9/29/2013 Round 13 Sportland Sugo

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Nakayama Wins in Sugo Race Weekend for Two Consecutive Years
Indra-Payoong Notches Up 3rd Win in the F3-N Class

One day after Mitsunori Takaboshi of NDDP RACING clinched the F3-N class title the Rd 13 was held on Sunday at Sportland Sugo where Takaboshi and Yuichi Nakayama of PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S were to start from top of each respective class. In the qualifying a car went off the track at the SP corner and the red flag appeared again just after Nakayama topped the times setting 1:13.654 on his second attack. The session was resumed with 3 minutes remaining, but no one could set faster times and Nakayama secured a pole position, followed by Tomoki Nojiri (TODA RACING) and his team-mate Takamoto Katsuta. Nanin Indra-Payoong placed 2nd in the F3-N class over 0.6s behind Takaboshi, who set 1:16.168, followed by Hiroshi Koizumi of HANASHIMA RACING. Unlike the fine weather on Saturday it was cloudy but with no chance of rain. The air temperature rose to 24 degrees C, while the track temperature dropped to 29 degrees C. With a cancellation of Katsuta's entry into the race that Petronas Team Tom's had made as a precaution following the crash he suffered in the previous race and a faulty starter that had forced Takaboshi to start from pit there were only 10 cars on the starting grid. Nakayama nailed the start, while Nojiri, who almost had the engine stalled, managed to maintain his spot. Nakayama was building a lead, leaving Nojiri to be chased closely by Nobuharu Matsushita (HFDP RACING) and Katsumasa Chiyo (B-MAX RACING) before the Toda driver managed to shake off the chasers in the latter stages of the race to be able to concentrate on catch-up. Despite the early lead that had reached over 8 seconds at the end of lap 14 Nakayama slowed down due to vibration from front tyres. The advantage over Nojiri dropped less than 4 seconds on lap 22, but he toughed it out and held on to the lead, scoring the 11th win. "I was making sure the tyres would last, but I had to slow down once the front started vibrating. If there had been a few more laps to go I might have got overtaken," the series champion revealed with a relieved look. A battle between Matsushita and Chiyo over 3rd position continued until the 6 tenths split the pair at the flag, bringing Matsushita back-to-back podium finish behind Nojiri. It was Koizumi who leapt into turn 1 up in front of the F3-N class ahead of Indra-Payoong in the absence of Takaboshi. The Tom's driver, however, tagging the lead, slipstreamed Koizumi to get past on the straight on lap 2. In the meanwhile Takaboshi was playing furious catch-ups at a pace far exceeding Indra-Payoong before putting his car close right on to the tail of Koizumi on lap12 and completing overtaking into turn 1 on the following lap. There was now only the lead that the 2013 class champion aimed at, but the gap already reached as huge as 23 seconds. Although his advantage dropped to 20 seconds Indra-Payoong got clear away to notch up his 3rd win of the season. "I hope to add one or two wins in the next Fuji event," said the Tom's driver. Takaboshi settled for 2nd place but looked happy. "I did everything I could do." The 3rd-placed Koizumi scored his 3 consecutive podium finish.

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