SUPPLEMENTAL NISSAN NEWS From: Corporate Communications Dept.
A30-SN-8076 Date: October 12, 1998

Nissan Skyline GT-R Retains Lead in Battle for the Championship

Round 6 of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was held at Mine Circuit in Yamaguchi Prefecture on October 11th. The Nissan driver pair of Erik Comas and Masami Kageyama piloted their Nissan Skyline GT-R to a fourth place finish, in spite of carrying a huge handicap weight of 80kg, garnering sufficient points to maintain their lead in the series championship.

<Race Development>
With Mine City experiencing a hot weekend of temperatures reminiscent of mid-summer, motorsports fans turned out in mass for the Sunday race (46,200 spectators as announced by the organizer). The green light was given under cloudy skies, and the Nissan drivers went to work setting their paces for the first stage of the 78-lap race. Erik Comas, in the #23 Skyline GT-R, maintained his sixth place grid starting position off the line and led the charge of the Nissan teams. Aguri Suzuki, who had qualified ninth, was running well and moved his way to eighth and then seventh in the first quarter of the race.

The cars began making their routine stops midway through the race, and after the top runners had completed pit work and driver changes, Masami Kageyama was behind the wheel of the #23 car in fifth place while Masahiko Kageyama, driving the #2 GT-R, was two positions back in seventh. Masami drove well to close the gap between himself and the fourth running Katsutomo Kaneishi in a Honda NSX, and right behind him was Keiichi Tsuchiya in his Toyota Supra. To the excitement of all, a fervent battle broke out between the three cars in the laps that ensued. The Nissan driver overtook Kaneishi to gain fourth, but Tsuchiya too made it by Kaneishi and kept the pressure on Masami. Then, in the last stage of the race, Masami went slightly off-balance in a corner, and Tsuchiya capitalized on the error to get by. Masami did his best to challenge Tsuchiya from his fifth place position, but couldn't pass.

On lap 76, a fire broke out in the engine of the third running Honda NSX of Osamu Nakako, causing the car to stop track-side and retire from the race. With this, Masami recovered to fourth, and he maintain the position to the checkered flag. The #2 car driven by Masahiko Kageyama followed the #23 car across the line to finish in fifth. Other Skyline GT-R drivers also ran well and consistently throughout the race : the #12 GT-R of Kazuyoshi Hoshino/Takuya Kurosawa started from 10th on the grid and finished seventh, the #3 GT-R of Masahiro Hasemi/Tetsuya Takana started from 12th on the grid and finished eighth, and the #50 GT-R of Satoshi Motoyama/Takeshi Tsuchiya started from 13th on the grid and finished ninth.

Two Nissan Silvia's were entered in the GT 300 class.　Masahiko Kondo/Takayuki Aoki did well running their #15 Silvia in the top group of the class until mid-stage in the race. But misfortune struck when Aoki was behind the wheel, the car going off the track and coming to rest in the gravel. Not being able to get back to the track, the drivers were forced to give up the race. In the second half of the race, there was an excellent charge shown by Hideo Fukuyama/Nobuyuki Oyagi in the #81 Silvia, as they moved up to finish third in the class.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
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SUPPLEMENTAL NISSAN NEWS
A30-SN-8076

Erik Comas:
" I'm very happy to have achieved our objective, finishing fourth to get 10 points and the removal of 10kg of handicap weight. Our Skyline ran perfectly, and the team worked perfectly as usual. ”

Masami Kageyama:
" The car ran well in spite of the 80kg handicap weight. We obtained a good result finishing fourth, but I regret that I made a mistake in the last stage of the race. I'll be putting up a good fight in the upcoming last round of the season. "

The results of the race are as follows :
Class
Pos. No. Class pos. Car Driver Team Laps Time

1. 100 500 1 Honda NSX Kunimitus Takahashi Team Kunimitsu 78 1:55'22.563
Akira Iida with MOON CRAFT
2. 64 500 2 Honda NSX Koji Yamanishi Mobil NAKAJIMA 78 1:55'53.769
Tom Coronel RACING
3. 39 500 3 Supra JZA80 Keiichi Tsuchiya TOYOTA TEAM SARD 78 1:56:27.144
Tatsuya Tanigawa
4. 23 500 4 Skyline GT-R Erik Comas NISMO 78 1:56:36.872
Masami Kageyama
5. 2 500 5 Skyline GT-R Aguri Suzuki NISMO 78 1:56:43.827
　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Masahiko Kageyama
6. 6 500 6 Supra JZA80 Pierre-Henri Raphanel INGING 77 1:55:50.513
Shinichi Takagi
7. 12 500 7 Skyline GT-R Kazuyoshi Hoshino TEAM IMPUL 77 1:56:00.054
Takuya Kurosawa
8. 3 500 8 Skyline GT-R Masahiro Hasemi Hasemi Motorsport 77 1:56:04.850
Tetsuya Tanaka
9. 50 500 9 Skyline GT-R Satoshi Motoyama AUTOBACS RACING 77 1:56:36.878
Takeshi Tsuchiya TEAM AGURI
17. 81 300 3 Silvia S14 Hideo Fukuyama TEAM DAISHIN 72 laps
Nobuyuki Oyagi
RET 15 300 Silvia S14 Masahiko Kondo NISMO 44 laps
Takayuki Aoki

Mine Circuit : 3,238.98m
Entry/Start/finish : 37/36/27

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