Round 7 CP Mine Circuit
The test days saw 910 fastest on the first day and always in the top 3 what ever the conditions. However qualifying was a disappointment again and Matsuda only managed 16th on the grid for the race.
Matsuda started the race and by the time his pit stop
came had made his way into 4th place with a late pit stop compared to
the other teams, and handed the car over to Adam. "I exited on the
circuit in 4th place and quickly
overtook the Honda NSX for third and was easily cathing the Nissan Siliva,
after two more laps I had passed the Nissan and saw I was 15 seconds behind
the leading Vemac car, so I pushed as hard as I dared because I didn`t
want to throw away my first podium result!". By two laps to go Adam
had go the gap down to .8 seconds and starting the penultimate lap he
was almost touching the gear box as they came on to the main straight.
"I could have out dragged him along the straight because the Vemac
is heavily ballasted and was slow
in a straight line, but as I selected 3rd gear, the lever moved but nothing
happend! The greabox lever had broken a linkage and I was stuck in 3rd
gear with one lap remaining!". Fortunately Adam had made a big enough
gap over 3rd place to come home and take his first All Japan GT Podium
of the year in 2nd place.
"All in all 2nd is a good result from starting 16th on the grid, but it would have been better to reach the top step of the poduim!".