Race Weather:Fine/Rain | Course:Dry/Wet | Air Temp. 33°C | Track Temp. 51°C

The race started at 13:00. The morning clouds had cleared completely and the air temperature had risen to 33 degrees C. before the start and the track temperature was a hot 51 degrees.

In the opening lap, there was a collision between No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama) and No. 35 BANDAI 00 DUNLOP SC430 (Peter Dumbreck). No. 35 suffered damage to its gearbox and had to retire from the race at that point. Through the early stages of the race No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa) was running fast and by lap eight it managed to catch and overtake the pole starter, No. 3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z (Sebastien Philippe) to take the lead. Behind them No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer) and No. 23, which had recovered from its first-lap collision, were recording fastest laps running on soft tires. But both of them began to lose grip rapidly after lap 17 and were forced to make early pit stops at lap 19. No. 23 changed tires, refueled and changed drivers (Satoshi Motoyama > Richard Lyons) and returned to the race, but No. 12 caught fire just as the refueling was finishing and suffered a big time loss in putting out the fire.


No.23 XANAVI NISMO Z The leader, No. 38 made its first pit stop on lap 25. It returned to the track with Toranosuke Takagi at the wheel but trouble with the left rear tire caused it to run off the course on lap 32. Takagi was forced to run for close to one lap on a flat tire and lose much ground before he was able to return to the pit. After that, the leaders made their pit stops one after another and there was some change in the order due to the difference in pit work time. As a result, No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman/Daisuke Ito) took the lad and the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya/Manabu Orido) moved into 2nd position. But Lyons in No. 23, which had made an early pit stop, was running faster at this point than the two leaders. On lap 36, No. 23 overtook the leaders and took the lead. On lap 51, the right rear tire of No. 25 burst, causing damage to rear fender and door panel. It was able to return to the pit but was forced to retire from the race at that point. No. 23 made its pit stop while this was happening and the No. 1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer > Juichi Wakisaka) , which had been running increasing fast laps, moved into 2nd place behind No. 8.


No.8 ARTA NSX The order of these top two machines didn't change through the teams' second and third pit stops, but things began to change after the 133rd lap. The rain that had begun to wet the west end of the course soon grew heavy and the drivers were struggling to keep their machines on the track. On lap 136 both the leader, No. 8 and the 2nd-place runner No.1 made pit stops to change to rain tires and also change drivers. They returned to the track with Firman and Lotterer now at the wheel.
In the meantime the other teams also changed to rain tires, but the rain was growing heavier too. On the 142nd lap the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) hydroplaned and lost control and crashed just before the first turn coming off the home straight.


As the race approached the 150th lap however, the rain stopped and the track began to dry. At this point No. 1 took the gamble of making a pit stop and changing to slick tires. On the next lap No. 8 also made a pit stop and changed to slicks, but this one lap delay would make all the difference. On its first lap back on the track, No. 8 was passed by No. 1 before its tires had a warmed up. Over the next ten laps, No. 1 managed to open up a lead of ten seconds, due partly to the fact that No. 8 got caught among back-lappers. At this point the race was decided.

The victory went to the No. 1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer). Despite being the defending champions, the No. 1 team had somehow failed to get things in gear and running smoothly until this, their first win of the season. In 2nd place came the No. 8 ARTA NSX (Daisuke Ito/Ralph Firman). Although they had missed the win, their 2nd-place finish was still an amazing feat, considering the fact that they carried a maximum load of handicap weights. In 3rd place came the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama/Richard Lyons). With this result, No. 8 stood atop the season ranking with 69 points, followed by No. 23 in 2nd place with 48 points and No. 100 in 3rd place. The winner of this race, No. 1 now stands tied with No. 38 at 4th position in the season ranking.

No.62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R
In the GT300 class, the class pole starter, No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Kato) ran out into the lead with the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Niita) giving chase. But No. 43 would collide with a GT500 class machine and lose ground as a result. Taking up the chase in 2nd position after that was the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Haruki Kurosawa). Behind No. 62 came the No. 26 YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi) until engine trouble forced it out of the race. Meanwhile, the No. 7 RE AMEMIYA ADVAN RX-7 (Hiroyuki Irii > Ryo Orime) was moving up steadily through the field and into 2nd position at one point.

As the leader, No. 2, changed drivers (Kato > Hiroki Yoshimoto), it continued to maintain its position into the middle stages of the race. At mid-race No. 2 led with No. 62 and No. 7 filling out the top three. They held those positions until rain began to fall, bringing with it some major developments in the race. The first to drop from the top three was No. 7. Rain got into its engine compartment and caused trouble in the electric equipment, which slowed it down. It struggled back to the pit and managed to fix the problem, but by this time it had suffered a major time loss.


No.43 ARTA Garaiya
As for No. 2, it had been through two driver changes, from Yoshimoto to Kato and then back to Yoshimoto, and when Yoshimoto returned to the pit to change to rain tires, the wheel was given to Kazuho Takahashi. Through the heaviest of the rain, Takahashi kept good control of the machine and maintained the team's position until the rain stopped on lap 150 and he turned the wheel over to Kato for the final stint.
Having changed to heavy rain tires, No. 62 was able to give chase until the rain let up and the track began to dry and take its advantage away. While this was happening, No. 43 began to recover the ground it had lost earlier. It passed No. 62 into 2nd position and was able to maintain that place running on rain tires even after the rain let up and No. 62 had changed to slick tires again.

The class victory went to the No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Kato/Hiroki Yoshimoto). In 2nd place came the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Niita/Shinichi Takagi) and 3rd place went to the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Shinsuke Shibahara/ Haruki Kurosawa). Prior to this race, the No. 101 TOYSTORY apr MR-S had a big lead in the series ranking over No.2, but this result narrowed the gap to just one point.