June 11 2016　Round.7 Suzuka

A surprise ending for a battle between Yamashita and Mardenborough
Takaboshi clinches a victory in only his third race from his return

Mitsunori Takaboshi/B-MAX NDDP F3

■The winner of opening races Yamashita secures poles for Rd 7 and Rd 8 races

Japanese Formula 3 Round 7 Start

The qualifying for Rd 7 race started at 8:30 am Saturday on the June 11th at Suzuka Circuit – 30 minutes later than the first practice session did on Friday – in a fine weather despite with some clouds, similarly to the previous day.
With each car doing attacks one after another following Sho Tsuboi (in ZENT TOM’S F314) who went out on track first it was the winner of the opening rounds Kenta Yamashita who clinched a pole position in his ZENT TOM’S F312 from Tsuboi and Yann Mardenborough (B-MAX NDDP F3).
“From the feeling in the opening rounds I am confident the odds are in my favour (here at Suzuka). I’ve got a good grip, too,” said the TOM’S driver, who once posting 1m52.521 as early as on his third lap went back to pit. Most of the other drivers continued their attacks to fourth laps but no one broke the time.
In the qualifying for Rd 8 race that started at 8:50 am Yamashita also wrapped up his attack with just three laps, securing two consecutive pole positions with a better time. The Team Tom’s dominated the front row on the trot as Tsuboi placed second.
Katsumasa Chiyo successfully took a third place with a different ‘approach’. “In the qualifying for Rd 7 race I was badly affected by turbulence because I was running too closely to the cars ahead. From this experience I made sure to stay away from the cars ahead.”

Having made it five wins from six in F3-N Yoshiaki Katayama (Petit LM Racing) secured pole positions for both the races. DRAGON came second place for Rd 7 race in his new B-Max Racing team F306, and Kizuku Hirota (Albirex F306TLM) came second for Rd 8 race.

■A battle between Yamashita and Mardenborough sees an unexpected outcome

Kenta Yamashita/ZENT TOM'S F312

The formation lap for Rd 7 race started at 1:20 pm under an overcast sky. With a determination to “make it back-to-back wins this weekend” Yamashita got out the first corner still in front after rebuffing a challenge from the inside line by second place Tsuboi.
Having started third Mardenborough put his car just behind Tsuboi at the 130R on the opening lap and then slipstreamed to complete an overtaking move at the first corner on lap two. Tsuboi would even allow Mitsunori Takaboshi (B-MAX NDDP F3) to get ahead on the back straight on the same lap, dropping down to fourth place.
From here Mardenborough would gradually reduce the gap to Yamashita to 0.720 sec on lap four, 0.471 sec on lap five and 0.449 sec on lap six. Even though Yamashita once pulled away he was caught by Mardenborough again. “After escaping at the start I thought I would lead home while protecting my tyres, but actually all I could do was devote myself to defending from my closest pursuer,” admitted the pole-sitter.
On the exit of the 130R on lap nine Yamashita took the inside line but his right hand rear tyre and Mardenborough’s left hand front tyre had a contact when the latter put his car further inside into the Hitachi Automotive Systems Chicane, launching momentarily the former into the air, forcing him into retirement on the main straight due to his suspension damaged from the contact and landing impact.

Kenta Yamashita/ZENT TOM'S F312

This left Mardenborough unscathed though to take lead from Takaboshi and Tsuboi, with the Brit ending up taking the chequered flag at the head for the second time in a row by 1.125 sec advantage over Takaboshi. “The machine has not been really well this weekend, but I was lucky to finish second place,” said Takaboshi.
However, a 40-second post-race penalty would be given Mardenborough for violation of the Article 15.1.1 of the Japanese Formula 3 Special Regulations (a dangerous drive), demoting him to 10th place, and promoting Takaboshi to a victory ahead of Tsuboi and Chiyo.

■ Hirota claims his first F3-N victory after winning a 3-way battle for lead

Kizuku Hirota/Albirex F306TLM

In the meanwhile F3-N saw Zene Okazaki (Glocal Albi TLM) bounce up to the top again with his routine jump start, followed by pole-sitter Katayama. A leading pack of five cars, however, would be broken as early as on lap two when Katayama, the current leader in the F3-N standings surprisingly crashed himself out of contention at the second turn of the Degner.
This moved Hirota and DRAGON up to second and third behind Okazaki. The lead three would gradually close with each other before Okazaki was passed by Hirota on lap seven and then, despite maintaining the inside line as he was challenged by DRAGON from the outside at the first corner on lap nine, ran outward at turn two and spun, ceding the third place to Alex Yang (ALEX YANG Hanashima F3).
Hirota had established a comfortable advantage until DRAGON completed the overtaking move, claiming his first F3-N victory.
Okazaki is classified to have finished fourth place behind Yang even though he didn’t take the chequered flag as he had to stop on the back straight on lap 11.

Result & Entry List PDF