RX8Club.com - R.E. AMEMIYA AsparaDrink RX-7 captures GT300 title!

http://www.rotarynews.com/?q=node/view/860

TOY STORY Racing MR-S wins race for first victory this season In the GT300 class, No. 777 Ryozanpaku apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima), which took the pole in qualifying, was late getting his engine started and could not get to the starting dummy grid, making it a pit start for them, raising the curtain on a race full of turmoil. But with the way things would develop later, this was nothing more than a preface to an unbelievable drama.

In effect, this put No. 19 WedsSport Celica (Koji Matsuda) in the top starting position, but it was overtaken by No. 9 NOMAD ADVAN LeyJun MT (OSAMU) that had a faster top speed on the main straight. What's more, No. 26 CARCHS TOMO TAISAN GT3 (Shinichi Yamaji), starting from 10th position on the grid, drove at a remarkable pace to improve positions by moving up to 6th during the opening lap, then to 4th on lap 4, 3rd on lap 9, and 2nd on lap 10. No. 26 then went on to whittle away the gap with the leader and was in range by the time 25 laps had passed. However on lap 28, No. 9 running in the GT500 class made contact with it. No. 26 was just barely able to avoid more serious trouble, but in the interval he allowed No. 19 and the machine behind it, No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Haruki Kurosawa), to pull in front. But then No. 19 and No. 62 went into the pit. With this, No. 26 was able to take back top position, and the damage to the suspension of the No. 9 machine forced it to retire.

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This provided the opportunity for each of the machines to go into the pit. Front-running No. 26 made its pit stop at the end of lap 35, but the work took a little time and the wheel was handed over to Kazuyuki Nishizawa. When he returned to the course, it had fallen out of podium contention. On the other hand, No. 777 which had to make a pit start, had put up successive fastest laps and was moving up. It put off making its pit stop until lap 40 and finally took provisional possession of the top spot. In a daring ploy to save time, the tires were not changed and pit work time was shortened to 18 seconds. When it returned to the course it was still holding on to the top spot. But as may be imagined, traction was down and Minoru Tanaka spun. He wasn't able to move up the pace from then and his position fell. With this, No. 62 Shinsuke Shibahara was in the top spot, No. 101 TOY STORY Racing MR-S (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi), who had finished their pit work on lap 25, were in 2nd, and rounding out the top three was No. 19 Shigekazu Wakisaka. These positions would not change until the last lap where a big surprise was waiting at the last corner.

In what would have been a victory in just a few more seconds, No. 62 ran out of gas and stalled. The machine stopped on the inside of the last corner. This resulted in an upset win for No. 101 and put No. 19 in 2nd. Third place was taken by No. 13 ENDLESS ADVAN CCI Z (Masami Kageyama/Tomonobu Fujii) who had started from 5th place on the grid.
No. 62's stall also had a big impact on the race for series title. Tetsuya Yamano had spun on lap 7 and for a time the No. 7 Amemiya AsparaDrink RX7 (Tetsuya Yamano/Hiroyuki Iiri) had fallen to 22nd place, but managed to recover by changing only two tires instead of all four and had worked its way up to 7th by the last lap. With the leader out that improved to 6th. On the other hand, No. 2 Privée Zurich Shiden (Hiroki Katoh/Kazuho Takahashi) had only changed the front tires in a ploy for time that would come back to haunt them. They failed to maintain their position and fell out of point range.

With this, both machines were tied at 86 points. Since No. 7 had finished in the top spots more often, they captured a long-awaited series title. No. 7 also took the team title for its first double crown. It was the third year-on-year title for Tetsuya Yamano. It was his spin that caused them to fall in position, and for a time it seemed that chances for the title had indeed become slim, but the dramatic upset at the end brought tears to his eyes that he could not hold back. This was the first crown for Hiroyuki Iiri. Although they were helped by the retirement of the leader and the penalties on their rivals, the fact that they moved up in position by their own power led to them getting the title in the end.

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GT300 Class Champion No. 7 Amemiya AsparaDrink RX7 / RE AMEMIYA RACING
Tetsuya Yamano
I saw heaven and hell out there. (grimaces) I made a simple mistake and lost position, but I did whatever was necessary to make up for it. I thought we had ended up losing the title. But then I saw the No. 2 machine in front of me, so I pushed even harder. I think it was good that we got through this year without any races where we didn't get any points. I want to thank everyone who cheered us on. It's great that I was able to present the team with a title in my GT racing debut. (For me personally) This was my third win in a row in JGTC/SUPER GT, and I'd like to express my thanks to both M-TEC and Reckless. I have no words other than to say I'm very happy.

Hiroyuki Irii
(Yamano) got off a good start and I thought we'd be able to pull it off. When Yamano was driving, I figured our rivals' pace would fall off in the latter half and that's when we'd make our move. Just at that point, he spun, what a nightmare. (grimace) I thought we were finished, but that we shouldn't give up and pushed on to the end. It wasn't easy to pass the machine in front of me and maybe I pushed a little too hard, but our engineer Kohno got on the radio and told me to calm down - that really helped me. To be sure we were lucky, but we gave it all we had to the very end, and that's why we were able to capture the title. I want to thank Mr. Amemiya and the sponsors. That's all I can say now.

Isami Amemiya Team Manager
I'm filled with emotion, that's all. In the ten years I've been involved in GT racing, I've never thought about winning the title. I'm so thankful to everyone, the drivers and the mechanics. When I saw Yamano spin out, I thought it was over. At the end, nobody had any idea what was going on.... Later on the podium with so many spectators around who were happy for us, it made me truly thankful.