July 14, 2019 Rd 12 FUJI Speedway

Fenestraz revenges his setback in Rd 11 with a dominant victory
Ahmed beats Miyata for second consecutive podium

　Sacha Fenestraz in B-Max Racing with motopark F3 won Rd 12 of Japanese Formula 3 championship on July 14th with an unrivalled performance to mark his sixth victory of the season in the rain that started falling in the early Sunday morning.

　The previous Rd’s race winner Enaam Ahmed (in B-Max Racing with motopark F3) was second and Ritomo Miyata (Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317) was third.

■Fenestraz grabs the lead from Miyata into the first corner

　The grid was determined by the order of second best times of each driver in the Saturday’s qualifying, and Miyata took pole position ahead of Fenestraz and Hiroki Otsu (ThreeBond F318).

　In addition to Charles Milesi (YTB by Carlin) and Tairoku Yamaguchi (Tairoku Racing #28 car) Ai Miura (ThreeBond F314) missed the race due to injury from the crash in the previous race.

　The rain had eased when the formation lap started in the wet conditions. Hiroki Kokuzawa (Planex Sma Came F3)’s wild-card appearance ended as early as on the lap as he had to limp back to the pits after losing his front wing through spinning and crashing at Dunlop.

　As the lights went out at 4:25 pm and 10 cars made a start for 21 laps Fenestraz got away strongly, slipping down Miyata’s inside line into the first corner for the lead.

　Ahmed made two positions with an impressive start from fifth on the grid.

　Further back, Toshiki Oyu (TODA FIGHTEX) and Shunsuke Kohno (RS FINE K&N F318) made a contact, forcing the latter to park up at the outside of the track before Coca-Cola.

■Blistering pace for Fenestraz in the rain

　At the end of the opening lap came Fenestraz, Miyata, Ahmed, Otsu and Kazuto Kotaka (Corolla Chukyo Kuo TOM’S F317).

　Having been relegated to eighth by the contact Oyu passed Ameya Vaidyanathan (B-Max Racing with motopark F3) on lap two and Yoshiaki Katayama (YTB by Carlin) on lap four to move up to sixth, but suffered a spin at the exit of GR Supra on lap seven while chasing Kotaka that would send him over the kerb, dropping him back to seventh.

　With Fenestraz lapping a second faster than the others, a battle over a second spot was brewing. Ahmed aimed the inside of Miyata at Dunlop on lap 15, only to be rebuffed, but he once again dived down the inside on the run to Panasonic a lap later, cutting across his adversary and going wheel-to-wheel on the straight to finally overtake Miyata through Coca-Cola for the second spot, which he would retain to the chequered flag.

　Fenestraz ended up a sizeable 20 seconds clear of Ahmed at the line for his first win since the Okayama weekend. Miyata, Otsu, Kotaka and Oyu completed the points.

　DRAGON (TEAM DRAGON F3) drove a faultless race to make it back-to-back Master class win.