The MOTEGI GT300km race, Round 7 of the 2006 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at Twin Ring Motegi (one lap 4.801 km) in Tochigi Pref. on September 10, and the RAYBRIG NSX driven by Sebastien Philippe and Shinya Hosokawa raced to their first victory of the season in the GT500 class.
Blessed by fair weather, the race started at 14:00. From the pole position, Philippe pulled away from the pack to run alone in the lead, and he held that lead until he turned over the wheel to his teammate, Hosokawa. Aside from giving up 1st position momentarily for its routine pit stop, the team maintained its lead throughout the race. This was the second consecutive win here at Twin Ring Motegi for the RAYBRIG NSX team, following last season's victory. This win also put Philippe and Hosokawa on top of the drivers ranking in a tie with the No. 36 Lexus SC team drivers Juichi Wakisaka and Andre Lottere. With two races remaining in the series and little difference in the point standings from 3rd and below, there is sure to be plenty of hot racing ahead.

In the GT300 class, the JIM CENTER FERRARI DUNLOP machine driven by Tetsuya Tanaka and Takayuki Aoki came from second position on the GT300 class grid to claim the class victory.
(Spectators: 50:000)



Winner comments
No.100 RAYBRIG NSX [GT500]
Sebastien Philippe: "It has been the greatest weekend. The car's condition was good the whole time. I am grateful to everyone on the team. We owe this second consecutive Motegi victory to Honda and the fans who have cheered us on. I really want to thank everyone. This means that we will be carrying handicap weights at Autopolis, but that is a track where we have had very good test results. So, I want to try to win as many points as possible there."
Shinya Hosokawa: "The machine was perfect. I knew that if I didn't make any mistakes and ran the machine at 100% of its potential we would win the race. I am very glad because that is exactly what happened."

No.11 JIM CENTER FERARRI DUNLOP [GT300]
Tetsuya Tanaka: "This is fantastic! Also, this is our first victory since Aoki and I have been driving together. It's the first time we have won on a dry track since changing to this machine, and that is something that makes us even gladder. It will be difficult to win the series title from the way things stand now, but you never know what will happen in the last two rounds. So, we won't give up hope and I'll keep driving hard."
Takayuki Aoki: "I won here last year (driving a different machine) in a runaway victory. But this time there was some trouble from the qualifying stage, so I am very happy that we were able to win."