Nissan Z Makes Remarkable Third Victory
JGTC Rd.6 JAPAN GT in KYUSHU 300km Race Report
Autopolis (Oita, Japan) - October 30-31, 2004
All Japan GT Championship (JGTC) Round 6 was held at AUTO POLIS in Oita prefecture (4.674km/lap) from October 30 to 31, and Xanavi NISMO Z (#1) started from 3rd place in grid to overcome the fierce battle and finish the race by a lead and win the second race this season. Both Satoshi Motoyama and Richard Lyons became the top contestant in the driver's championship, giving them good advantage for the final round. This makes third victory for Nissan Z -- round 1 and 6 for #1, and round 4 for #22 (Motul Pitwork Z).
49,500 spectators gathered from all over Kyushu island as the formation lap started from 2:00pm. Formation lap was held for 3 laps irregularly, as it was considered "formation incomplete." Thus, the race distance of 65 laps was shortened to 63.
Xanavi NISMO Z (#1) started from 3rd grid made a good start by Satoshi Motoyama. However, with tires not being warm enough to grip, it ran off the corner with over speed. The car dropped position to 5th place, but recovered to 4th when #39 Supra spun out and sought for a further chance to overtake #100 NSX. Motoyama pressured the #100 and took them from inside when the car was caught with backmarkers at the end of lap 9. In pursuit for higher position, Motoyama tailed #25 Supra then #6 Supra on top. On lap 23, #6 Supra spun on its own. Motoyama filled the gap between #25 to 0.3 seconds when he returned to pit and passed the car over to Richard Lyons. After 37-second quick pit stop, Lyons returned to the track in front of #6. The battle continued with #6 until lap 34.
Lyons then went on to catch up with #25. As he waited patiently for its tires to wear, he took over on the lap 43 during the up hill when they made on of the few mistakes. Gradually increasing the gap between them, the car was creating steady lead on top. #6 then came back as the pursuer, but spun off, and then #39 came but in vain. Lyons crossed the finish line and received the checkered flag after total of 63 laps, and won the second race this season since the first round in TI circuit. Motoyama and Lyons now are 11 points ahead in the championship aiming for the title in the final round.
Motul Pitwork Z (#22) started with Masami Kageyama from 9th place and kept a steady lap. The car climbed to 8th place on lap 7 and to 7th on lap 11. Without being involved in any troubles, the car made steady laps and Kageyama passed it over to Michael Krumm on lap 30. Krumm then continued driving sound and stable, pulled the car back to 9th place after dropping to 11th to receive the checkered flag.
"The car's setting was very well this week, and the team won for the third time this season" said Hiroshi Degawa, the team director of NISMO. "Motoyama came back to the pit and said the car was in good shape, so we were confident. Richard had also done a great job. I think team will have strong motivation for Suzuka. We will definitely do our very best in the final race to win the championship."
Satoshi Motoyama said, "The car had a perfect fit for this track. Even I was amazed how fast it could get. Sinice the car was fast and stable, I didn't have to worry when we lost position at start. We were able to overtake other cars without any difficulties. I know we will be putting on 120kg weight burden in Suzuka, but if we would be able to show our performance like today, we can win the championship."
Richard Lyons said, "I think the key to this race was the tire choice. Satoshi made a good choice, and I was happy that I could race easily. I made sure not to make any mistakes. This track is high-speed, but with many places to pass and we can say it was also a driver's competition. I believe we were able to show a good race for the many Nissan fans."
|
|
RACE RESULTS
JGTC Rd.6 JAPAN GT in KYUSHU 300km - Sunday, 31 October, 2004
AUTOPOLIS [ 14:00~63Laps Fine / Dry ]
| Pos |
Car Name |
No. |
Driver Name |
Time/Diff. |
| 1 |
Xanavi NISMO Z |
1 |
Satoshi Motoyama / Richard Lyons |
1:54:34.309 |
| 2 |
DENSO SARD SUPRA GT |
39 |
Jeremie Dufour / Andre Couto |
+5.339 |
| 3 |
ECLIPSE ADVAN SUPRA |
25 |
Manabu Orido / Dominik Schwager |
+9.652 |
| 4 |
ESSO Ultraflo Supra |
6 |
Juichi Wakisaka / Akira Iida |
+24.242 |
| 5 |
CALSONIC IMPUL Z |
12 |
Benoit Treluyer / Yuji Ide |
+24.717 |
| 6 |
DYNACITY TOM'S SUPRA |
37 |
James Courtney / Tatsuya Kataoka |
+25.047 |
| 7 |
WOODONE TOM'S SUPRA |
36 |
Takeshi Tsuchiya / Marco Apicella |
+26.394 |
| 8 |
Yellow Hat YMS SUPRA |
35 |
Naoki Hattori / Shigekazu Wakisaka |
+27.540 |
| 9 |
MOTUL PITWORK Z |
22 |
Masami Kageyama / Michael Krumm |
+27.806 |
| 10 |
RAYBRIG NSX |
100 |
Shinji Nakano / Hiroki Kato |
+31.679 |
| R |
G'ZOX SSR HASEMI Z |
3 |
Toshihiro Kaneishi / Erik Comas |
-- |
|
TRACK INFORMATION
Length: 4,674m
|
|
