The Rayberg NSX will line up seventh
Courtesy of the Super GT
The qualifying for the SUGO GT 300 km Race, Round 5 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at SPORTS-LAND SUGO (one lap 3.704 km) in Miyagi Pref. on July 28. The TAKATA DOME NSX driven by Ryo Michgami and Takashi Kogure grabbed the GT500 class pole position (fastest qualifier) and will start from the front row in the final race on the 29th July.
In the first qualifying session in the morning, Kogure ran a course record time of 1 min. 14.784 sec. to lead the qualifiers. In the afternoon Super Lap for the top ten qualifiers (time trial run one machine at a time), while the other rivals failed to improve on their morning times, Kogure ran another fast time of 1 min. 15.120 sec. to hold his lead and win the pole position.
With Michigami having won the pole position in round 2 of the season and Kogure winning pole in rounds 3 and 4, this makes the fourth consecutive pole position for the TAKATA DOME NSX team, which sets a new record in SUPER GT competition.
In the GT300 class, the Privee KENZO Asset Shiden driven by Hiroki Kato was the top qualifier.
Pole position winner comments
No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX [GT500]
Takashi Kogure: This new record for consecutive pole positions is something that I have to thank all our supporters, fans and the team for. I am really grateful. I was able to run a time in the 1 min. 14 sec range in the first (morning) qualifying session, but in the Super Lap my time was in the 15 sec. range. In the morning session I had run in the 15 sec. range on my first timed lap and then improved to a 14 sec. time on the next lap. I believe that in the Super Lap as well, if I had more time to warm up the front tires I could have run a faster time. Starting from the front row tomorrow puts us closest to victory, so I am going to do my best."
Ryo Michigami: 的 know that our machine has the speed, and as long as we don't run into any trouble, we should be able to win tomorrow. I don't care if it rains or is clear, but if it changes from one to the other in the middle of the race it makes things frantic. If that kind of fate befalls us, I want to make it work in our favor."
No. 42 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden [GT300]
Hiroki Kato: The track condition was different today from that of yesterday's free practice session. So, we changed our settings in the session before the afternoon Super Lap and got a very good machine set-up. Still I doubted that we would be able to run a time faster than the morning time of the Garaiya team. I feel like they gave us a present in letting us win the pole position (laughs). This is a circuit where it is hard to pass your competitors, so we really wanted the pole position and I'm glad we got it. I'm not worried about what kind of weather we have tomorrow for the race. The only thing we have to do is go out and try our best."
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| Spotsland SUGO | Length : 3.704256km
| Weather: Fine | Course: Dry
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RACE RESULTS TOP3
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Po.No.Machine Driver LAPS Time/Diff
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1 18 TAKATA DOME NSX R.Michigami/*T.Kogure R 1'15.120
2 8 ARTA NSX *D.Ito/R.Firman R 1'15.545
3 32 EPSON NSX *L.DUVAL/F.CARBONE R 1'15.689
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1 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden *K.Takahashi/H.Katoh 1'22.760
2 43 ARTA Garaiya M.Nitta/*S.Takagi 1'22.886
3 13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z *M.Kageyama/T.Fujii 1'23.285
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*=Running the Super Lap / R=Course Record