SUPPLEMENTAL NISSAN NEWS From: Corporate Communications Dept.
A30-SN-8080 Date: October 27, 1998
NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R WINS 1998 GT CHAMPIONSHIP
Round 7, and the last round of the 1998 All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship series, was held at Sportsland Sugo in Miyagi Prefecture on October 25th. It was a good day for Nissan, with five of its Skyline GT-Rs running well in an eventful race and finishing in the top 10. The icing on the cake was the driver pair of Erik Comas/Masami Kageyama, who piloted their GT-R to sixth place, and finished the year triumphant with the 1998 GT Championship title.
<Race Development>
To the disappointment of many, the fight for the series championship ended early, when machine problems caused the #64 Honda NSX driven by Tom Coronel to roll to a stop during the formation lap. It was at that moment Erik Comas and Masami Kageyama clinched the 1998 All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship title.
Takeshi Tsuchiya, the quickest of the Skyline GT-Rs in Saturday qualifying (10th), got off to a good start and led the charge of the Nissan drivers. Many of them improved their positions early on: Tsuchiya moved up to ninth in the opening lap, and Kazuyoshi Hoshino (#12 GT-R) and Tetsuya Takana (#3 GT-R) both overtook in the first laps as well. Erik Comas was the starting driver in the #23 Skyline, and was running well in spite of a huge 70kg handicap weight. By lap 20, the Nissan drivers were running stronger and battles between the Nissan teams became common. Hoshino overtook Tsuchiya for sixth place as fastest Nissan driver, putting Tsuchiya seventh just ahead of Tanaka. Comas had picked up his pace and moved into ninth behind the other Nissan drivers. All of the cars ran well over the first half of the race, lapping consistently quicker and pushing the field. Masanori Sekiya, in the #36 Supra, went off the track on lap 13 and Tatsuya Tanigawa made a spin and banged up the front-end of the #39 Supra on lap 22, leading to the retirement of two Supras from the race.
After the top runners had completed routine stops midway through the race, it was Takuya Kurosawa in the #12 GT-R running sixth as the fastest GT-R driver, followed by Masahiro Hasemi in the #3 GT-R in seventh, Satoshi Motoyama in the #50 car in eighth, Masami Kageyama in the #23 GT-R in ninth and Aguri Suzuki in the #2 GT-R in tenth. On lap 32, the #100 NSX driven by Akira Iida caught fire as he went off the track, and the car came to a stop on the course-side green. Iida was able to exit the car quickly and escaped without injury.
In the final stages of the race, five Skyline GT-Rs were running within the top ten places. Another machine caught fire on lap 64; this time it was the #55 Chrysler Viper with Anthony Reid behind the wheel. He, too, escaped without injury. For this accident, the Safety Car was introduced after lap 67. When the green light was finally given again, it was #12 Kurosawa in fifth, #3 Hasemi in sixth, #23 Masami Kageyama in seventh, #50 Motoyama in ninth and #2 Aguri Suzuki in tenth. The Nissan cars finished the race in this order.
- 1 -
SUPPLEMENTAL NISSAN NEWS
A30-SN-8080
In the GT 300 class, two Nissan Silvia driver pairs survived through bouts of bad luck the entire race. Both Masahiko Kondo/Takayuki Aoki and Hideo Fukuyama/Nobuyuki Oyagi had bumping stints with other cars causing them to go off the track, spin or lose balance and drop their positions. The #15 Silvia of Kondo/Aoki went off of the track twice due to touching other cars while Kondo was driving, but still managed to run constantly and finish in fourth. The #81 car dropped a place when bumped another machine, causing Oyagi to lose balance at the last corner, giving the Silvia an eighth place finish. Following the post-race inspection of machines, the #18 Honda NSX was disqualified due to a violation of the technical regulations. As a consequence, the official standings of other cars were raised one position.
Erik Comas: " I'm very happy to win the championship, which was our mission of this year. Real production-based GT cars compete in this championship. And we could prove the strong performance of the Nissan Skyline GT-R. We were able to finish every race that we took part in this year. That shows the unbelievable reliability of the Skyline GT-R, and the team did a fantastic job as well. "
Masami Kageyama: " With the best reliability of the Nissan Skyline GT-R, best team, best pit work, and also with a best partner driver, Erik, we already had an advantage before the race. I drove as usual, like running in a usual race. This is the first time for me to win an All-Japan championship title. I'm very happy. "
The results of the race are as follows:
Class
Pos. No. Class pos. Car Driver Team Laps Time
1. 16 500 1 Honda NSX Osamu Nakako Castrol Mugen 78 1:56'38.356
Ryo Michigami
2. 37 500 2 Supra JZA80 Toshio Suzuki TOYOTA Castrol 78 1:56:43.637
Kelvin Burt TEAM TOM'S
3. 38 500 3 Supra JZA80 Hironori Takeuchi TOYOTA TEAM 78 1:56:50.628
Hideki Noda CERUMO
4. 12 500 4 Skyline GT-R Kazuyoshi Hoshino TEAM IMPUL 78 1:56:52.524
Takuya Kurosawa
5. 3 500 5 Skyline GT-R Masahiro Hasemi Hasemi Motorsport 78 1:56:52.914
Tetsuya Tanaka
6. 23 500 6 Skyline GT-R Erik Comas NISMO 78 1:56:56.886
Masami Kageyama
8. 50 500 8 Skyline GT-R Satoshi Motoyama AUTOBACS RACING 77 1:56:51.258
Takeshi Tsuchiya TEAM AGURI
9. 2 500 9 Skyline GT-R Aguri Suzuki NISMO 77 1:57:19.113
Masahiko Kageyama
13.15 300 4 Silvia S14 Masahiko Kondo NISMO 73 laps
Takayuki Aoki
17.81 300 8 Silvia S14 Hideo Fukuyama TEAM DAISHIN 71 laps
Nobuyuki Oyagi
Sportsland Sugo: 3.704256km, Entry/Start/finish: 42/41/28
# # #
Contact: Foreign Media Section
Corporate Communications Dept.
81-3-5565-2147