OKAYAMA 9 APRIL 2006
Round2 Okayama : Race
TAKATA Dome NSX scores awesome victory

In the second round of the 2006 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the OKAYAMA GT300km held on April 9 at the Okayama International Circuit (3.703km), the TAKATA Dome NSX driven by Ryo Michigami and Takashi Kogure scored a decisive runaway victory.
The race started at 14:00 with the TAKATA Dome NSX starting from the pole position with Michigami at the wheel. Racing from the front, he proceeded to build up a commanding lead of 15 seconds over the second place machine by the time of the driver change. After the driver change, Kogure continued the charge, eventually running up a 40-second lead over the 2nd place RAYBRIG NSX by the time he took the first checkered.
This was Michigami's 6th career GT win and his first in three years, since round five of the 2003 series at Fuji Speedway in August. For Kogure, it was his first GT win.
In the GT300 class, the win went to the direxiv ADVAN 320R driven by Shogo Mitsuyama and Nobuteru Taniguchi. It was the team's first GT win.
(Spectators:56,000)



Winners' comments
No.18 TAKATA Dome NSX [GT500]
Ryo Michigami: "All weekend things had been going well, so I thought we could probably win and that is what we did?ABefore the race, we were talking with the other NSX drivers and saying that it would be great if we could get a 1-2 NSX finish. So I'm glad that eventually that is what happened. Last year we weren't able to race well, so everyone on the team agreed that we had to try get good results this year, and I personally did a lot of thinking about what I had to do. Things started getting better from the first round and I think that momentum led to today's result. I am very happy with it."

Takashi Kogure: "I feel fantastic. Since I became a GT regular last year, Michigami has taught me a lot. It was very easy for me to run in the race today because of the great shape Michigami had the machine in after the first half of the race. I also want to thank the team for building such a good machine that has made it possible for Michigami and me to win."

No.27 direxiv ADVAN 320R [GT300]
Shogo Mitsuyama: "It inspired me to see Taniguchi run so long and so well today and I knew I had to live up to that by driving hard myself. At the driver change the starter wouldn't turnover at first. Then our team Director, Ms. Haga, shouted ?gTurn!?h and that seemed to do the trick. Thanks to that, we only lost a little time. Once the tires got warmed up I was able to run confident and relaxed. I want to keep winning like this and go for the title."

Nobuteru Taniguchi: "In the early stages of the race I was making myself hold back. I ran with the confidence that I could then start to push it in the second half of my run. The team and Vemac and the ADVAN tires were all great. This has been a fantastic day for me. I want to thank everyone."

RACE RESULT:
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)