9/28/2013 Round 12 Sportland Sugo

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Nakayama Earns His 10th Win in Incident-strewn Rd 12 at Sugo
Takaboshi Clinches F3-N Class Title

Rd 12 was held at Sportland Sugo early fall. The sunshine was still strong during the day, but the conditions were good for qualifying with the air temperature of 22 degrees C and the track temperature of 32 degrees C.
The 2013 Japanese Formula 3 series champion Yuichi Nakayama (PETRONAS TEAM TOM’S) broke the record time on his 3rd attack, setting 1:13.800, but just after that Tomoki Nojiri of TODA RACING surpassed him with a time of 1:13.716. Subsequently a car went off the track on turn 3, and the red flag appeared. When the session was resumed with 3 minutes remaining Nojiri opted to stay at pit while Nakayama opted to be out on track gambling for a comeback, and set 1:13.694 on his last attack. “I was worried that the tyres might not last till the end, but the time in sector 1 (on his last attack) was unexpectedly good, so I continued to go all out at the risk of going off the track,” said Nakayama, followed by Nojiri, Katsumasa Chiyo (B-Max ENGINEERING) and his team-mate Takamoto Katsuta. It was Mitsunori Takaboshi of NDDP RACING who topped the times in the F3-N class, placing 7th overall. He only needed 7 points more to secure the class title. Nanin Indra-Payoong of TOM’S SPIRIT put his car in 2nd place, but about one second behind him.
The race started 4 hours after the qualifying in not so bad conditions with almost the same temperature as in the qualifying at 23 degrees C for air and 33 degrees C for track, with all the 12 entries on the starting grid.
Nakayama and Nojiri both got a good start respectively, and after getting the holeshot into turn 1 the Tom’s driver, taking the advantage of pole position, opened up a lead on every turn before sweeping to over 1.7s clear of his closest pursuer at the end of the opening lap.
The battle for the top second was really chaotic. Keeping up with Nojiri, Chiyo looked for a way past the Toda driver through turn 1 on lap 2, only to be rebuffed. Katsuta was also reducing the gap, and on lap 4 the HFDP RACING duo Nobuharu Matsushita and Shota Kiyohara joined the pack as well on lap 4.
It was Katsuta who dropped out of the battle first. He skated off the track on the final corner on lap 8, before impacting the barrier. With the safety car’s appearance on lap 9 Nakayama gave up his over 5-second advantage, but as the field was unleashed on lap 12 he nailed a re-start well ahead of Nojiri, who ended up into retirement after a crash on the final turn on the same lap. With Nojiri ceding the second lead to Chiyo, the B-Max driver closed on Nakayama in the latter stages of the race, but was no match for the Tom’s driver, who got off to a great start with 10th win and lights-to-flag in his first race as a series champion. “It was good to have a huge lead from the start, but too bad Katsuta crashed. I lost my balance on the final corner on the same lap, so perhaps something was wrong with the track surface,” he related afterwards. “I was able to build up a lead once more, and at the end of the day, I think I had a good running.” Chiyo scored his 3 consecutive second finishes, followed by Matsushita, who also scored his 3rd podium finish.
In the meanwhile, Takaboshi nailed a start, while Indra-Payoong got a poor start, allowing the 3rd placed Hiroshi Koizumi (HANASHIMA RACING) to get by. Takaboshi was enjoying a huge lead while the two was squabbling for 2nd place. It was only lap 6 that Indra-Payoong snatched his spot back from Koizumi.
The pack of the N-class leaders appeared to finish in the qualifying order, but the appearance of the safety car stopped Takaboshi’s lead, which had reached up to 11 seconds. With a perfect re-start Indra-Payoong reduced the gap with the lead at once as the safety car was gone, and overtook Takaboshi into turn 1, but the NDDP driver held firm and got out of the turn again in the lead.
Takaboshi opened up his lead once more to clinch the class title with his 10th win. “I think I was able to accustom myself to the Sugo track well where I drove for the first time this weekend. As a result I took pole and came into my own. I got a good start, and although I was once overtaken after the safety car disappeared I kept a calm head to regain the lead. I hoped to clinch the title with victory, so I am so happy to do so, “ smiled Takaboshi, followed by Indra-Payoong with Koizumi having survived furious catch-ups from Shohei Yuzawa of TEAM NOVA WITH NIPPON IMM.

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