7/13/2013 Round 8 Fuji Speedway

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Triumph for Katsumoto and Indra-Payoong
Winning Streaks of Nakayama and Takaboshi Ended　

The round 7 of Japanese F3 Championship was held at Fuji Speedway, located at the foot of Mt Fuji, which has just been designated as a World Heritage. In the early summer conditions Yuichi Nakayama of PETRONAS TEAM TOM’S set 1:35.472 to take pole. “Following the temperature drop the track became hardened, and that allowed me to drive easily. The car setup matched the conditions” he commented in a good mood. Sitting next was his team-mate Takamoto Katsuta. The all-Tom’s front row was now a familiar scene for the series. The second row was secured by Katsumasa Chiyo (B-MAX ENGINEERING) and Tomoki Nojiri (TODA RACING). Meanwhile Mitsunori Takaboshi of NDDP RACING was defeated for the first time and ceded the top in the F3-N class to Nanin Indra-Payoong (TOM’S SPIRIT). The two were to start from the 4th row.
When all the cars lined up on the grid the air temperature was 30 degrees C and the track temperature was 39 degrees C, over 10 degrees C lower from the practice session on Friday, which was not quite low, but was low enough to make a big difference to the conditions.
Despite getting a better start than his team-mate Katsuta was unable to take the lead in the first corner, but keeping up with Nakayama, he threaded his way through and succeeded in overtaking in the final corner. Nakayama immediately tried to be back past him from slipstream but could only put his car abreast of him. The pole-sitter’s subsequent overtaking attempts on difficult racing lines in the first and Coca Cora corners on lap 2 did not work out well, either.
The first corner on lap 2 also saw a battle over 3rd position between Chiyo and Nojiri, and when Nojiri got the better of Chiyo he found the gap with the lead two was already too big to reduce, and the Toda driver ran alone in the 3rd place in the latter stages. The focus of the field was now put on a combat for 4th place among Chiyo, Shota Kiyohara and Nobuharu Matsushita, and these two HFDP RACING drivers got past Chiyo one after another in the first corner, who was having difficulties keeping pace due to his tyres damaged during the battle with Nojiri.
While the duel between the HFDP duo was too close to call till the end, the duel for the lead between the Tom’s duo was virtually determined in the middle of the race – Katsuta held on to his lead, clinching his first victory since the season opener. “I got a so good start that I almost overtook Nakayama. I thought the only overtaking chance would be either in the first or the final corner where I could use slipstream, but it was actually in the Coca Cola corner that I was able to get fully ahead of him. It was done somewhat by force, but he battled me in a fair way. I hope to turn this win into a good result.” The 3rd-placed Nojiri ascended the rostrum third times in a row.
Meanwhile in the F3-N class Takaboshi got a good start into the first corner side by side with Indra-Payoong but fell a bit short of coming completely ahead, and was pulled away further by the lead in Coca Cola corner. Behind them Hiroshi Koizumi (HANASHIMA RACING) moved past Ryo Ogawa (TOCHIGI LE BEAUSSET MOTORSPORTS) in the first corner to place third.
Indra-Payoong gradually opened up his lead before suffering from significant drop in the grip in the latter stages, allowing the closest challenger to approach him rapidly and reduce the gap to 0.7s, but managed to hold on to his spot. “I managed to lead home from the pole. It was the toughest race, indeed.” Takaboshi failed to stretch his winning streak to 8. By surviving overtaking attempts from Ogawa Koizumi secured first podium finish since Rd. 2.

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