Rd.1 CP MINE 500km RACE (3/16 - 17)
Rd.2 HIGHLAND SUPER TAIKYU RACE (4/27 - 28)
Rd.3 Super Taikyu SUZUKA 300 miles (5/11 - 12)
Rd.4 MOTEGI Super Taikyu 500 (6/8 - 9)
A series of Endurance race, found in 1990 with its pre-season, and had become Championship in 1991. The race is distance is from 400 km to 24-hour race, and it travels around 8 circuits in Japan. This Series is operated involving greatly of the Entrants and limits itself to non-titled series with much of amateur drivers competing along with professional drivers.
The Cars are divided in to 5 classes according to the displacement volume, driving system and technical regulations. Class 1 consists of cars with 3501cc and above (Nissan Skyline GT-Rs), Class 2 consists of cars with 2001 cc to 3500 cc with four wheel drive cars (Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Lancers), Class 3 consists of cars with (2001 cc to 3500 cc with two wheel drive (Honda NSX, Mazda RX-7, BMW M3 etc.), Class 4 is for cars up to 2000 cc (Honda Civic, Integra, S2000) and Group N+ is for cars up to 2000 cc with normal aspirations (Toyota Altezza, Honda Integra).
STI supports Prova Racing Division (drivers: Kazuo Shimizu and Toshihiro Yoshida) and Racing Team Axis (Masazumi Ohashi and Masaki Nishihara) in Class 2.
The opening event of the season 2002 started in MINE with 500 km race. Both teams entered with the car of lightweight version, STi version type RA spec. C. Prova team finished the race in 4th of its class, while Axis retired with mechanical problems. The round 2 in Sendai was shortest distance with 400 km. This time, Prova retired with mechanical problems but Axis finished the race with 5th in the class gaining points toward the Championship.
Round 3 in Suzuka was 480 km, a race that involves much strategy with fuels. Prova stuck to 1 fuel strategy, and won the first class victory since Rd. 1 of 2001 as the other rivals dropped out from the race. Axis also gained its first position on the podium in the 3rd place, much success comes from appointing driver Masaki Nishihara, former All-Japan Gymkhana Champion. Round 4 in Motegi was 500 Km race, and again, the rivals were troubled with much problems and Prova won upset victory in its Class. Much more, they were ranked 3rd place in the overall rankings. Axis came in 5th to attain Championship points. So far this season, Prova is ranked 2nd place, and Axis in 5th in Class 2.
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