The race started at 14:00. The skies cleared of the morning began to change as a humid breeze blew in and dark clouds began to form over the surrounding mountains, but it did not rain.
In the early stages of the race the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) lost a couple of places, dropping from 4th on the starting grid to 6th before 10th lap. Meanwhile, the pole-sitter No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) was running strong in the lead lap after lap until the Dunlop Corner of the 22nd lap, when Kogure spun out and off the track while running alone. Although Kogure managed to get back on the track almost immediately, he lost the lead to the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa). At this point the order of the top six runners was No. 38, No. 18, the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Peter Dumbreck), the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide), No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer), and the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval).
At the end of lap 26, the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) was the first of the GT500 class to make its pit stop. They changed the two rear wheels and refueled, with Firman remaining at the wheel. After the 30th lap the other teams began to make their first pit stop. The 2nd-place runner, No. 18, made its pit stop on lap 33, while the leader, No. 38, waited until lap 38. Kogure remained at the wheel of No. 18, while No. 38 changed drivers from Tachikawa to Richard Lyons.
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2008 Bimmerfest Photo Gallery
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2008 Bimmerfest Photo Gallery
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