Both of the two Official Practice sessions for this weekend's fifth round of the 2005 AUTOBACS SUPER GT had a strong showing for the #7 Amemiya Aspara Drink RX-7, back at the sharp end of the timesheets after a weak start to the season. The afternoon session was run under the same bright sunny conditions as the morning, the mercury topping the 33-degree mark while the track scorched at 47 Celsius.
The day went to the #7 Amemiya RX-7 in GT300 Class, its 1:55.044 nearly two-tenths ahead of the ever-strong #46 Dream Cube's ADVAN Z in second. In its strongest Practice showing of the season so far, the #2 Privee Zurich Apple RD320R (Vemac) was third, ahead of the #10 and #11 Ferrari F360 machines. Also confounding the pundits was the #87 JLOC Murcie RG-1 - a new chassis after the previous car burnt to a crisp last time out at SUGO.

Some of the main protagonists were well down the order, saving their best for tomorrow's pair of Official Qualifying sessions to show their stuff.

Expect to see strong Saturday performances from the #27 direxiv ADVAN 320R, the #0 EBBRO M-TEC NSX, and both the Toyota MR-S entries.

Temperatures are expected to cool tomorrow, and there is a 50% chance of rain predicted. These changes will also create vast differences among the various teams and drivers - and some qualifying upsets are definitely on the cards.