Japanese Series

Japan Le Mans Challenge - Motegi Qualifying

© Japan Le Mans Challenge

After a month and a half the Japan Le Mans Challenge got underway again at the Twin Ring Motegi. The free practice and qualifying for the Motegi 1000 kilometres were held on Saturday. With Hitotsuyama Racing having won the first two races it is up to Team Mugen to get a good result this weekend.

Once more the Courage and Zytek were close to each other. In the free practice Hitotsuyama Racing went quickest in the rain and set a fastest lap time of 1:57.555, just over a tenth of a second quicker than Team Mugen. During qualifying the rain stopped, but the track remained very wet. The Courage however set the fastest lap this time, a 1:55.243, taking pole position for tomorrow’s race.
The second row will be taken by two GC-21 ‘LMP2’ cars, nearly ten seconds slower than the LMP1 cars at the front. Team Kawamura took the GT2 pole position, putting the Ferrari 430 GT2 in fifth place overall, just ahead of the Hitotsuyama Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR. The Ferrari lapped the wet track in 2:05.857, over two and a half seconds quicker than the Porsche.

The GT1 cars had problems today. Scuderia Forme’s Porsche was tenth, while the Ferrari 550 Maranello of Hitotsuyama Racing did not set a time at all.

JLMC – Motegi – Qualifying

1. #16 Team Mugen – Courage LC70 – 1:55.243
2. #22 Hitotsuyama Racing – Zytek 05S – 1:55.432
3. #37 Ebbro – GC-21 – 2:04.931
4. #18 AIM Sports – GC-21 – 2:05.704
5. #27 Team Kawamura – Ferrari F430 GT – 2:05.857
6. #20 Hitotsuyama Racing – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – 2:08.447
7. #5 Dragon – GC-21 – 2:09.055
8. #15 Max Racing – RS.KK-LM – 2:12.424
9. #910 910 Racing – Porsche 996 GT3 R – 2:15.707
10. #7 Scuderia Forme – Porsche 996 GT3 R – 2:26.093
11. #21 Hitotsuyama Racing - Ferrari 550 Maranello – no time

_{Marcel ten Caat - Planetlemans.com}