●May 23, 2015
Rd. 6 Okayama

◎ Nick Cassidy notches up his third win with lights-to-flag
　 Ryo Ogawa comfortably clinches his fourth win in F3-N class

Just two weeks after the Twin Ring Motegi race weekend the third race event of the 2015 Japanese Formula 3 Championship was held at Okayama International Circuit. A series of good lap times set so far since the official test this winter raised an expectation that the course record for the circuit might be broken for the first time since 2008. In fact, two machines unofficially broke it during the practice sessions on Friday.

● Cassidy takes his third pole position of the season with a course record

T

he pole position for Rd 6 was taken by Nick Cassidy. In the practice sessions Nirei Fukuzumi of HFDP RACING topped the times, but the PETRONAS TOM'S driver dominated the qualifying without giving up the top position on the timing monitor. "Good track conditions coupled with rubber left over from the Super Formula race contributed to the good time," Cassidy explained about his great achievement of 1m22.048 that broke the course record by over two seconds. The second and third grids were also secured by the drivers ranking high in the standings as his team-mate Kenta Yamashita qualified second and Mitsunori Takaboshi of B-Max Racing team with NDDP third ahead of Fukuzumi.
Ryo Ogawa of TOM'S showed an excellent performance in Friday's practice sessions and took his fourth pole positon of the season in F3-N class from Dragon. The second grid was the highest ever position for the B-Max Racing team driver. "I have been in good form at Okayama since the official test. I am confident of good result for this race weekend," said DRAGON. Ai Miura of EXEDY RACING TEAM would start from third position.

● Cassidy moves into a solid lead as a penalty relegates Yamashita and Fukuzumi

As every driver had said that the start of the race would be crucial as there would be very few overtaking chances at Okayama the fate of each was clearly decided when the formation lap for the race started on schedule at 3:30 p.m., and the signals went out.
Cassidy pulled away from pole, leaving the rest of the pack in a melee as Yamashita marked his first-ever engine stall, having started in second, and fell all the way to eighth, allowing Fukuzumi to get past him from just behind in to the first corner while Takaboshi's slightly late start allowed his team-mate Lucas Ordonez to go side by side in to the first corner, and after holding off Takaboshi at turn 2, to stride toward first podium finish.
In F3-N class Ai Miura snatched second position from DRAGON with her favorite start. "I got a very good start and kept the grid position," said DRAGON. "but while having difficulties maneuvering the car into a good position I was overtaken." At the end of the opening lap there was a 0.6 seconds gap between the two, and at turn 2 on lap 2 Miura spun and sent herself and the closest pursuer, who had tried to avoid contact into the tyre barriers. "I was pushing too aggressively," she said. Fortunately the two were not injured, but this crash caused the safety car to be deployed and the race restarted at the end of lap 4.
Fukuzumi was keeping pace with Cassidy, who was pulling away, setting times between 1m23.00 and 1m23.50, while behind them the B-Max Racing team with NDDP pair was battling for third spot as a driving-through penalty was given to Fukuzumi and Yamashita, who was trying to play catch-up in eighth spot, for jump starts just after the restart. "The engine stalled when I tried to stop the car from moving," said Yamashita. "I felt too much pressured to nail the start," said Fukuzumi. The two both fulfilled the penalty on lap 7.
Now with no pressure from behind Cassidy took full control of the field, and while setting strong laps till the end the pole-sitter ended up a 9-second advantage at the flag. Having set the fastest lap he was also a perfect scorer in this race and took the championship lead from Yamashita.
In the meanwhile the Fukuzumi's demotion changed the tussle between Ordonez and Takaboshi for third position to that for second position. While Takaboshi seemed to close the 0.2 to 0.4 seconds gap in the early stages Ordonez gradually opened up the gap as the race went on and eventually held off his team-mate, who had scored a victory this season, by 1.1 seconds to clinch his first-ever podium finish in the championship. Despite struggling with his pace in races Takaboshi secured his fifth podium finish.
Keishi Ishikawa of TODA RACING was forced to stop his car just before Atwood Corner with two laps to go as he was suddenly hit by a fuel system failure and gave up the fourth position to Struan Moore. It was the personal best result for the KCMG driver. "I'm happy that I made it with a good start and overtaking," said Moore.

● Alex Yang and Masaru Miura each secure first podium

The retirements of Ai Miura and DRAGON, the regular podium finishers of F3-N class, left Ogawa unrivaled toward his fourth win of the season, and promoted Masaru Miura to the second position, but the CMS driver was also handed down a penalty for having overtaken during the safety car period. "I blew the position with my own mistake," said Miura, recalling his frustration. After fulfilling the penalty he returned the track in third position, which he maintained until he completed 18 laps to secure his first podium finish. The second wend to Alex Yang, who not only claimed his first podium but also was the first Chinese driver to ascend the Japanese F3 podium.