画像Clickで拡大します

One-Two Finish for TOM’S
Matsushita Scores First Podium Finish
Takaboshi Wins on the Trot in F3-N Class
Takehira Places Second

In the qualifying for Rd 4 Yuichi Nakayama of PETRONAS TEAM TOM’S broke his own record time from the previous qualifying to set another record of 1:44.078. His team mate Takamoto Katsuta secured another front row for the race, but he only managed to set 1:44.488, which was far slower than that in his first qualifying. “the setups didn’t change at all, but I was troubled by tyre vibration.”

Nobuharu Matsushita of HFDP and Tomoki Nojiri of TODA RACING completed the second row of the grid followed by Katsumasa Chiyo of B-MAX ENGINEERING and Shota Kiyohara of HFDP RACING.

Setting 1:47.351 Mitsunori Takaboshi of NDDP RACING topped the F3-N class again. “I could have even set 1.46s level if it had not been yellow-flagged,” he guaranteed. Nanin Indra-Payoong of TOM’S SPIRIT was second and Ryosuke Takehira of KCMG was third, one place up from his maiden appearance in the previous qualifying.

The Rd 4 started under a clear and sunny sky with a lot higher air temperature of 22 degrees C and road surface temperature of 41 degrees C than in the qualifying. Nakayama revealed after the race, “The conditions were significantly changed from the qualifying but I had absolute confidence in the team’s extensive database.” Allowing his team mate to catch up on turn 1 because of his somewhat late start the sole point leader did not let Katsuta past him into turn 3, and securing inside, went out of the turn clearly ahead of the team mate.

While behind the two, Nojiri passed Matsushita to place 3rd, but the HFDP racer, while keeping abreast with Nojiri, made a move on the V-shape corner to try to overtake Nojiri. His second overtaking attempt finally paid off on turn 5 on lap 2 and he regained the position.

As Nakayama reviewed the setups made for the race to match the significant condition changes helped the TOM’S duo build up comfortable leads, but keeping up with his team mate In the early stages Katsumata was gradually being lagged behind as Nakayama repeatedly set fastest laps, and in the closing stages he was having trouble setting steady lap times.

In the melee over the 3rd place among Matsushita, Nojiri, Chiyo and Kiyohara, the B-Max driver suddenly slowed down on the hairpin curve on lap 4, allowing Kiyohara to overtake him. “The electricity stopped working probably due to battery failure,” said Chiyo, who ended up dropping out of the battle. The rest of the group rounded out the race without errors keeping their positions.
Nakayama showed solid performance throughout the race and finished with 5.5 sec lead over the fellow driver. “I got a not good start, and so I fought a hard battle on the opening lap, but Katsuta was always fair and square. The next race in this afternoon is expected to be more tyre-friendly in cooler conditions, so I hope to relax and race with confidence.” Matsushita finished 3rd. It was his first podium finish in the championship.

Allowing Hiroshi Koizumi of HANASHIMA RACING to get ahead after the fluff in his start Takaboshi immediately regained the first place in the F3-N class, completing the opening lap with 0.6 seconds lead. Takehira and Indra-Payoong kept up with Koizumi, the trio subsequently having a close scrap. The Tom’s spirit driver carried out especially furious attacks, putting his car abreast of Takehira again and again, but was not fast enough to pass the ex S-FJ and F4 driver, who was new to the series but knew well about the Motegi track. Crossed racing lines of the three on turn 5 on lap 13 pushed Koizumi out of the track, delivering Takehira and Indra-Payoong second and third respectively.
Never knowing about the dogfight behind Takaboshi ran away with over 19 seconds lead to stretch his winning streak from the season opener to 4.

画像Clickで拡大します

画像Clickで拡大します

画像Clickで拡大します