Race Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 18°C | Track Temp. 23°C

The race began at 14:00. At the start there was a heavy cloud cover The air temperature just before the start was 18 degrees C. and the track surface was 23 degrees.

Before the formation lap, as the cars were moving to the dummy grid, the engine of the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) caught fire and the machine was stopped in front of the pits. Due to this, the race's number two qualifier was out of the race before it even reached the starting line.
After the start, the leading machines came through the first lap in basically the same order as their original grid order led by the pole sitter, No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Toranosuke Takagi). Takagi in No. 38 set a very fast pace, opening up a 2-sec. gap over the second runner after one lap.
On lap three there was a collision between the No. 1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer) and the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Richard Lyons) as they battled for 9th position. No. 23 suffered damage to its left rear wheel and had to make an emergency pit stop.

No.39 DENSO SARD SC430 Meanwhile, the 10th position starter, the No. 39 DENSO SARD SC430 (Andre Couto) was working past the cars in front of it one by one. By lap 3 Couto was in 8th position, by lap 6 he had moved into 7th place and by lap 9 he was in 6th position. After that he continued to push hard, taking 5th position on lap 13and 4th on lap 18. Then on lap 20 he passed the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic DUVAL) as well, putting him in 3rd position.
Having chosen soft tires, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Michael Krumm) and No. 6 Forum Eng.SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka) began to slow after lap 20 due to tire wear. No. 6 made its pit stop at that point, with about one third of the race finished. After a tire change and changing drivers, it returned to the track with Bjorn Wirdheim at the wheel. After that, machines including the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Dominik Schwager > Shinya Hosokawa), No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure > Ryo Michigami), No. 3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z (Sebastien Philippe > Masataka Yanagida) and the No. 22 (Michael Krumm > Tsugio Matsuda), all made early pit stops.
The leader, No. 38, was planning to make its pit stop at the end of lap 30, but it was at that very time that the No. 66 triple a GALLARDO RG-3 (Muneyuki Kurihara) spun out on the hairpin turn and came to a stop on the track. Unable to avoid it, No. 38 crashed into No. 66. Immediately after that, the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) and the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer) also collided with it in the midst of their hard chase. All four of these machines would have to retire from the race at this point. The original spin by No. 66 was caused by trouble in its drive train, and because it was a blind corner, the other machines were unable to avoid colliding with it. It was truly a frustrating crash for the leader, No. 38, considering the strong lead it had maintained until that point in the race.

No.100 RAYBRIG NSX This accident put car No. 8 in the lead and it stayed there after making its pit stop two laps later and changing drivers to Daisuke Ito. Running in 2nd position at this point was No. 100. Following in 3rd position was No. 23, but since it had not yet made its pit stop to change drivers and, on top of that, it was given a drive-through penalty for passing another car while the yellow flag was out, causing it to drop far back in position. After changing drivers to Satoshi Motoyama, the machine developed a drive train problem that forced him to return to the pit and eventually drop out of the race at that point. At this point in the race, the 4th position runner, No. 6 made a second pit stop to change tires. This moved No. 39 (Andre Couto > Katsuyuki Hiranaka) back into 3rd position.
With this, the leading order was No. 8 in 1st followed by No. 100 and No. 39. At one point the gap between No. 8 and No. 100 was down to less than one second, but since No. 100 had made its pit stop earlier, its tires began to wear down before those of No. 8 and that stopped it from catching up any more. With this advantage, No. 8 began to stretch out its lead and run on unchallenged to the checkered at the end of lap 65.
This gave the No. 8 ARTA NSX and its drivers Daisuke Ito and Ralph Firman their third win of the season. With the season ranking's 2nd position team, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure) finishing 5th in this race and the 3rd ranked No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda) finishing 4th, this win clinched the Drivers Title for Ito and Firman.

No.46 houzan DUNLOP Z
In the early stages of the GT300 class race the class pole sitter, the No. 46 houzan DUNLOP Z (Kota Sasaki) pulled away in the lead to be chased by 2nd-place qualifier, the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Haruki Kurosawa). Following in 3rd position was the No. 13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z (Masami Kageyama), which had passed No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh). Behind them came the No. 19 WedsSport Celica (Akira Iida) and the No. 7 RE AMEMIYA ADVAN RX-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri) battling hard for fifth position. After a nip and tuck battle that lasted for more than ten laps, the two cars brushed each other wile running side-by-side on lap 21, sending both of them into a half spin. This drew in the No. 4 EBBRO 350R (Tetsuya Tanaka), causing damage to its left side. As a result of this collision, No. 7 developed trouble in its drive train and both machines would eventually retire from the race.

No.13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z
The top three machines all made their pit stops n lap 30, followed by No. 13 (Masami Kageyama > Tomonobu Fujii) on lap 34, No.46 (Kota Sasaki > Naoki Yokomizo) and No. 62 (Haruki Kurosawa > Shinsuke Shibahara) on lap 35. When the three returned to the track No. 62 was in the lead with No. 46 in 2nd and No. 13 in 3rd position. At one point the gap between the leader, No. 62 and the 2nd place No. 46 was down to just over one second until No. 46 collided with a GT500 machine and the gap widened to 7 seconds. Running easier with that buffer, No. 62 was able to keep that lead to the finish.
For No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Shinsuke Shibahara/Haruki Kurosawa) it was the first win of the season. The win moved them up to third place in the season ranking. Filling out the podium for this race were the No. 46 houzan DUNLOP Z (Kota Sasaki/Naoki Yokomizo) in 2nd place and the No. 13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z (Masami Kageyama/Tomonobu Fujii) in 3rd.

The leader in the season ranking, No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi／Hiroki Katoh) , was running in 7th position after the driver change from Katoh to Takahashi, but a drive through penalty for passing another machine while the yellow flag was out dropped them to 10th place. The 2nd place stander in the season ranking, No. 101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima/Hiroaki Ishiura), finished 9th and the 3rd ranked No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi), finished 5th to stay in the competition for the title. This means that eight drivers from four teams, No. 2, No. 101, No. 62 and No. 43, all have a chance to win the title in the final round of the season.