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The next big development in the race came after the end of lap 16, when the No.24 Advan KONDO GT-R of Wirdheim, which had been blocking the trailing pack, and the No.12 Calsonic IMPUL GT-R of de Oliveira made their pit stops. After that, the No.39 Denso SARD Lexus SC430 of Iguchi made its pit stop at the end of lap 19, followed by the No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 of Lotterer, the No.19 Weds Sport SC430 of Tatsuya Kataoka and the No.32 Epson Honda HSV-010 at the end of lap 20. At the end of lap 21, the leading pair of car No.1 and No.38 made their pit stops.
The No.46 S Road MOLA Nissan GT-R driven by Quintarelli, which had moved into the lead after the leaders made their pit stops, finally made its own pit stop two laps later after lap 23, exactly half way into the race. After some quick pit work and changing drivers to Masataka Yanagida, car No.46 rejoined the race just in front of the No.1 Weider HSV-010, which was now driven by Takashi Kogure. With his tires already warmed up, it wasn't difficult for the No.1 Honda to pass the No.46 Nissan GT-R on the second turn and retake the lead.
After that, Kogure in the leading No.1 Weider HSV-010 continued to widen his lead. Later, as the race entered its final stages, the No.46 Nissan GT-R of Yanagida suffered a shorting in the wiring in the cockpit that caused it to fall off the paces drastically. That ended it chances of chasing the leader any farther.
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As a result of these developments, the No.1 Weider HSV-010 ran on to its first victory of the season, having maintained a fast and consistent pace throughout the race. Finishing second in the first GT500 podium finish for the team and the driver pair was the No.46 S Road MOLA GT-R. In third place came the No.17 KEIHIN HSV-010, which had held on stubbornly despite struggling with its machine set-up.
In the season ranking, the No.23 Motul Autech GT-R managed to stay on top despite falling from 5th position to 14th in the second half of the race as its tires wore down due to the same no-tire-change strategy it had employed at the previous race at Okayama. This finish meant a no-pointer for the ranking leader. Moving to within second place just one point below the ranking leader is the No.17 KEIHIN HSV-010. Another one point back in third place in the ranking is this time's winner, the No.1 Weider HSV-010. From fourth place down it is a close contest with half a dozen cars separated by just a few points. Already the series title race has turned into a hot contest.