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GT Live Part Two: JGTC
By David Fielding
Throughout the entire experience of watching the JGTC cars battle it out on the track it proved one thing: it could be anybody's race. Even in the qualifying round of the All-Star 200 there was a last minute victory.
 It was hot and windy on Saturday afternoon at the California Speedway and even though we were getting sun burned (in December?) there was nothing that would keep us away from this. The JGTC All-Star 200 Qualifying round was commencing. I think everybody spent the first lap in awe, at least I know I did. Unlike the full championship events qualifying for the JGTC All Star 200 was a one time, 50-minute session. Ten cars from the GT500 and thirteen cars from the GT300 were combined during the first half hour of the qualifying session. After that the GT300 class would be running for 10 minutes followed by the GT500 class for 10 minutes.
When the congestion cleared on the track Morio Nitta in the No. 43 Garaiya began to break the 1 minute 30 second barrier with his 1'29.309 lap for GT300 qualifying. Nitta ultimately qualified with a 1'29.109 lap followed by Tetsuya Yamano in the No. 16 M-TEC NSX with a 1'29.956 lap time and Masataka Yanagida in the No. 81 C-West Daishin Advan Z with a time of 1'30.692. The only American car competing was the No. 26 Viper entered by Team Taisan. The driver of the No. 26 car, Eiji Yamada made a best lap time of 1'32.914 qualifying for position 20 in the overall lineup.
Drivers of the GT500 class began making qualifying laps after the GT300 class had left the track. Driver Benoit Treluyer in the No. 12 Calsonic Impul Z set the fastest lap of 1'23.289 and was thought to have qualified for pole position. Towards the end of the qualifying session driver Richard Lyons, in the No. 1 Fairlady Z, was the one to claim pole position with the fastest lap time of 1'23.124, placing Treluyer in second place. This was the kind of action that let us know the race isn't over until the finish line. Car No. 37, Dynacity Tom's Supra qualified for third place with a lap time of 1'23.665.
GT 500
The JGTC All-Star 200 Race was the first ever night race for the JGTC in its 10 year history. It was originally scheduled to be 75 laps, but changes in the course layout raised the number of laps to 87. The race started out with a bang as the No. 1 Nissan Fairlady Z, driven by Satoshi Motoyama, took the lead off the line followed by Treluyer in the No. 12 Z and Courtney in the No. 37 Toyota Supra. The fastest Honda to qualify, the No. 18 Takata Dome NSX, quickly followed behind.
 During the 12th lap Treluyer passed the No.1 Fairlady Z for the lead and Courtney attempted to do the same but bumped Motoyama in the process sending the No. 37 Supra into a spin. While Michigami in the No. 18 NSX was avoiding the spinning Supra he collided with the No. 1 Fairlady Z causing enough damage to both the cars to force them to call it a day.
All remaining cars were going strong until lap 14 when the No. 43 Garaiya broke down requiring a Safety Car and ending everybody's momentum. When the lead car crossed the line at Lap 15 car Nos. 37, 3, 32 and 35 all chose to pit for their first of two required pit stops, thinking that the mandatory 15 laps were completed. JGTC All Star rules stated that two pit stops must be completed during the race and that any stop taken before 15 laps were completed would not count.
After lap 16 the Safety Car left the track and Treluyer took the lead with the No. 12 Fairlady Z followed by Kageyama in the No. 22 Fairlady Z, and Nakano in the No. 100 NSX. During lap 22 Courtney in the No. 37 Supra once again tapped a car. This time it was the No. 100 NSX, sending the NSX into a spin and luckily only costing both drivers time. For the next 16 laps Kageyama in the No. 22 Nissan held the lead but fell back into third place after his car spun out.
For the remainder of the race the lead positions changed frequently. For a number of laps the No. 32 PIAA NSX, the No. 3 G'Zox SSR Hasemi Z, and the No. 35 Yellow Hat Supra battled it out for second.
On lap 68 the No. 5 Vemac had issues requiring another Safety Car. Kaneishi pitted the No. 3 car during the yellow flag making up for its mistaken pit earlier. Since there was nothing preventing the car from entering the track before the pack had passed, Kaneishi was able to enter at the same position he was when he pitted. The Safety Car left the track at lap 72 and the race commenced once again.
The No. 32 NSX, driven by Tsugio Matsuda, was the one to cross the finish line for first place. Toshihiro Kaneishi tried hard to close the gap between him and Matsuda but wasn't able to in the end, placing No. 3 Fairlady Z second, followed by the No. 35 Toyota Supra, driven by Shigekazu Wakisaka.
The official winner of the GT500 class was the No. 3 G'Zox SSR Hasemi Z driven by Toshihiro Kaneishi and Erik Comas. Due to a "Failure to pit" penalty the No. 32 PIAA NSX placed second driven by Andre Lotterer and Tsugio Matsuda. Third place went to the No. 35 Yellow Hat Supra driven by Naoki Hattori and Shigekazu Wakisaka.
GT 300
 The pole sitter for the GT300 was the No. 43 Garaiya, driven by Morio Nitta, which held a strong lead in the beginning, followed by Haruki Kurosowa driving the No. 16 M-Tec NSX. Nitta had a steady lead until, on lap 14, the driveshaft on the Garaiya broke causing the car to come to a stop and requiring a Safety Car to tow it off the track. Kurosowa took the lead followed closely by Masataka Yanagida in the No. 81 C-West Daishin Advan Z and Shinichi Yamaji in the No. 7 Amemiya Aspara Drink RX-7.
Kurosawa, like several others, decided to pit as the Safety Car was still on the track and was later penalized 60 seconds due to the fact that 15 laps had not been completed. As the No. 16 car made its pit stop, Yamaji in the No. 7 RX-7 took the lead followed by the No. 81 Fairlady Z. Kurosawa entered the track in third position.
The No. 7 car held the lead until it made its pit stop placing Kurosawa in the No. 16 NSX back in the lead, followed by Yanagida in the No. 81 Fairlady Z. The No. 7 RX-7 entered the track in third place. By now these three cars had pulled away from the rest of the field and were still going strong.
 The No. 7 RX-7 held the lead until lap 55 when it was battling for position with the No. 26 Eclipse Taisan Advan Viper. Unfortunately the Viper won sending the Mazda RX-7 into a concrete retaining wall, ending the race for the Mazda and placing the No. 16 NSX in the lead. The No. 81 Fairlady Z, which was now in second place, was more than a lap behind the No. 16 NSX.
In the end the No. 16 M-Tec NSX took first place, even after the 60-second penalty, followed by the No. 81 C-West Daishin Advan Z in second and the No. 77 Cusco Subaru Impreza in third.
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