00. Before the start the weather was cloudy with the air temperature at the start was 22°C. and the track surface temp. was 25°C., but rain began to fall when all the cars had returned to the dummy grid after the warm-up run. The rain wasn't heavy at first but it was enough to spread a film of water across the track and all the teams with the exception of a few in the GT300 class changed to wet tires on the grid.
This led to trouble for the No. 6 Forum Eng. SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka) when the right front brake caliper was found to be scraping the inside of the wheel. What's more, the machine also developed clutch trouble. The car was pushed back to the pit to attempt repairs butte team ended up being unable to start the race.

No.1 houzan TOM'S SC430 Meanwhile, the cars on the grid were started behind the safety car (SC). The first six laps of the race were run that way. During this time, the No.24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) took the gamble of returning to the pit to switch to heavy rain tires.
It was on the 7th lap that the SC turned into the pit lane to signal the start of the real racing. The pole starting No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) pulled away to a 2.6-second lead over 2nd place by the end of that lap. The 2nd-place runner No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) and the rest of the top five grid starters remained in their starting order. Behind them, No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Toranosuke Takagi) had moved up to 6th position.
After that, a drive-through penalty was placed on No. 24. The gamble of returning to the pit to change tires had led to a reverse of fortunes when failing to stop for the red light at the end of the pit lane brought the penalty.

After lap 10, the pace of No. 18 began to slow as it encountered back-lappers. Trouble with its windshield wipers and resulting poor visibility made it impossible to pick up the pace. This allowed No. 8 to close the gap and on the next lap it slipped past No. 18 into the lead when it got caught behind a GT300 class machine in the SP Corner. Then No.32 also began to close in on No.18, but by this time the rain had stopped and as the lines through the curves began to dry, No. 32 was no longer able to keep pace.
Moving up from behind next was the No. 1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer). On lap 26, No. 32 almost ran off the track coming out of the number three corner and No. 1 was able to slip past into 3rd position. Behind them, the 7th-position No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama) led a string of six cars. Unable to pick up the pace, No. 23 was passed on lap 27 by the No.39 DENSO SARD SC430 (Andre Couto). On lap 31, No. 23 had no choice but to make an early pit stop. They made a driver change to Richard Lyons, changed to slick tires and refueled. However, while the track had begun to dry, the track temperature remained low and the slick tires would not warm up quickly. As a result, Lyons was unable to pick up the pace for several laps.

No.32 EPSON NSX During this time, No. 1 was charging hard after passing No. 32 and was closing in on the tail of No. 18 in 2nd position. The battle between these two continued for several laps and in the meantime the leading car, No. 8, made its pit stop on lap 40. Drivers were changed from Firman to Daisuke Ito, the tires changed to slicks and the car refueled. All the cars that made pit stops after this would also change to slick tires. The No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z had also made its pit stop on this same lap, but when Tsugio Matsuda, who had taken over the wheel from Michael Krumm spun out in the pit exit area. Unable to restart the car, he was forced to retire from the race at this point. But, his car was still blocking the pit exit area when No. 8 tried to return to the track after its pit stop. Ito was able to get around it, however, by running onto the in-side grass.
During this time, No. 1 had passed No. 18 and taken the lead. These two machines both made their pit stops at the end of lap 43. At the same time two GT300 machines ahead of them also turned into the pit lane and these four cars almost collided in the pit lane entrance. No. 1 (Juichi Wakisaka) and No.18 (Ryo Michigami) let the pit with No.1 in front of No.18. Both cars had to run slow laps until their tires warmed up. In the meantime, No.8 was closing in on them from behind, having finished its pit stop three laps earlier.

Excluding the other machine that had not yet made their pit stops, these three machines were not effectively in the lead and an intense battle would develop between them in the laps to come. Approaching the last curve of lap 46 when No.1 slowed slightly behind a back-lapper, No. 18 pulled up even with it on the inside as they entered the last curve. Coming out of the curve, No.8 also slipped in on the inside to bring all three machines in an even line three-abreast down the straight and into the 47th lap. Just before the first curve, No. 8 moved slightly ahead of No. 18 and they went into the curve in the order, No. 1, No. 8 and No. 18.
After that the three machines continued to open up leads and lose them again over the next 10 laps. Then, on lap 61 a drive-through penalty board came out for No. 1. It seems that when the four machines had come into near collision entering the pit together on lap 43, No. 1 had run over the white line.
Running this penalty on lap 63, No. 1 fell back to 5th position. This put No. 8 in the lead followed by No. 18 and, ten seconds back in 3rd position a third NSX machine, No. 32 (Fabio Carbone), gave the NSX a 1-2-3 sweep of the top positions.

No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX
After that there were several scenes where the No. 18 nosed in briefly on the in-side of No. 8 but their order remained unchanged to the checkered.
For No. 8 ARTA NSX (Daisuke Ito, Ralph Firman) this was their second win of the season, following the win in round two at Okayama. And it served to broaden their lead in the point ranking over their rivals.
The 2nd-place podium finish by No. 18 TAKATADOME NSX (Ryo Michigami, Takashi Kogure) finally ended their bad-luck streak that had included repeated no-finishes. For No.32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval, Fabio Carbone) this was their second 3rd-place finish of the season, following the series opener. Coming in 4th was the No. 3 Yellow Hat YMSMOBAHO! TOMICA Z (Sebastien Philippe, Masataka Yanagida) leading the Z machines. The No.1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka, Andre Lotterer) in 5th place was the top SC430 finisher. It was a regrettable finish due to the drive-through penalty.

In the GT300 class race, the 3rd-place qualifier, No. 13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z (Masami Kageyama), took the big gamble of starting the race with slick tires. This turned out to be a mistake that caused Kageyama to loose a lot of ground in the early stages of the race. Starting from 2nd position on the grid, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta) also had trouble warming its tires and fell to 4th position. This allowed the No. 46 houzan DUNLOP Z (Kota Sasaki) and the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Hiroki Kurosawa) to move up and give chase to the pole starter, the No. 2 Priv_e KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Kato).

Meanwhile, the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Tetsuya Yamano) was moving up at a blazing pace from its 15th -position start. While the competition struggled with the wet track surface, Yamano was able to take full advantage of his machine's 4-wheel drive to maintain a high pace. By lap nine he had moved up to 10th position and amidst the confusion among the leaders on lap ten he was able to jump up to 6th position. Then on lap 11 he moved into 4th place. By lap 14 he even managed to pass No. 62 and set himself up for a podium finish in 3rd place. On lap 20 the 2nd-place runner No. 46 damaged its right rear fender in a brush with another car, which brought out an orange flag. This put the Impreza in 2nd place. But its pace was now the same as the leader, No. 2. It looked as if it would be difficult to overtake the leader, but on the first curve of lap 39 Yamano made his move and took the lead.
On the next lap after taking the lead, No. 77 made its pit stop. They changed to slick tires and changed drivers to Takayuki Aoki. This set the team back in the field temporarily but they were back in the lead when all the other machines had finished their pit stops. With a nearly 10-second lead over the 2nd-place machine, it looked as if No. 77 was bound for victory, but several laps later Yamano was forced to make another pit stop. Having changed tires he returned to the track only to find that there was trouble in the hubs. Rather than risking a serious development, the decision was made to retire , thus ending what had been a brilliant charge and near victory.

No.33 HANKOOK NSC PORSCHE
Taking over the lead at this point was the No. 47 houzan DUNLOP Z (Shogo Mitsuyama > Shigekazu Wakisaka) . Although its charge had not been as impressive as that of No.77, No. 47 had also worked its way up steadily thought the pack from the early stages of the race, and aided to some degree by the troubles and accidents of other teams, was in position to vie for the lead by the middle stages of the race.
Behind No. 47 running second was No.62 (Shinsuke Shibahara). But running at an even faster pace was the No.19 WedsSport Celica (Akira Iida > Yuhi Sekiguchi). Driving in the first half of the race, Iida had improved the team's position, and after Sekiguchi took the wheel h had maintained a fast pace, even if he worried those around him with his bold moves that frequently had him on the verge of running off the track. On lap 62 Sekiguchi passed No. 62. After that he continued to pick up the pace and on the last curve of lap 72 he pulled up in the in-side of No.47 in a skillful move that gave him the lead. From there, Sekiguchi drove on unchallenged to the checkered.

No.47 houzan DUNLOP Z
The GT300 class victory went to the No.19 WedsSport Celica (Akira Iida, Yuhi Sekiguchi). The No.47 houzan DUNLOP Z (Shogo Mitsuyama, Shigekazu Wakisaka) finished 2nd. The battle for 3rd developed between the No.2 Priv_e KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi), No.62 and the No.33 HANKOOK NSC PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita, Yuya Sakamoto) , but when No. 2's pace slowed on the final lap and No. 62 got caught behind it, No.33 slipped past them to take the remaining podium spot by just 0.021 sec.
The series ranking leader No. 101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima, Hiroaki Ishiura) had a bad race this time, including running off the track once on the first lap out after its pit stop, and ended up in 15th place. This ended their streak of consecutive podium finishes since the season opener at four.