◎ Cassidy wins the first wet race of the season
Ogawa reasserts his advantages in the title contention
as he wins the F3-N class
The qualifying and the race for Rd 12 of Japanese Formula 3 Championship was held on Saturday July 18 as a part of the sixth race event of the season at Fuji Speedway.
In semi-wet conditions from the previous night's rain and still continuing mist some F3-N class drivers including Alex Yang of KRC Hanashima Racing and Motoyoshi Yoshida of B-Max Racing team, who had switched to the class from this round, opted for wet tyres for the qualifying, and their choices seemed correct when Ai Miura of EXEDY RACING, who also opted for wet tyres, topped the class through the first lap. However, the track conditions dried more quickly than expected; Ryo Ogawa on dry tyres snatched the class top on his second run while Ai Miura never improved 1m46.305 that she posted on her first run. The other drivers on dry tyres also steadily improved their times with each lap.
● Cassidy and Ogawa clinch pole positions respectively in wet
 |
Nick Cassidy of PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S topped the second lap with a time of 1m37.927 ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi, and while the HFDP RACING racer seemed to prove himself as a rookie strong in wet as he topped the next lap around posting 1m36.433 Cassidy quickly snatched back the lead on his third run posting 1m35.848.
Mitsunori Takaboshi of B-MAX Racing team with NDDP also did under 1 minute 35 seconds – with a time of 1m35.961 -, dropping Fukuzumi down the order behind Katsumasa Chiyo, a wild card for B-MAX, and Struan Moore of KCMG as Fukuzumi only reduced his time to 1m36.120 on his third run.
With the top four not able to improve their times on their last efforts Kenta Yamashita of PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S improved his time to secure fifth position on the grid from Fukuzumi, who had returned to pit before the chequered flag.
"I hope to make best use of the very good feeling of the car to repeat the lights-to-flag that I achieved in the last Fuji race," said Cassidy, who took his fifth pole position of the season.
As soon as topping the F3-N class Ogawa continued to reduce his times posting 1m42.153, 1m40.786, 1m39.222 and 1m38.527, and secured pole position by as much as 1 min 6 seconds over second place DRAGON of B-MAX. Masaru Miura of CMS and Guillaume S.C. Cunnington of FSC MORTORSPORT qualified while the other F3-Class drivers, who had opted for wet tyres, did not under the reference time, but were allowed to get their cars into the race after their petitions were accepted.
"I built up the laps based on the lessons learnt from the same half wet conditions of the last Fuji race weekend. I am happy with the good time," said Ogawa, who scored a point before the start of the race as he clinched his ninth pole position.
● Cassidy holds on to the lead as Fukuzumi makes a good show
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it stopped raining after the qualifying, but it started to rain again before the race and the track quickly got soaked. It would be the first wet race of the season even though there were a few practice or qualifying sessions conducted in wet.
At the start of the race where success in start mattered more than in dry conditions for all drivers except the pole-sitter who would be unsighted by splash ahead it was Takaboshi who got away best to leap into the first corner in front, the B-MAX racer passing Cassidy with a good start as he had in the previous two Okayama races. Yamashita challenged him with a strong dash, but only to exit the first corner still in the fifth place behind Cassidy, Chiyo and Fukuzumi. Takaboshi appeared to hold on to his lead, but allowed Cassidy to take the lead back as early as at the 100R and even found himself one second off the pace as he came back to front of the grandstand and two seconds off as he completed lap 2.
"I slowed down at the exit of the Coca Cola, while Cassidy was very fast. All I could do as he came abreast was yield the position as blocking would have pushed him out of the track," Takaboshi explained.
With Cassidy smoothly extending his lead a battle between Takaboshi and Fukuzumi over second spot was getting more and more furious through the early laps. Fukuzumi aimed his car down the inside of Takaboshi at the 100R on lap five only to be rebuffed, and after close pursuit he came abreast on the straight on lap eight to finally get ahead of Takaboshi before the first corner. Benefiting from a clear track the HFDP racer would then keep setting new lap records.
● Takahashi survives incidents to grab fourth place
In the meantime the battle for fourth place among Chiyo, Yamashita and Tsubasa Takahashi of HFDP RACING was decided abruptly as Chiyo ran wide at the first corner on lap three, allowing Yamashita to immediately shoot past and then losing another position to Takahashi at the Coca Cola. Yamashita, however, outbraked himself into the first corner on lap 13 to go off the track, leaving Takahashi to get ahead while he was trying to return to the track.
Fukuzumi made a good show setting better times on some laps than Cassidy but fell short in putting pressure, allowing Cassidy to pick up his fifth win, which promoted him again to the title lead.
"I'm really happy that I did well in the race," said Cassidy, "I enjoyed myself so much that I almost forgot I was racing."
Further improving his own fastest lap on the final lap Fukuzumi showed his pride to finish second, the highest in his career. The race as well as the first practice session on Friday reaffirmed his good pace in wet conditions.
Third placed Takaboshi notched up his eleventh podium finish.
● Ogawa eases to dominant victory as Ai Miura plays catch-ups
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Despite an error in the start of the race that allowed DRAGON to go side-by-side on the straight Ogawa outbraked through the first corner to maintain the lead. With the F3-N pole-sitter pulling away to move into a solid lead in early stages all eyes were now on whether DRAGON would be able to get out of his regular place in third. While the B-MAX racer was enjoying a lonely race in second place for several laps Ai Miura was gradually closing in, having made one place on the opening lap and then moved up to third place on lap two. It was at the first corner on lap eight that she capitalised on a DRAGON's error to get ahead of him. "Just as I was thinking about how to pass DRAGON he conveniently made the error, so I comfortably overtook him," said Miura.
This change in the order, however, must have not appeared in the Ogawa's rear view mirrors as he had already built up as much as a 15-second gap. Nevertheless he kept a tight rein until he clinched the chequered flag by a significant lead of 30 seconds. His ninth victory makes it theoretically possible for him to claim the 2015 class title as soon as tomorrow if he opens up his lead in the standings over Ai Miura by four points in the next Rd 13.
"I kept pushing till the end," said Ogawa, "Fuji is a track where drivers can use slipstream easily to overtake, and we have more laps to go here, so I will stay focused till the end and try to build as much gap as possible tomorrow." Apparently the TOM'S driver is aiming at claiming the F3-N title with double-digit victories.
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| [Round12 Race Result] |
| Pos. |
No. |
Driver |
Car |
Type |
Engine |
Lap |
Total Time |
Ave. km/h |
Gap |
Best time |
Lap |
| 1 |
37 |
|
ﾆｯｸ･ｷｬｼﾃﾞｨ
Nick Cassidy |
PETRONAS TOM'S F314 |
Dallara F314 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
28'17.080 |
144.547 |
|
1'52.534 |
11 |
| 2 |
7 |
|
福住 仁嶺
Nirei Fukuzumi |
HFDP RACING F312 |
Dallara F312 |
MF204D |
15 |
28'20.185 |
144.283 |
3.105 |
1'52.288 |
15 |
| 3 |
23 |
|
高星 明誠
Mitsunori Takaboshi |
B-MAX NDDP F3 |
Dallara F315 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
28'30.820 |
143.386 |
13.740 |
1'53.008 |
12 |
| 4 |
8 |
|
高橋 翼
Tsubasa Takahashi |
HFDP RACING F312 |
Dallara F312 |
MF204D |
15 |
28'37.236 |
142.850 |
20.156 |
1'53.358 |
13 |
| 5 |
36 |
|
山下 健太
Kenta Yamashita |
PETRONAS TOM'S F312 |
Dallara F312 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
28'40.354 |
142.591 |
23.274 |
1'53.637 |
9 |
| 6 |
50 |
|
千代 勝正
Katsumasa Chiyo |
B-Max Racing F312 |
Dallara F312 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
28'42.057 |
142.450 |
24.977 |
1'53.688 |
14 |
| 7 |
19 |
|
ｽﾄｩﾙｱﾝ･ﾑｰｱ
Struan Moore |
KCMG F312 |
Dallara F312 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
28'44.916 |
142.214 |
27.836 |
1'53.895 |
14 |
| 8 |
2 |
|
石川 京侍
Keishi Ishikawa |
TODA FIGHTEX |
Dallara F312 |
TR-F301 |
15 |
28'45.639 |
142.155 |
28.559 |
1'53.941 |
15 |
| 9 |
22 |
|
ﾙｰｶｽ･ｵﾙﾄﾞﾈｽ
Lucas Ordonez |
B-MAX NDDP F3 |
Dallara F312 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
28'46.838 |
142.056 |
29.758 |
1'53.730 |
12 |
| 10 |
28 |
|
山口 大陸
Tairoku Yamaguchi |
ﾀｲﾛｸ･ﾊﾅｼﾏ28号 |
Dallara F312 |
TAZ31 |
15 |
29'01.498 |
140.860 |
44.418 |
1'54.661 |
15 |
| 11 |
38 |
N |
小河 諒
Ryo Ogawa |
KeePer TOM'S F306 |
Dallara F306 N |
3S-GE |
15 |
29'08.934 |
140.261 |
51.854 |
1'54.764 |
11 |
| 12 |
3 |
N |
三浦 愛
Ai Miura |
EXEDY RACING F307 |
Dallara F307 N |
3S-GE |
15 |
29'39.528 |
137.850 |
1'22.448 |
1'56.460 |
14 |
| 13 |
30 |
N |
DRAGON |
B-MaxRacingF308 |
Dallara F308 N |
3S-GE |
15 |
29'53.242 |
136.796 |
1'36.162 |
1'58.043 |
9 |
| 14 |
5 |
N |
ｱﾚｯｸｽ･ﾔﾝ
Alex Yang |
KRC Hanashima Racing |
Dallara F306 N |
3S-GE |
15 |
30'12.001 |
135.379 |
1'54.921 |
1'58.308 |
14 |
| 15 |
77 |
N |
三浦 勝
Masaru Miura |
ｱﾙﾎﾞﾙｱﾙﾃﾞｱCMS306 |
Dallara F306 N |
3S-GE |
14 |
28'33.824 |
133.550 |
1Lap |
1'59.063 |
10 |
| 16 |
18 |
N |
ｷﾞｮｵﾑ･ｸﾆﾝﾄﾝ
Guillaume Cunnington |
FSC MOTORSPORT |
Dallara F307 N |
3S-GE |
14 |
28'50.860 |
132.235 |
1Lap |
1'58.989 |
10 |
| 17 |
13 |
N |
吉田 基良
Motoyoshi Yoshida |
RSSwithB-Max306 |
Dallara F306 N |
3S-GE |
14 |
29'18.744 |
130.139 |
1Lap |
1'59.485 |
9 |
***** 以上完走 (規定周回数 13Laps) *****
Fastest Lap 1'52.288 (15 / 15) 146.292 km/h 7 福住 仁嶺/Nirei Fukuzumi / HFDP RACING F312
Start Time :16:13'42 Finish Time :16:41'59.080
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