The fifth round of the 2015 Japanese Formula 3 Championship was held on Sunday afternoon of May 10th as the final race in the Motegi race weekend. The starting grid was determined by the results of the third race, thus the front row was dominated by the PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S pair Nick Cassidy and Kenta Yamashita with Takaboshi of B-Max Racing team with NDDP in third and Nirei Fukuzumi of HFDP RACING in fourth while Ai Miura of EXEDY RACING TEAM qualified first on the grid of F3-N class ahead of Ryo Ogawa of TOM'S and DRAGON of B-MAX Racing Team..

● Yamashita and Fukuzumi each pull away well on new tyres

Each competitor was allowed to use up to three sets of tyre during this Motegi weekend; some had already used new set in the third or fourth round, and some chose to save new one for the last battle for 20 laps, 6 more than the others. As the previous two races showed the clear difference between used and new tyres quickly appeared again at the start of the race as Yamashita got a stunning start on new tyres and fended off a Cassidy's challenge to easily leap in to the first corner, leaving the pole-sitter even behind Fukuzumi, who had started fourth on new tyres.
At the end of the opening lap Yamashita built up about a second lead, and so did Fukuzumi ahead of a bumper-to-bumper pack of Cassidy, Takaboshi, Takahashi, Lucas Ordonez of B-MAX Racing team with NDDP, Keishi Ishikawa of TODA RACING and Struan Moore of KCMG battling for third spot, with the pack, however, ending up just extending each gap with no fierce battle.

● Yamashita's back-to-back win moves him to championship lead

After consecutively setting fastest laps on lap 2 and 3 Yamashita switched to a steady but still good pace kept at 1m46s level up to 15th lap in order to control his tyres in contrast to Fukuzumi and Cassidy with the both slowing down to 1m47s level before the middle of the race and increasingly lagging behind, eventually allowing Yamashita to comfortably score back-to-back win by about ten seconds at the line.
"I'm surprised myself how well I made the start and entered the first corner in the lead," said Yamashita. "Partly because I was on new tyres unlike most of the others on the field I was able to gradually extend my lead." The PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S driver took championship lead by just one point as Cassidy settled for third and Takaboshi for fourth.
The F3 rookie Fukuzumi secured his first podium finish in second. "Actually I wanted to make it to the podium at Suzuka that I am most familiar with, but it turned out that way... I wish I could have stood on the podium much earlier, but there were still several challenges I need to overcome," said Fukuzumi. "And again in this race I was pushing Kenta very hard but could not catch him up. I still need more training." Apparently he was not really satisfied with the result. His team-mate Takahashi wrapped up this race weekend finishing in a same place as he placed in fifth on new tyres.

● Ryo Ogawa wins second straight as he takes lead from Ai Miura on the first lap

In the meantime Ryo Ogawa was never threatened in F3-N class except on the opening lap in which he went side-by-side with Ai Miura through the first corner, having made a good start in second position, and got completely ahead at turn three. In the early stages Miura was not able to lap below 1m50s while Ogawa gradually opened up his margin, continuing to make 1m49s level until lap 16 including the fastest lap on lap 3, and despite slightly being closed in the final laps he swept to victory by over eight seconds.
"I never thought I was bad at start, but was not really successful in recent races, so I aimed to make a decent start this morning and to make a good start this afternoon," said Ogawa. "And actually I was able to make a good start, and overtook at turn 3 where new tyre can work more efficiently rather than doing so immediately. I learned how tyre would be wearing down too as I was pushing throughout the race. Well, I think I made it!" His third win also moved him into a solid lead in rankings by 10 points over Ai Miura. DRAGON picked up five consecutive podium finishes in third. Due to a brake issue that was found and repaired just before the race he had to make sure the brakes worked properly in the first several laps, allowing Masaru Miura to close in, but in later laps he gradually extended his gap to ease to podium finish.
A new specification will be introduced to the next event scheduled two weeks away for May 23rd to 24th at Okayama International Circuit. While the more stable control tyre is said to give little impact on lap times how this will change the battle is of concern.

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