SUZUKA -RIJ- (March 30, 1996) Young German driver Ralf Schumacher, younger brother of Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher, will start from pole position of the 1996 All Japan GT Championship round 1, Suzuka GT 300km Race on Sunday with Japanese Naoki Hattori. They are team mate in Formula Nippon (former F3000 series) and drive Lark McLaren F1 GTR in GT series. Their time was 2 minutes 25.067 seconds in wet condition.
Former Formula One driver Erik Comas and Japanese Hidetoshi Mitsusada in Castrol Toyota Supra will start from second grid, followed by Yoji Yamada and Eiichi Tajima in Porsche 993/380LL. Japanese Indy 500 driver Hideshi Matsuda and veteran Osamu Nakako in Porsche 911 GT2 will start from fourth grid and 1995 All Japan F3000 Champion Toshio Suzuki and Japanese popular singer/actor/F3000 driver Masahiko Kondo in Nissan Skyline GT-R will start from fifth grid.
1995 Le Mans 24 Hours Race winner Masanori Sekiya and 1995 All Japan F3 Champion Pedro De La Rosa from Spain will start from sixth grid. Although they drive Tom's Supra, Sekiya will drive Team Sard's Toyota Supra at 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours Race.
Former FIM Motorcycle Road Race Champion Wayne Gardner from Australia and French veteran endurance driver Alain Ferte in Team Sard's Toyota Supra set eleventh time after two qualifying sessions. Gardner has been star in Japanese moto racing fans because he won Suzuka 8-hours Endurance Race.
Former Japanese Formula One driver Aguri Suzuki run Japanese racing again and drives Nissan Skyline GT-R with veteran Hideo Fukuyama. Their grid is twelfth. Aguri has started his own Formula Nippon team this year, too.
Former Formula One driver David Brabham (GB, license-nation) and John Nielsen from Denmark in another McLaren will start from thirteenth grid.
Total 35 GT cars run in qualifying session.
Pos No Driver Driver CAR TIME ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 60 N.Hattori R.Schumacher(D) McLAREN F1 GTR 2'25.067 2 37 E.Comas (F) H.Mitsusada TOYOTA SUPRA JZA80 2'25.078 3 30 Y.Yamada E.Tajima PORSCHE993/380LL 2'25.225 4 34 H.Matsuda O.Nakako PORSCHE 911GT2 2'25.432 5 556 T.Suzuki M.Kondo SKYLINE BCNR33 2'25.984 6 36 M.Sekiya P.D.La Rosa (E) TOYOTA SUPRA JZA80 2'26.251 7 100 Kuni.Takahashi K.Tsuchiya HONDA NSX NA1(E-NA1) 2'26.292 8 3 M.Hasemi T.Tanaka NISSAN SKYLINE BCNR33 2'26.534 9 1 Kaz.Hoshino Masahiko Kageyama NISSAN SKYLINE BCNR33 2'26.692 10 35 Anthony Reid T.Tsuchiya PORSCHE 911GT2 2'26.715 11 39 W.Gardner(AUS) A.FERTE (F) TOYOTA SUPRA JZA80 2'27.571 12 2 A.Suzuki H.Fukuyama NISSAN SKYLINE BCNR33 2'28.219 13 61 D.Brabham(UK) J.Nielsen(DK) McLAREN F1 GTR 2'29.019 14 8 T.Kristensen(DK) T.Tanigawa TOYOTA SUPRA JZA80 2'29.476 15 55 K.Tohira H.Kawai NISSAN SKYLINE BCNR33 2'30.864 16 88 T.Wada T.Kaneumi LAMBORGHINI 2'31.073 17 5 K.Iida T.Ota PORSCHE 911 GT2 2'31.570 18 69 K.Kwagoe S.Kasuya PORSCHE 911GT2 2'32.055 19 26 K.Suzuki M.Nitta PORSCHE964 CARRERA RSR 2'33.263 20 15 S.Maxwell(CND) M.Sekine PORSCHE 911 TURBO 2'33.316 21 70 Y.Ishibashi Kao.Hoshino PORSCHE993RS 2'34.787 22 31 K.Iketani K.Mogi PORSCHE993 CARRERA RS 2'34.841 23 20 Ken.Takahashi H.Suga PORSCHE 993 RS 2'35.736 24 19 T.Kobayashi N.Furuya NISSAN SKYLINE BNR32 2'36.009 25 72 N.Makiguchi T.Kinoshita BMW M3 E30 2'36.601 26 6 T.Kawasaki K.Wakita TOYOTA MR2 SW-20 2'38.002 27 7 S.Yamaji M.Yamamoto MAZDA RX7 FD3S 2'38.418 28 9 K.Okamoto T.Hioki PORSCHE 993 RS 2'39.700 29 21 F.Mizuno T.Yamamoto BMW M3 E36 2'40.401 30 17 N.Nogami T.Okumizu MAZDA RX-7 FC3S 2'41.241 31 95 N.Oyagi T.Mankumo NISSAN SILVIA PS13 2'42.895 32 38 A.Fu (HK) R.J.Jones(?) PORSCHE CARRERA RS 2'44.278 33 28 M.Nagashima J.Yamanashi BMW M3 2'45.591 34 51 M.Ishihara H.Noji PORSCHE911 CARRERA RSR 2'45.961 35 43 Y.Okamoto Y.Hinoi PORSCHE CARRERA RS 2'58.157 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualification time (130%) 3'08.660 Data: Suzuka Circuitland and ALl Japan GT Association.