May 27 2018　Round. 4 SportsLand SUGO

Tsuboi takes fourth consecutive win with lights-to-flag victory
Sakaguchi holds off Oyu for P3

Sho Tsuboi（Collora Chukyo Kuo TOM'S F317）

On Saturday May 27th Ritomo Miyata (in Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317) briefly came out on top at Sugo in the qualifying for Japanese Formula 3 Championship as he posted 1m13.418 on his first attack. His team-mate Sho Tsuboi (Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317) and the Toda pair of Toshiki Oyu (TODA FIGHTEX) and Sena Sakaguchi (TODA FIGHTEX) followed.

Start of Japanese F3 Round.4

After pitting for a while each driver went out for their second attacks with 10 minutes remaining. As they warmed up tyres Motoyoshi Yoshida (B-MAX ENGINEERING F3) went off the track at turn three, causing the session to be red flagged and called off. With many left with little time to do anything in this situation Tsuboi successfully improved his times to take pole positions for both Rd 3 and Rd 4 races. Oyu secured another front row position for Rd 4 with Miyata and Sakaguchi on the second row and Ukyo Sasahara (THREEBOND) and Yoshiaki Katayama (YTB F318) on the third row.

■Midfield sees fierce battles take place

Sho Tsuboi（Collora Chukyo Kuo TOM'S F317）

As the formation lap of Rd 4 started at 10:10 am on Sunday May 27 after Super Formula’s practice session Tsuboi got a good getaway as he did in the previous round, while Oyu struggled to get up to speed, allowing Miyata and Sakaguchi to breeze past him into turn one.

However, the Toda driver kept pace and almost caught up with Sakaguchi in trying a pass on his team-mate around the outside of turn one like in Rd 3, only to slightly go off-track and even be almost caught by Sasahara running in fifth.

Albeit the gap to Sakaguchi a bit increasing he managed to keep Sasahara back to cling to the fourth spot on lap two.

Sena Sakaguchi（TODA FIGHTEX）

Behind the five were a series of spats unfolding in a pack of Katayama at the front, Yuuki Nemoto (Albirex-RT) and Yu Kanamaru (YTB F318).

For a longer distance of 25 laps than usual Tsuboi quickly went all out to punch in fastest laps, posting 1m14.289 on lap 4 and then reducing it to 1m14.152 on lap 6 while keeping more than a second lead over Miyata.

In the closing stages the battle over fourth position became fierce as Sasahara closed in on Oyu on lap 13, running nose-to-tail, but unable to hunt down presumably due to downforce loss in the wake of the car ahead.

■Miyata proves himself with last-ditch fastest lap

Held up by lapped cars Tsuboi saw his advantage over Miyata slightly being reduced on lap 15 but as it reached as little as a second he proceeded again to open up the gap. Oyu in fourth also set about escaping away from Sasahara.

Toshiki Oyu（TODA FIGHTEX）

Tsuboi had looked to score full-marks in a row but his hope was dashed when Miyata proved himself with posting 1m14.089 two laps from the end, which the pole-sitter was unable to better on the final lap. Despite earning one point from the fastest lap Miyata settled for second place.

Sakaguchi enjoyed a lonely race late on to finish third. Oyu held on for fourth ahead of Sasahara. Katayama placed sixth.

Jake Parsons (NRA312) took chequered flag in 14th, the top spot in F3-N.