With the cars reaching 200-plus km/h on the front straight, the Mazda RX-Vision (Kravchenko) and the Volkswagen Beetle (Sternberg) trimmed the Toyota’s lead to under three seconds by the end of lap 7... but Christmas came early for the Japanese driver when a furious duel broke out between Sternberg and Kravchenko. With the RX-Vision GT3 busy holding off the VW Beetle Gr.3, Yamanaka built his lead back up to more than three seconds on the penultimate lap, ensuring a Toyota victory.