July 19, 2015
Rd 13 Fuji Speedway

◎ Yamashita wins after a contact between Takaboshi
　 and Cassidy
　 Ogawa claims F3-N title as he makes it back-to-back win

During the sixth race event of 2015 Japanese Formula 3 Championship the Rd 13 race was fought on Sunday July 19 at Fuji Speedway in dry conditions, completely different from the semi-wet in the qualifying on Saturday.
It was difficult to determine to choose between dry and wet tyres for the Rd 12 qualifying while at least the racing lines had been dried for the Rd 13 qualifying, and all went out on dry tyres. Improvements in track conditions were also clearly seen in the times – the best time on the first lap was 1 min 41 seconds level for Rd 12, whereas it was 1 min 39 seconds level for Rd 13. It was Nick Cassidy of PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S, the Rd 12's pole-sitter who did under 1 min 36 seconds first, posting a 1m35.558 on his second run, faster than his best in the last race. His team-mate Kenta Yamashita was the second quickest on the second lap, posting a 1m36.133.
With all the drivers pushing hard to try to further improve the times Cassidy posted a 1m35.291 next time around followed by Mitsunori Takaboshi of B-MAX Racing team with NDDP (1m35.319), Nirei Fukuzumi of HFDP RACING (1m35.538) and Struan Moore of KCMG (1m35.672), and while neither Cassidy or Takaboshi improved on their fourth attempt Yamashita moved up to third posting a 1m35.362 ahead of Moore who posted a 1m35.369.

● Takaboshi claims his first pole position of the season

It was Takaboshi who topped the qualifying, posting a 1.35m208 on his last attack to claim his first pole position of the season, narrowly ahead of Cassidy who had reduced his time to 1m35.265.
"I finally converted a good pace that I've had since the previous Fuji and Okayama rounds into this pole position," said Takaboshi, "The car is extremely well-balanced, and I hope to put laps together and win another victory." The top three qualifies were separated by just hundredths of a second as Yamashita secured third spot on the grid posting a 1m35.269 with Moore, Fukuzumi and Katsumasa Chiyo of B-MAX Racing team behind.
In the F3-N class DRAGON of B-MAX Racing team topped the second lap with continued use of dry tyres from the previous race posting a 1m40.152 even ahead of Ryo Ogawa of TOM'S, but after that he didn't really improve; while he ended up with reducing it to just 1m39.716 not only Ogawa but also Ai Miura of EXEDY RACING TEAM posted better times. Once posting a 1m38.194 Ogawa considerably reduced it to 1m37.892 and then to 1m37.775 before enjoying about a second faster time than Miura, who posted a 1m38.716, and again scoring a point by securing pole position. This would also enable him to secure the class title as early as this week if he extends his lead over Miura in the standings by four points in the race.

● Takaboshi plays a furious catch-up as Cassidy snatches lead at the start

The weather forecast said it was going to rain (even though the rainy season was drawing to an end), but it was actually cloudy, and for thoroughly dry conditions that this race weekend saw for the first time each team and each driver were working very hard on their set-ups.
Takaboshi got a good start from pole but Cassidy did it better from the outside of row one and dived up the inside of Takaboshi into the first corner to snatch the lead. Behind them Fukuzumi passed Moore for fourth place and with the momentum also passed Yamashita at the 100R for third place. A top group of Cassidy, Takaboshi, Fukuzumi and Yamashita was maintained at equal intervals in this order till the end of lap four, and Yamashita was the first to make a move – blindsiding Fukuzumi at the Panasonic on lap five for third place. This extended the gap with the lead two, but eventually it turned out to his advantage.

● After an unexpected twist victory goes to Yamashita
Despite having built up his lead over Takaboshi up to 1.2 seconds Cassidy had suffered sluggish pace since setting the fastest lap on lap six. "The car was ill-balanced," revealed Cassidy. The PETRONAS TOM'S was finally caught at the Coca Cola on lap 12, handing the lead to the closest pursuer. Takaboshi, however, was only allowed to keep the position for a short period of time until he went side-by-side with Cassidy into the Dunlop where the two had a contact, losing his control to go off the track.
Although Cassidy managed to stay on the track a damage to his car made it difficult for him to keep the lead, allowing Yamashita to take the lead at the first corner on lap 13, Fukuzumi to close in only to be repulsed and even Chiyo and Moore to catch up before forming a group of four cars battling for second place. In the meanwhile Yamashita was continuing to pull away, ending up easing to his fifth win by more than three seconds at the line.
"Despite a good star I was passed by Fukuzumi due to my error," said Yamashita, "after that I was only able to keep up with the leaders for some laps. When I finally managed to take the third place from him at the final corner I saw Nick and Takaboshi have a contact. It was just like a windfall victory," he obviously looked unhappy with his first win since Rd 10.
Settling for second place Cassidy remained on top of the title standings by 3 points ahead of his team-mate. The contact with Cassidy forced Takaboshi to return to pit into retirement and there now seems little possibility of his title dream as he ended up with no point. Fukuzumi scored two consecutive podium finishes in third place. Chiyo, Moore and Lucas Ordonez of B-MAX Racing team with NDDP rounded out the top six

● Ogawa seals F3-N class title with four races remaining

Ogawa got away best in the F3-N class off the line while Ai Miura followed him closely and aimed her car down the inside into the Panasonic on the opening lap to take the lead, but due to slow acceleration out of the corner was soon overtaken.
Ogawa used to immediately start pulling away to eventually build up as much as a few seconds advantage, but barely saw such a stunning performance this time. "Just after the start of the race I realised the car balance was not what I had expected, it had a tendency of oversteer," explained Ogawa.
Even though Miura posted better times on some laps in the closing stages, Ogawa nevertheless managed to hold his lead to pick up his tenth win, and sealed F3-N class title with four races remaining.
"I hate to admit it, but I have been put under great pressure when I was expected to win, when I was expected to take championship title. Now I was at last relieved from the pressure hopefully I can show my good performance in the remaining races."
The third place went to DRAGON of B-MAX Racing team again. He was troubled by vibration from the rear wheels that could have sent him into retirement. He looked happier than usual with the result after completing the tough race with Masaru Miura of CMS always closely behind.