Prive´e KENZO Asset Shiden takes pole in GT300
Courtesy of Super GT
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The qualifying for the INTERNATIONAL POKKA 1000 km, Round 6 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at the Suzuka Circuit (lap = 5.807 km) in Mie Pref. on Aug. 18. In this day's qualifying, the YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z (drivers: Sebastien Philippe, Masataka Yanagida) won the GT500 class pole position and will start from the front row in the final race on the 19th.
Yanagida was the driver for the YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z team's qualifying timed laps. In the first qualifying session in the morning, Yanagida ran a fast time of 1 min. 56.200 sec. to stand in 4th position. He then came back in the afternoon's Super Lap for the top ten qualifiers and bettered his morning time considerably with a 1 min. 55.781 sec. lap to grab the pole position. This was the first GT pole position ever for Yanagida.
In the GT300 class, the Prive´e KENZO Asset Shiden driven by Hiroki Kato was top qualifier in class for the third time this season.
Spectators: 21,000
[[Pole position winner comments]]
No. 3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z [GT500]
Masataka Yanagida: "I drove the time attacks for our team in round four too, but I didn't qualify for the Super Lap. So, this time I wasn't thinking about taking the pole position. I just wanted to go out and run times that I could be proud of, and I am glad that I was able to do that. To tell you the truth, I still can't believe I got the pole position. As I waited for the last drivers to finish their Super Laps, my heart was racing. Last year I had a really tough time in this race because my cool suit malfunctioned, so I conditioned myself for the heat this time quite well. If both of us drivers can keep cool and calm in tomorrow's race, we should be able to get a good result."
Sebastien Philippe: "I think Yanagida did a fantastic job out there today. The team also did a perfect job and I am grateful to them all. We have good settings for tomorrow's race and good tires too, so I am confident. Since we are starting from the pole position, we will be going for nothing less than the win. I am going to do my best toward that goal."
No. 2 Prive´e KENZO Asset Shiden [GT300]
Hiroki Kato: "The direction of the car settings went well this weekend and I felt that we would be able to qualify for the Super Lap. But, we were having a hard time improving on our times, so we changed the settings for the afternoon session. Still, I never expected to take the pole position. So, I am very happy that I was able to. We haven't won a race yet this season, so I believe that the important thing for us to do tomorrow is to concentrate on producing our own results rather than worrying about what the other competitors are doing."
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| SUZUKA CIRCUIT | Length : 5.807 km
| Weather: Fine | Course: Dry
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SUPER LAP TOP 3
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Po.No.Machine Driver Time
[GT500]---------------------------------------------------------
1 3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z
S.Philippe/*M.Yanagida 1'55.781
2 32 EPSON NSX *L.DUVAL/F.CARBONE 1'55.898
3 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 *T.Tsuchiya/M.Orido 1'55.919
[GT300]---------------------------------------------------------
1 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden
K.Takahashi/*H.Katoh/H.Yoshimoto 2'06.838
2 43 ARTA Garaiya *M.Nitta/S.Takagi 2'06.995
3 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R *S.Shibahara/H.Kurosawa 2'07.246
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*=Running the Super Lap