April 22, 2017　Rd. 4 Suzuka

Takaboshi claims his third win with a commanding Lights-to-flag performance
Palou scores a podium finish in second ahead of Tsuboi

Mitsunori Takaboshi（B-MAX NDDP F3）

As qualifying for Rd 4 and Rd 5 races was started at 8:50 am on Saturday, April 22 at Suzuka Circuit in good weather after warming-up the 2017 Japanese F3 drivers launched attacks with Bruno Carneiro (in AlbirexRT-WILSON) at the front.

Start of Japanese Formula 3 Round 4

Each driver’s best time of this qualifying would determine the grid for Rd 4 race and their second best time would determine the grid for Rd 5 race. With every machine engaging in intense runs Ritomo Miyata’s Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F314 caught fire at the exit of hairpin just eight minutes into the session, causing red flag.
Just after the restart the session was red-flagged once again as Alex Yang (HuaJiangHU F3) went off the track at Spoon, and hence the 30-minute qualifying was extended by a minute.
As the session resumed with seven minutes to go the remaining machines proceeded with their final attempts, and with many drivers improving their times toward the chequered flag Sho Tsuboi (Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317) briefly topped the times with a 1 minute 51.082 second lap, followed by Mitsunori Takaboshi (B-MAX NDDP F3), who would eventually clinch pole position for Rd 4 race as the only driver to break the 51-second barrier with a time of 1m50.999. He also secured pole for Rd 5 race. Tsuboi qualified in second place ahead of Sena Sakaguchi (HFDP RACING F316).

Mitsunori Takaboshi（B-MAX NDDP F3）

Alex Palou (THREEBOND) opted to pass on coming out on the first lap, but the strategy would backfire as he had to settle for fifth behind Hiroki Otsu (TODA FIGHTEX). These top five all broke the Suzuka course record.
The second best times were in a different order except Takaboshi: Otsu was second ahead of Tsuboi with Palou in fourth and Sakaguchi in fifth. Although Miyata had been sixth before the fire he had to give up the Suzuka weekend due to the damage on his car.
While in F3-N Shigetomo Shimono (CMS AVANTECH F306) took pole for Rd 4 and DRAGON (B-Max Racing F306) took pole for Rd 5.

■ Takaboshi pulls away from start

7 hours after the qualifying the Rd 4 race was started at 4:30 pm with 17 cars on the grid in much cooler conditions with a tailwind of 8 meters per second on the main straight.

Sho Tsuboi（Collora Cyukyo Kuo TOM'S F317）

Among those who had predicted the start of the race would be the key to victory Takaboshi got a good start, while a Tsuboi’s late start allowed Sakaguchi to pass him for second place.
However, it was fifth-place starter Palou who made the best start of the field, the ThreeBond diving down the inside of Sakaguchi at the hairpin to move up to second spot and then setting about charging the race leader. Sakaguchi was further jumped by Tsuboi and ceded the third spot at the chicane on the first lap. A pack of Tsuboi, Sakaguchi, Hongli Ye (KRC with B-Max F315) and Ai Miura (EXEDY B-Max F317) would play out a furious battle.
Behind them Yoshiaki Katayama was involved in a crash caused at the hairpin between Tairoku Yamaguchi (Tairoku Racing #28) and Otsu, suffering breakage on his OIRC F315. Despite coming in Otsu managed to return to the track.

Shigetomo Shimono（CMS AVANTECH F306）

From lap two Takaboshi gradually extended his lead over Palou – who instead would see the third placed Tsuboi gradually closing in. Tsuboi put in a strong charge, but Takaboshi comfortably kept the top spot with an even better performance, while posting new fastest laps, ending up 3.768 sec clear of Palou at the line to make it three wins from four.
Sakaguchi was distant fourth behind Tsuboi. Miura passed Ye on lap four to score her first ever point finish in the Japanese F3 championship in fifth.
In F3-N Shimono maintained his top spot in a tumultuous start, and would never be threatened thereafter to score his second win of the season. Ryoya Hasegawa (Alb Niigata Daiichi Hotel Sugar) moved up to second on the opening lap, but settled for third after being overtaken by DRAGON on lap two.
A battle for fourth place fought by Katsuaki Kubota (Planex SmaCame F308) and Masayuki Ueda (Rn Yamashita Seisakusho F308) was won by the latter as the B-Max got the better of the Hanashima on lap seven.

Result & Entry List PDF