July 9, 2017 Rd. 13 Fuji

Tsuboi defeats Takaboshi to score 3rd win
F3-N: DRAGON stretches his winning streak to four

Winner of Japanese Formula3 Round 13 Sho Tsuboi

Following the order of second best time of the qualifying held Saturday at Fuji Speedway Sho Tsuboi in Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317 would start the Japanese Formula 3 championship Rd 12 from pole position on Sunday July 9, 2017 (his second best time was 1m34.191) with his team-mate Ritomo Miyata (in Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F314) as fellow front-row starter and Mitsunori Takaboshi (B-MAX NDDP F3) in third and Hiroki Otsu (TODA FIGHTEX) in fourth.

Start of Round 13

Masayuki Ueda (Rn Yamashita Seisakusho F308) was promoted to F3-N pole position ahead of DRAGON (B-Max Racing F306) and Alex Yang (HuaJiangHU F3) after DRAGON’s best and second best times had been counted invalid.

■ Tsuboi keeps his lead into the first corner

Under another clear weather but with higher humidity for a longer distance than the windy Rd 12 race the focus was on how drivers would manage over the course of 21 laps.
As the race started after the formation lap that was started at 8:35 am Tsuboi kept his lead into the first corner, while Miyata was struggling to get up to speed, allowing fast starting Takaboshi to ease past, and even Otsu and Alex Palou (THREEBOND) in fifth to overtake as he tried to go around the outside.

Sho Tsuboi (Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317)

As if to avenge his setback at the start in the previous race Tsuboi would quickly build up a 0.707 sec lead over Takaboshi, Palou Otsu and Miyata at the end of the first lap. Behind them Sena Sakaguchi (HFDP RACING F316) and Hongli Ye (KRC with B-Max F3125) would play a close top six scrap.

While Tsuboi was trying to extend the lead in the early stages Takaboshi kept the gap within a second or so.
As the race passed lap seven Otsu in fourth and Miyata in fifth engaged in a three-way battle, embroiling Palou ahead.

■ Tussle over final podium spot among Palou, Otsu and Miyata

Alex Palou (THREEBOND)

The tussle that started at TGR on lap eight among Palou, Otsu and Miyata provided a lot of entertainment. The three went wheel-to-wheel through almost all the turns on the lap before Miyata suffered a spin through the last Panasonic corner in an attempt to dive the inside line, dropping down the order.

Prevailing in a side-by-side scrap over the 1.5km long straight on the next lap Otsu finally moved up to third spot, but at the same time found himself far behind the lead two – who would begin their head-to-head battle.
Takaboshi made a series of overtaking attempts to Tsuboi in the closing stages, only to lag behind on lap 18 when they saw lapped three F3-N cars competing over third position of the class, as Tsuboi successfully got ahead of two of them to multiply his lead.

Tsuboi ended up 1.229 clear of the rival at the chequered flag to score his third win of the season. ‘I was hoping to pull away at the start,” said the Corolla TOM’S. ‘I felt threatened when I was caught up (by Takaboshi) at the halfway stage, but I’m happy I ended up escaping after having the lapped cars as a cushion,’ he smiled with relief.
Otsu won a melee to secure the podium finish in third ahead of Palou. Having recovered from the spin Miyata placed fifth with Sakaguchi in sixth.

DRAGON（B-Max Racing F306）

■ F3-N: DRAGON takes four consecutive wins

In F3-N DRAGON got the jump on Ueda for top spot by the end of the opening lap, and as he had expressed confidence would never been threatened thereafter till the end. ‘Once I snatched the lead I concentrated on my pace. Indeed, it was easy as there were no battles. My aim was just not to slow down,’ said the B-Max, who took the chequered flag two seconds clear of Ueda to stretch his winning streak to four.
Battle over second spot was won by Ueda when he passed Yang on lap eight, leaving the HuaJiangHU racer to deal with Katsuaki Kubota (Planex SmaCame F308) and Ryoya Hasegawa (Alb Niigata Daiichi Hotel Sugar).
The F3-N podium saw the same lineup as in Rd 12 as Yang ultimately secured the final podium spot having briefly settled for fourth behind Kubota.

Result & Entry List PDF