JCTC: Mine round seven notes

Second for Motoyama and Krumm in Mine.

Qualifying

Motoyama again undertook the qualifying attack and secured tenth position for the No.22 car.  " Satoshi was unlucky today, his lap was probably good enough for third place, but he was caught out in traffic and lost some time. Our pace here is pretty good although we are struggling with tyre temperatures as it is very cold. I think we can be well inside the top six tomorrow - so lets see what happens." Michael commented Saturday evening

Race

From the start, which saw Satoshi Motoyama driving, the luck started to favour the No.22 Skyline for the first time this season. Five cars where eliminated on the first lap, with no drivers hurt, elevating Motoyama immediately into fifth place.  Motoyama then set about the leaders and took fourth position on the track, which would become second as the leaders pitted.

Motoyama pitted to hand the car to Michael and as he rejoined the circuit the No. 16 Honda NSX was charging towards the first corner having pitted several laps earlier.

Michael took the lead and held it through the first corner, then slide wide on his cold tyres into the second corner allowing the No.16 Honda NSX to take the lead. Michael gingerly opened the steering and ran through the gravel trap and immediately began to chase the leader.  Sadly he was unable to close the gap and would finish 8 seconds behind him in second place.

"Satoshi did a great job to bring the car to me in second place. Our strategy was good and I was fighting for the lead when I took the car out of the pits. I pushed a little to hard on the first lap and lost the lead - it was my mistake but I knew that our tyres would take several laps to get fully up to temperature so I had to risk it on the first lap." Michael commented on Sunday

-jules-