tokachi race results

With the 24 Hour race in Tokachi back in town this year, J's Racing prepared two cars for the competition, Car #69, Driven by Umemoto, Ueda, Nagano, Maeyama and Car #99, Driven by Kusumoto, Mizuno, Brook & Sakamoto.

All the team were confident and geared up to smash the competition.

The Event had a practice sessions on Friday 14th & Saturday 15th July, the J's team decided to concentrate on adjusting the car and practising during the night to get the most out of this free time, after practice sprits were high and the drivers were pleased with the cars set up ready for the race which was due to start on Sunday 16th at 15.00 hours.

Sunday morning came and with it a mixed bag of weather conditions, cloud & drizzle tease the J's team as they prepare for their final practice session before the race, the team decide to set the cars for dry track conditions as the forecast for later in the day predicts sunny spells.

The pit lane walk on Sunday afternoon before the race saw the J's cars proving extremely popular with the race fans as the front of their garage was constantly humming with spectators trying to catch a glimpse of these magical beasts before they raged war of the competition.

The cars are called to the grid, car 69 would start in 30th position & car 99 in 32nd, the lights go out and the race is on!

Both cars get a clean escape from the start line, position hopping after 45 minutes into 25th & 26th place overall, 2nd & 3rd in their 'S' class.

Just over an hour into the race, rain and fog have visited the circuit, the J's cars slip back down the overall race positions running now in 27th & 29th place, the difference between them and the 1st place car being a mere 10 seconds, nothing in endurance racing terms... GO TEAM J'S!

The next few hours go according to plan with driver changes and pit stops working well until disaster struck for car 99 when an urgent pit stop was needed after 191 laps and 6 hours, hub trouble saw the car in the pits for 90 minutes whilst the mechanic team pulled out all the stops to get the car back in the race, 10 minutes after car 99 pulls back onto the circuit car 69 has a collision with a another car and creeps back into the garage, good news, no major damage, the race continues.

Just after midnight and 9 hours of the 24 passed, both cars are running well and back on track with a serious chance of winning, car69 running in 17th place overall, 1st in class and car 99 in 28th place overall, 3rd in class.

After 12 hours the cars still remain 1st & 3rd in class but car 99 has crept up the overall standings now running in 25th place, car 69 successfully completing 441 laps & car 99 382 laps, the cars running now are faultless and the drivers techniques suberb until that is 1 hour later when car 99 crashes into a tyre barrier damaging the rear of the car and losing another 20 minutes whilst the team repair the shunted metal!

18 hours in and again the cars are creeping up the standings, Car 69 is 16th overall having completed 656 laps and still 1st in class, the second place car being a whopping 19 laps behind. Car 99 now in 24th after 561 laps, once again the driver pulls into the pits for adjustments to brakes, its neccessary after losing the rear wing in the early crash, both cars continue their assault on the tarmac both chasing a win!

The race continued without any problem for J's and after a full 24 hours & 876 laps, Car 69 was triumphant over the competition with a 1st place podium finish, followed some 4 minutes later by car 99 who managed to secure 3rd place in class after 741 laps!

J's Racing Japan thank all their supporters and partners for their continued support!

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