By the third race at Fuji however, Toyota was able to improve their new car and take their first overall victory of the season, leaving Nissan to settle for second place, ten seconds behind, while the second team car was taken out in an accident. The 1000 km Suzuka saw further problems for the team as the Nova Engineering entry actually took second place ahead of the factory entry in third, several laps behind. A similar event occurred at the next round, with Nova Engineering ahead of Nissan, yet all cars managed to finish on the same lap as the winning Toyota.