1997 All Japan GT Championship Rd.1,
    Suzuka GT 300km Race Qualifying
    at
    Suzuka Circuit

    (March 29, 1997)
    
    Suzuka, Japan -RIJ- 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Masanori Sekiya and 1992
    Daytona 24 Hours Race winner Toshio Suzuki with Toyota Supra will start
    from Sunday's 1997 All Japan GT Championship Round-1, Suzuka GT 300km Race.
    Veteran Sekiya marked the fastest time 2 minutes 05.426 seconds on his
    fourth lap in first qualifying session.
            Former Formula One driver duo Aguri Suzuki and Erik Comas will
    start from second grid with Nissan Skyline GT-R.  Aguri marked 2'05.881.
            Top seven grids were dominated by Toyota Supra and Nissan Skyline. 
    Fastest non-Japanese car was Porsche 911, driven by Yoji Yamada and Kazuo
    Motegi.
    
    

    The Starting Grids for Suzuka GT 300km Race:

    
     March 29, 1997 
    
     Weather: Cloudy/Rain   Course:Dry (Wet on 2nd qualifying session)
     
     Pos No CLASS Driver        Driver        TYPE             TIME     DELAY
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      1  37 5 Masanori Sekiya/Toshio Suzuki         TOYOTA SUPRA    R2'05.426
                                                                (168.31Km/h)
      2   2 5 Aguri Suzuki/Erik Comas(F)            NISSAN SKYLINE  R2'05.881
      3 556 5 Masahiko Kageyama/Masahiko Kondo      NISSAN SKYLINE  R2'05.892
      4  12 5 Kazuyoshi Hoshino/Satoshi Motoyama    NISSAN SKYLINE  R2'05.946
      5  36 5 Michael Krumm(D)/Pedro De La Rosa(E)  TOYOTA SUPRA    R2'06.107
      6  39 5 Olivier Groullard(F)/Masami Kageyama  TOYOTA SUPRA    R2'06.683
      7   3 5 Masahiro Hasemi/Tetsuya Tanaka        NISSAN SKYLINE  R2'06.718
      8  30 5 Yoji Yamada/Kazuo Motegi              PORSCHE 911 GT2 R2'08.269
      9   5 5 Eiichi Tajima/Mark Gousen             TOYOTA SUPRA     2'08.847
     10  13 5 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Yasushi Kikuchi   NISSAN SKYLINE   2'08.921
     11  38 5 Hironori Takeuchi/Katsutomo Kaneishi  TOYOTA SUPRA     2'08.965
     12   8 5 Bertrand Gachot(F)/Paul Belmond(F)    TOYOTA SUPRA     2'09.280
     13  10 5 Kaoru Iida/Ralf Firman Jr.(GB)        PORSCHE 911 GT2  2'09.717
     14  26 3 Keiichi Suzuki/Morio Nitta            PORSCHE 964 RSR  2'13.928
     15   4 5 Tatsuhiko Kaneumi/Mitsutake Koma      PORSCHE 911 GT2  2'14.460
     16  25 3 Takeshi Tsuchiya/Masaoki Nagashima    TOYOTA MR2       2'15.003
     17  19 3 Manabu Orito/Hideo Fukuyama           NISSAN SILVIA    2'15.259
     18   7 3 Shinichi Yamaji/Haruhiko Matsumoto    MAZDA RX7        2'15.390
     19   6 3 Hironori Kato/Takahiro Fujita         TOYOTA MR2       2'15.789
     20  51 3 Masamitsu Ishihara/Katsunori Iketani  PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'15.892
     21 910 3 Seiichi Sodeyama/Kiyoshi Misaki       PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'16.264
     22 777 3 Katsuya Makita/Katuharu Siomi         PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'18.160
     23  20 3 Kenji Takahashi/Hiroaki Suga          PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'18.926
     24  91 3 Masahiro Matsunaga/Junko Mihara       TOYOTA MR2       2'19.187
     25   9 3 Tsunefumi Hioki/Masaharu Kinoshita    PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'19.750
     26  72 3 Norio Makiguchi/Takeshi Asami         BMW E36          2'20.147
     27  81 3 Nobuyuki Oyagi/Tsuneaki Mankumo       Nissan SILVIA    2'20.620
     28  21 3 Takayuki Kinoshita/Yasushi Hitotsuyama  BMW E36        2'20.638
     29 333 3 Masatomo Shimizu/Yoshimi Katayama     PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'21.501
     30  70 3 Yoshizo Ishibashi/Nobuo Komiya        PORSCHE 993 RSR  2'21.931
     31  55 3 Toshihiro Fukasawa/Masaaki Nagashima  MAZDA RX7        2'22.902
     32  16 3 Motoji Sekine/Hiroyuki Iiri           BMW E36          2'25.431
     33  17 3 Toshihiko Nogami/Toshiaki Koshimizu   MAZDA RX7        2'25.901
     34  45 3 Tsuyoshi Yuasa/Toshiaki Hanai         NISSAN SILVIA    2'29.486
     35  27 3 Tetsuya Ota/Anders Olofsson(S)        FERRARI F355     2'26.450
     36  75 5 Yuji Tachikawa/Tsuyoshi Takahashi     NISSAN 300ZX     2'59.502
    
     Qualification Time: 2'43.453
     R = New course records.
     Note: #27, Anders Olofsson (3'05.017): allowed to start on race.
           #75, Tsuyoshi Takahashi (No time): will be allowed to start if his 
           Sunday's free practice's time will be agreed.
    
     Course length: 5.86403km
     Class: 5 = GT500, 3 = GT300
    
         RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,
    
    

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