August 23, 2015
Rd 15 Twin Ring Motegi

◎ Fukuzumi takes back-to-back victories with lights-to-flag
　 ahead of Yamashita and Takaboshi
　 F3-N: Comfortable win for Ogawa from Ai Miura

In the race for Rd 15 held at Twin Ring Motegi on Sunday August 23 in the seventh race event of 2015 Formula 3 Championship 16 drivers contested for supremacy in dry conditions as in the Rd14 race on Saturday.

● Fukuzumi scores two consecutive pole positions while Ogawa tops the F3-N class

Nirei Fukuzumi took pole position for Rd 15 race. Once coming at the head of the timesheets as early as on his second run with a 1m 45.557 the HFDP RACING rookie wrapped it up with his job to save his tyres like in the previous qualifying, leaving behind the others still continuing their attacks.
While Takaboshi placed first on his first run and reduced the time from 1m 46.038 to 1m 45.906 the next time around the B-MAX Racing team with NDDP driver eventually settled for third place as not only Fukuzumi but also Kenta Yamashita posted better times, the PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S driver posting a 1m 45.814. The championship lead Nick Cassidy would start in the fifth on the grid behind Keishi Ishikawa of TODA RACING. Yuhi Sekiguchi, a wild card for B-Max Racing team secured sixth place on the grid.
"The two consecutive pole positions indicates the car has been in very good condition. I am so grateful for the team. Motegi is the track Honda is good at and a lot of fans have come here to support me, so I will make my best efforts to live up to their expectations" said Fukuzumi.
Although Ai Miura of EXEDY RACING topped the F3-N class in the early laps Ryo Ogawa of TOM'S got pole position with his last attempt despite making a minor error. Miura did improve on her last attack from 1m 49.927 to 1m 49.739 but fell far short of Ogawa's 1m 48.821.
The start grid order of the class was completely the same as in the previous qualifying as DRAGON of B-Max Racing team and Masaru Miura of CMS secured the second row of the class on the grid for Rd 15.

● Fukuzumi pulls away for a race in difficult conditions

The start grid presentation started under a threatening sky but still in dry conditions with all the 16 cars on the grid.
In a more relaxed mood after the lights-to-flag from the previous round Fukuzumi pulled away from Yamashita to leap into the first corner. Takaboshi, Ishikawa and Cassidy followed the lead two in the qualifying order.
Having had his sixth position taken back by Sekiguchi at the exit of the hairpin Lucas Ordonez of B-MAX Racing team with NDDP continued to challenge, putting his car side by side on the back straight and aiming it down the inside into the 90 deg. turn before contacting with Sekiguchi – who would have to return to the pits due to a damage into retirement – and relegating himself to ninth place. This moved Tsubasa Takahashi of HFDP RACING up to sixth place.

● Ogawa successfully gets a good start to escape into the first corner

in the meanwhile Ogawa got a good start from pole position to escape into the first corner as Ai Miura got a good start too, as usual, but fell short in lining up with the pole-sitter. Behind them Alex Yang of KRC Hanashima Racing passed Masaru Miura to place fourth.
"I'm relieved that I did keep the lead at the start of the race," said Ogawa.
Fukuzumi and Yamashita established as much as one second advantages over Yamashita and Takaboshi respectively at the end of the opening lap. The advantage would be, however, extended by Fukuzumi as he set a new record on lap two and posted the fastest lap on lap three, while though it would be narrowed toward the halfway stages when Yamashita and Takaboshi were once expected to mirror the battle they fought for third spot in the previous round Takaboshi could only reduce it to five tenths of a second before ending up seeing it extending in the closing stages. Fourth place Ishikawa closed in on Takaboshi with a better pace but only to fall short in coming within the overtaking range.

● Fukuzumi scores two consecutive wins in sudden rain as Cassidy ties with Yamashita in the standings

Fukuzumi was still out in front with less than two-second lead, seemingly in an attempt to keep in line with the rest of the field. As he later revealed, however, really he was struggling with his pace. "I couldn't push as hard as I did yesterday."
Yet, despite being forced to lap with a cautious drive due to rain that started into lap 15, the pole-sitter managed to escape away for two consecutive wins from Yamashita, Takaboshi and Ishikawa.
Now we have only two races to go at Sportsland SUGO. "I showed a good pace at Sugo when I raced last year in the FC class of the F4 championship. The conditions may not necessarily be the same for F3 races but I'll do my best to maintain the pace to stretch my winning streak," the HFDP driver expressed his enthusiasm.
Holding out against pressure through running nose-to-tail with Takahashi and Struan Moore of KCMG into the closing laps Cassidy clinched fifth place. The result sees Cassidy tie with his team-mate Yamashita in the point standings, 15 points over Takaboshi.

● Ogawa eases to a commanding victory with Ai Miura and DRAGON scoring podium finishes

Ogawa pulled away from pole position of the F3-N class, and with extending his lead by more than a second every lap the TOM'S driver would leave Ai Miura and DRAGON way behind even out of his sight. With the leading three running solitary drives a close battle for fourth place was played between Yang and Masaru Miura until the latter settled for fifth position when his repeated overtaking attempts yielded nothing.
Ogawa opened up his lead even further as the rain slowed down the Ai Miura's pace, easing to a commanding victory with a huge lead of 33 seconds and notching up his 12th win over Ai Miura and DRAGON, who scored his 14th third place finish.