May 14, 2017　Rd. 7 Fuji

Takaboshi scores his fifth win after fending off Tsuboi
Hasegawa claims his first F3-N victory

Mitsunori Takaboshi（B-MAX NDDP F3）

Alex Palou placed his THREEBOND on second consecutive pole position in Rd 7 qualifying which took place 10 minutes after the Rd 6 qualifying.on Saturday May 13. Sho Tsuboi (in Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317) qualified second and Ritomo Miyata (Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F314) third.
Troubled by water screen caused by cars ahead and a busy traffic Mitsunori Takaboshi (B-MAX NDDP F3) could only improve his times on his last lap to settle for fifth behind Sena Sakaguchi (HFDP RACING F316).
Ryoya Hasegawa (Alb Niigata Daiichi Hotel Sugar) topped the times in F3-N ahead of DRAGON (B-Max Racing F306) and Masayuki Ueda (Rn Yamashita Seisakusho F308).

■Takaboshi wins a 4-way battle

Start of Japanese Formula 3 Round 7

Despite a cloudy sky the Rd 7 race of 2017 Japanese F3 championship was started at 11:25 am on Sunday in fully dry conditions under a fresh weather unique to this time of the year.
Palou and Tsuboi both got good start from the front row, but it was Takaboshi who got the best start of the field, coasting past a tardy starting Sakaguchi and sweeping into the inside into turn one to take second place from Miyata and Tsuboi.
Behind them Hiroki Otsu (TODA FIGHTEX) was forced to spin by a slight contact with Sakaguchi – who came to a halt and retired –, but managed to return to the track behind Hongli Ye (KRC with B-Max F315) in fifth and Ai Miura (EXEDY B-Max F317) in sixth.

Alex Palou（THREEBOND）

While Palou maintained the lead at the start as in the previous round he was struggling to build up a solid lead over Takaboshi. The first few laps would see a leading pack being formed with the lead two swapping positions on lap two and lap four followed by Tsuboi and Miyata. As they entered lap five Takaboshi launched a move as he quickly reduced the gap to Palou a lap later to complete an overtaking pass on lap seven on the run down the Dunlop corner to turn 13.
Palou would further be passed by Tsuboi on lap eight and eventually conceded the third spot to Miyata on lap 11, which meant now the order of the top three was Takaboshi, Tsuboi and Miyata.

Mitsunori Takaboshi（B-MAX NDDP F3）

Takaboshi’s lead over Tsuboi would reach 1.312 sec on lap 13, but it would be whittled once he saw back markers ahead in the closing stages, and finally reduced to 0.649 sec on lap 18 as he approached three cars battling for F3-N’s second spot. Even though Tsuboi allowed the closest challenger right behind him at turn one on lap 19 he would use all his strength to ultimately cross the line by a 2.012 sec margin and score his fifth win, revenging himself on the disqualification in Rd 6 for violating the regulations. Palou took the chequered flag in fourth behind Miyata.
Having recovered from early spinning by making overtaking passes one by one Otsu scored points in fifth. Miura won a fracas fought by five cars to score the final point in sixth, her third points finish of the season.

■ Hasegawa prevails in an incident-packed F3-N for his maiden win

Ryoya Hasegawa（Alb Niigata Dai-ichi Hotel Sugar）

Meanwhile F3-N saw furious battles unfolding early on beginning with the second starting DRAGON grabbing the lead from Hasegawa just after the start, and Alex Yang (HuaJiangHU F3), Ueda and Katsuaki Kubota (Planex SmaCame F308) lapping while closely battling each other in many places.
On lap 12 Hasegawa passed DRAGON to snatch back the lead, leaving the B-MAX now under pressure from Kubota, Ueda and Yang, the pack being narrowed down to three as Kubota spun at the final turn on the same lap. The scrap for second spot, however, still remained in the balance.
DRAGON and Ueda crashed at Dunlop on lap 19 as they were being lapped by the race leaders. The two drivers managed to return to the track but allowed Yang and Kubota to rise to second and third respectively. Staying well out of these incidents Hasegawa maintained his concentration to clinch his maiden F3-N win. Kubota secured his first F3-N podium finish in third behind Yang.

Result & Entry List PDF