# 1988 Suzuka 500 km

The Suzuka 500 km, was the second round of the 1988 All Japan Sports Prototype Championship was held at the Suzuka Circuit, on 10 April, in front of a crowd of approximately 24,000.

## Report
### Entry

A total of 26 cars were entered for the event, across three classes ranging from Local Prototypes to Group C Prototypes.

### Qualifying

The pairing of Vern Schuppan and George Fouché took pole position for Trust Racing Team, in their Porsche 962GTi ahead of the European partnership of Kenny Acheson and Emanuele Pirro for the Omron Racing Team, in their Porsche 962C, by over 1.06secs.

### Race

The race was held over 86 laps of the Suzuka circuit, a distance of 500 km (actual distance was 503.911 km). Eje Elgh and Maurizio Sandro Sala took the winner spoils for the Rothmans Porsche Schuppan Team, driving their Porsche 962C. The pair won in a time of 2hr 59:12.876mins., averaging a speed of 93.726 mph. Second place went to Vern Schuppan and George Fouché in the Trust Racing Team’s Porsche 962GTi who finished about 20seconds adrift. Also, the lead lap, was the third placed Porsche 962CK6 of Kris Nissen and Harald Grohs.

## Classification
### 500km Suzuka

Class Winners are in Bold text.
| Pos. | No. | Class | Drivers | | | Entrant | Car — Engine | Time, Laps | Reason Out |
| 1st | 25 | C | Eje Elgh | Maurizio Sandro Sala | | Rothmans Porsche Schuppan Team | Porsche 962C | 2:59:12.876 | |
| 2nd | 100 | C | Vern Schuppan | George Fouché | | Trust Racing Team | Porsche 962GTi | 2:59:32.386 | |
| 3rd | 16 | C | Kris Nissen | Harald Grohs | | Leyton House Racing Team | Porsche 962CK6 | 3:00:31.704 | |
| 4th | 27 | C | Hideki Okada | Stanley Dickens | | From A Racing | Porsche 962C | 3:01:30.755 | |
| 5th | 37 | C | Stefan Johansson | Paolo Barilla | | Toyota Team Tom’s | Toyota 88C | 85 | |
| 6th | 23 | C | Kazuyoshi Hoshino | Kenji Takahashi | | Nissan Motorsport | Nissan R88C | 84 | |
| 7th | 201 | C | Yoshimi Katayama | Yojiro Tarada | Takashi Yorino | Mazdaspeed | Mazda 767 | 81 | |
| 8th | 151 | B | Jirou Yoneyama | Hideo Fukuyama | | British Barn Racing Team | JTK-Ford 63C | 79 | |
| 9th | 32 | C | Masahiro Hasemi | Aguri Suzuki | | Nissan Motorsport | Nissan R88C | 77 | |
| 10th | 50 | C | Syuuroku Saski | Tsunehisa Asai | | SARD | SARD-Toyota MC88S | 76 | |
| 11th | 87 | A | Yoshifumi Yamazaki | Masaki Oohashi | | Yoshifumi Yamazaki | West-Mazda 87S | 74 | |
| 12th | 48 | A | Keiichi Mizutani | Norizaku Tomiyasu | | Gorou Suzuki | Oscar-Mazda SK85 | 74 | |
| 13th | 77 | A | Kazuo Ukita | Norihiro Takeda | Hiroshi Yonetani | Kazuo Ukita | Oscar-Mazda SK85 | 74 | |
| 14th | 230 | C | Syuuji Fujii | Terumitsu Fujieda | | Shizumatsu Racing | Mazda 757 | 71 | |
| 15th | 9 | A | Keiichi Kosaka | Masayoshi Furuya | Souichirou Tanaka | Keiichi Kosaka | West-Mazda 85S | 70 | |
| 16th | 14 | A | Junji Okada | Mitsui Yamamoto | | RS Yamada | West-Mazda 83S II | 70 | |
| 17th | 30 | A | Seiji Imoto | Seiji Imoto | Tadao Yamauchi | Auto In'nan | Oscar-Mazda 8II | 68 | |
| DNF | 36 | C | Kiyotaka Nonomura | Masanori Sekiya | | Toyota team TOM’S | Toyota 88C | 82 | DNF |
| DNF | 101 | B | Masami Shirai | Syunji Abe | | Unicorn Racing | MCS Guppy-Mazda | 73 | |
| DNF | 15 | C | Naoki Nagasaka | Kaoru Hoshino | Masahiro Kageyama | Leyton House Racing Team | Porsche 962C | 69 | Suspension |
| DNF | 1 | C | Kunimitsu Takahashi | Kazuo Mogi | | Advan Alpha Nova | Porsche 962C | 58 | Engine |
| DNF | 6 | A | Seiichi Sodeyama | Yoshiyuki Ogura | | West Racing Cars | West-Mazda 87S | 55 | Engine |
| DNF | 55 | C | Kenny Acheson | Emanuele Pirro | | Omron Racing Team | Porsche 962C | 38 | Engine |
| DNF | 85 | C | Takao Wada | Anders Olofsson | | Person’s Racing Team | March-Nissan 88S | 31 | Transmission |
| DNF | 31 | A | Nobuyoshi Horii | Tadao Shin’ya | Hajime Kajiwara | Norii Racing Sport | Oscar-Mazda SK85 | 13 | Drive Shaft |
| DNF | 3 | C | Steven Andskär | Andrew Gilbert-Scott | | Auto Beaurex Motorsport | TOM’s-Toyota 86C | 4 | CV joint |
* Fastest lap: Hideki Okada/Stanley Dickens, 1:56.691secs. (112.98 mph)