2004 Autobacs JGTC Round 4 - Flash Back

After the race, Krumm, dripping wet with champagne, said, "I knew we had a good car today, and I was confident we could come away with the win as long as we didn't have any problems." He failed to mention, however, how I took out his team manager and marketing representative just five hours before the start of the race to a night of overall debauchery that more or less caused my lingering amnesia. You're welcome, Michael; now where's my sip of the champagne?

GT300
In the junior varsity side of the JGTC, the number 81 C-West Daishin Z, driven by Masataka Yanagida and Naofumi Omoto, took the pole position ahead of the number 63 Leyjun Dunlop Vermac RD320R and the number 80 Endless Daishin Z. The C-West Daishin Z's qualifying time of 1:19.890 was a full 3/10 second faster than its nearest competitor, and the team worked hard for it, strategizing their tire use since the Friday practice session, which obviously paid off.

Fourth and Fifth place were a couple of once-cute Toyota MR-Ss, which were both followed by one of the three Ferraris in the entire field. Only in a JGTC race can a fan see Toyotas and Hondas beat up unmercifully on powerful Ferarris and Lamborghinis.During the race, however, the entire GT300 field beat each other up regardless of manufacturer. Right from the start, front-row beneficiary, the number 63 Leyjun Dunlop Vermac RD320R, was hit from the back after attempting a daring move over the C-West Daishin Z pole sitter. As a result, the Vermac sustained an ugly chop across the entire backside, and though the pit crew taped it up redneck-NASCAR style, it was sent to the showers early, 12 laps premature.

The pole sitter dominated the first half of the race with Yanagida at the helm. After the switch with his teammate at lap 49, the battle for First officially began with the number 43 ARTA Garaiya, manned by Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi, as the number-one contender. The ARTA Garaiya was Seventh in qualifying and quickly moved up the ranks during the race. The ARTA team is also known for having the Drift King, Keiichi Tsuchiya, as its team director. During the latter part of the race, both cars were clashing it out, chasing each other and giving the crowd something to cheer for. I would've paid more attention to this race, but I couldn't walk much less open my eyes.

Anyway, this battle lasted until the final turn when the C-West Daishin Z driven by Omoto overshot the corner and went straight into the grass, giving the ARTA Garaiya driven by Takagi a chance to take the checkered flag. The C-West Daishin Z finished Third after the number 16 M-TEC NSX; Omoto took the Choke of the Day honors.