August 22, 2015
Rd 14 Twin Ring Motegi

◎ Maiden F3 win for Fukuzumi with lights-to-flag
　 Ogawa clinches his 11th F3-N class win after snatching
　 back his lead from Ai Miura

The 2015 Japanese Formula 3 Championship has finally entered the closing stages to complete 17 races in 8 events. Following the second event in May Twin Ring Motegi hosted the seventh race event in which two qualifyings and the race for Rd 14 were held on Saturday August 22 with many race fans including families enjoying late summer holiday. The sky overcast by gray clouds in the morning became clearer in the afternoon, and the motorsport was fought in summer conditions with strong sunshine.

● Fukuzumi takes his second pole position of the season from Cassidy

The qualifying for Rd 14 was fought by 16 cars, the same number as in the practice sessions on Friday. Once the 1 minute-46 second barrier was broken as early as on the third lap by Nirei Fukuzumi of HFDP RACING with 1m 45.874 and Nick Cassidy of PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S with 1m 45.981 the battle for pole position intensified on the next lap as the former reduced it to 1m 45.308 and the latter also improved posting 1m 45.530. As soon as making sure he was still on top spot Fukuzumi returned to the pits even before the chequered flag came out while Cassidy did yet another attempt but failed to complete it.
"I know what really matters is winning the race, but I'm happy with this pole position," said Fukuzumi after taking his second pole position since the Rd 8 at Fuji. "Hopefully I can keep up my good condition throughout this weekend. Anyhow I need to nail the start, even though I'm a bit nervous," he smiled.

Kenta Yamashita of PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S posted 1m 45.579 to secure third place on the grid ahead of Mitsunori Takaboshi of B-MAX Racing team with NDDP who also did under 1 minute 46 seconds. Yuhi Sekiguchi of B-Max Racing team proved himself after a long absence in the F3 series as he placed in fifth ahead of Keishi Ishikawa of TODA RACING and some other F3 regular drivers.
Ryo Ogawa topped the F3-N class steadily improving his times – 1m 50.698, 1m 48.255, 1m 48.247 – and eventually enjoying almost a second advantage over the second place Ai Miura of EXEDY RACING as he posted 1m48.216. He did not really look happy, though. "The gap from the best time overall became larger than before."
DRAGON of B-MAX Racing team qualified third ahead of Masaru Miura of CMS.

● Fukuzumi gets a good start to keep his lead over Cassidy and Yamashita

More than four hours after the qualifying the race for Rd 14 started at 3.38 pm with sunshine breaking through the clouds.
Making the most of his pole position to get a good start Fukuzumi jumped into the first corner in front even though it was Cassidy who made better start. "I focused on the success of my start, keeping telling myself that all I need to do was start the car off the line," revealed Fukuzumi.
Having made two positions at the start Ishikawa entered the first bend in fourth place behind Yamashita but was demoted back the order by Takaboshi, and then by Sekiguchi even before the opening lap had been completed.
In the F3-N class, meanwhile, Ogawa fluffed the start putting Ai Miura up to the lead but managing to remain in the second place as DRAGON once closed in but ended up making way to avoid a contact.
A collision caused at turn three between Alex Yang of HRC Hanashima Racing and Guillaume Cunnington of FSC MOTORSPORT immediately sent the former into retirement, and lagged the latter, who nevertheless managed to stay on the track, a lap behind.
Once snatching back his lead at turn five on lap two just after Ai Miura made an error at turn four Ogawa resumed his routine work of opening up his advantage.

● Fukuzumi claims his first F3 win with dominant lights-to-flag and setting the fastest lap

The 1.5-second lead Fukuzumi had over Cassidy at the end of the opening lap extended to about two seconds a lap later, and Cassidy too extended the gap over Yamashita to a second on the same lap. In contrast the gap between Yamashita and Takaboshi was once narrowed and then was slowly opening up. Ishikawa was closely following Sekiguchi.
Fukuzumi kept extending his lead, setting the fastest lap of 1m 46.877 on lap 11, until he crossed the line about eight seconds ahead of Cassidy. It was entirely due to his perfect tyre management that he played out a pressure-free drive despite the first-ever top position in his F3 career.
"I'm incredibly happy that I won for the first time. The car has shown some great pace since the practice sessions on Friday and I made the best use of it to take pole position and get a good start. Once I started I concentrated on pushing hard without worrying about what was going on behind. Now I feel I finally made it!" the HFDP rookie commented in delight.

● Cassidy swells his championship lead to five points as he finishes in second place
Cassidy swelled his championship lead over second place Yamashita to five points as he finished in second place. "I would rather think I have only a 5-point lead. Since my position on the grid tomorrow is not so good I will do my best not to reduce the lead in the rankings," said Cassidy.
Persevering through persistent pressure from Takaboshi including overtaking attempts at turn five and the 130R on lap 11 Yamashita fended off the charging pursuer to hold on to third place.
In the meanwhile, having passed Ishikawa Sekiguchi was quickly closing in on these two ahead. Had there been a few more laps to go the B-Max driver would have got a different result.

● Ogawa cruises to a dominant F3-N class victory ahead of Ai Miura and DRAGON
Keeping lapping alone under 1 min 50 seconds Ogawa cruised to a dominant F3-N class victory to mark his 11th win with as much as a 14-second advantage. Obviously he had no intention of letting the opponents win because he already clinched the class title. DRAGON finished in third place for the 13th time behind Ai Miura. Masaru Miura maintained his position on the grid to finish fourth.
"I was keeping up with the overall leaders until the race hit the halfway point. I hope I will be able to keep up with them till the end, and to overtake if I have any chance tomorrow in the race," Ogawa is really aiming at a level higher stage.