Battle Magazine — March 1997

The championship was thrown into turmoil when three drivers were disqualified for ignoring the flags. In the fourth quarterfinal bracket, both competitors were disqualified. As a result, Yoshitaka Ito’s Cefiro—who had earned his place by advancing through the third bracket in the day’s Round 5—reached the final by default. The final became a three-way contest among the winners of Brackets 1, 2, and 3. Minoru Takano’s Silvia from Bracket 2 spun at Turn 2. Yoichi Imamura’s AE86, winner of Bracket 1, held off the formidable Ito from Bracket 3 and took the victory. Imamura said happily, “I’m just glad I could win in an AE86. I’ll keep doing my best with this car!”