Sendai Hi-land Raceway -RIJ- German Michael Krumm and Spanish Pedro De La Rosa with #36 Toyota Supra won the third round of All Japan GT Car Championship, The Hi-land GT Championship Race on final lap Sunday at Sendai Hi-land Raceway in Japan.
After Typhoon No.8 left for Pacific Ocean, race started under sunny and blight weather. #37 Toshio Suzuki's Toyota Supra got hole shot after rolling start, followed by #2 Erik Comas's new Nissan Skyline GT-R and Kunimitsu Takahashi's #100 Honda NSX. #37 Supra kept lead, but passed by #2 Skyline GT-R and #100 NSX at chicane when #36 Toshio Suzuki lost balance.
#2 Skyline GT-R run away, but #100 couldn't chase because of it had gearbox problem. #37 Supra got second position again and chased #2 Skyline GT-R.
On Lap 31, #2 Skyline GT-R's left for pit and changed driver from Comas to Aguri Suzuki. Aguri kept lead and #36 Michael Krumm's Supra got second. #2 Skyline GT-R hoped to run away, but it was impossible because they chose hard tires than #36 Supra. #2 Skyline GT-R and #36 Supra continued side-by-side battles until final lap. At first corner of final lap, #36 Krumm's Supra got inside and passed #2 Skyline GT-R and run away until checkered flag. #2 Aguri Suzuki's Skyline GT-R finished at second, followed by six Toyota Supras.
"Our target was finish. So I didn't push hard. On earlier laps, Takeuchi's Supra was running at front of me and I couldn't pass him. But I hoped to take a chance," said co-winner Pedro De La Rossa.
"Pedro marked fast lap times before pit in. It was key of today's race," said Krumm. (battle with Aguri Suzuki) "Aguri-san is fast driver and over take was not easy. While our battle, I learned the driving at Spoon Corner from his driving (laughing). My pace was little faster than him and I aimed to pass him."
Hi-land GT Championship Race Result
June 29, 1997
Weather: Cloudy, Course: Dry
Pos No CLASS Driver Driver CAR LAP TIME
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1 36 5 Michael Krumm(D)/Pedro De La Rosa(E) TOYOTA SUPRA 63 1h56:50.842
2 2 5 Aguri Suzuki/Erik Comas (F) NISSAN SKYLINE 63 1h56:54.014
3 37 5 Masanori Sekiya/Toshio Suzuki TOYOTA SUPRA 63 1h57:12.061
4 38 5 Hironori Takeuchi/Katsutomo Kaneishi TOYOTA SUPRA 63 1h57:33.217
5 39 5 Masami Kageyama/Tatsuya Tanigawa TOYOTA SUPRA 63 1h57:43.432
6 5 5 Eiichi Tajima/Mark Gousen(B) TOYOTA SUPRA 63 1h58:10.117
7 8 5 Wayne Gardner(AUS)/Naoki Nagasaka TOYOTA SUPRA 63 1h58:41.469
8 510 5 Bertrand Gachot(F)/Paul Belmond(F) TOYOTA SUPRA 62
9 3 5 Masahiro Hasemi/Tetsuya Tanaka NISSAN SKYLINE 62
10 34 5 Keiichi Tsuchiya/Hideshi Matsuda PORSCHE 911GT2 62
11 13 5 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Mitsuo Fujimura NISSAN SKYLINE 62
12 30 5 Yoji Yamada/Kazuo Motegi PORSCHE 911GT2 62
13 10 5 Kaoru Iida/Ralf Firman Jr.(GB) PORSCHE 911GT2 61
14 25 3 Takeshi Tsuchiya/Masaoki Nagashima TOYOTA MR2 60
15 19 3 Manabu Orito/Hideo Fukuyama NISSAN SILVIA 60
16 26 3 Keiichi Suzuki/Morio Nitta PORSCHE 964RSR 60
17 910 3 Seiichi Sodeyama/Tomohiko Sunako PORSCHE 993RSR 59
18 7 3 Shinichi Yamaji/Haruhiko Matsumoto MAZDA RX7 59
19 81 3 Nobuyuki Oyagi/Takayuki Kinoshita NISSAN SILVIA 59
20 71 3 Kaoru Hoshino/Masaki Kiuchi PORSCHE 911GT2 59
21 72 3 Norio Makiguchi/Takeshi Asami BMW E36 58
22 27 3 Tetsuya Ota/Steven Andskar(S) FERRARI F355 58
23 21 3 Yasushi Hitotsuyama/Kenji Yamamoto BMW E36 57
24 556 5 Masahiko Kageyama/Masahiko Kondo NISSAN SKYLINE 57
25 20 3 Kenji Takahashi/Hiroaki Suga PORSCHE 993RSR 57
26 16 3 Motoji Sekine/Hiroyuki Iiri BMW E36 57
27 12 5 Satoshi Motoyama/Fuminori Mizuno NISSAN SKYLINE 55
28 28 3 Masahiro Yamazaki/Masami Sugiyama FERRARI 355 54
29 *91 3 Masahiro Matsunaga/Junko Mihara TOYOTA MR2 55-4
30 100 5 Kunimitsu Takahashi/Akira Iida HONDA NSX 49
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6 3 Hironori Kato/Takahiro Fujita TOYOTA MR2 34
55 3 Toshihiro Fukasawa/Masaaki Nagashima MAZDA RX7 24
88 5 Takao Wada/Hisashi Wada DIABLO GTR3 12
18 5 Takuya Kurosawa/Katsumi Yamamoto HONDA NSX 9
70 3 Yoshizo Ishibashi/Nobuo Komiya PORSCHE 993RSR 9
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Course length: 4.029km
Class: 5 = GT500, 3 = GT300
Penalty: #91, -4 laps, over maximum driving time per one driver.
Weather: Fine, Course: Dry
RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,