Ayumu Iwasa starts from 13th and finishes 8th to gain a point
Baku City CircuitRound 6 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship kicked off on the Baku City Circuit in the capital of Azerbaijan.
In the qualifying session on Friday, 10 June, Ayumu Iwasa, a Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) driver, marked the fastest time in his first attempt, but in his second, he stopped after overshooting a corner and hitting the barrier. Unable to run anymore to improve his time, he had to settle for 13th in the qualifying. In the Sprint Race on Saturday 11, Iwasa started from P13 on Row 7 of the grid.
Under an ambient temperature of 28℃ and a track temperature of 48℃, the formation lap of the 21-lap Sprint Race got underway at 1:30pm. After a good start, Iwasa moved up to 11th, but was passed by a following car on the straight towards the end of the lap and finished the first lap in 12th. One of the leading cars made a pit stop following an accident on Lap 4, which put Iwasa in 11th position. On Lap 8, in a close battle for positions, Iwasa locked his tyres on the first corner and was passed by a trailing car to drop to 12th. However, he overtook a car on the main straight on Lap 10 to regain 11th place.
On Lap 14, a competitor ahead of him hit the barriers and stopped, which brought on the Safety Car. When the race resumed on Lap 17, Iwasa had improved his position and moved up to 9th. On Lap 17 an accident happened to one of the leading cars and the Japanese driver climbed to 8th. The accident brought on the Safety Car for the second time. The race restarted on Lap 19 only to last until Lap 20 when another accident occurred. After the third Safety Car intervention, the race resumed with only one lap remaining. Another accident occurred shortly after the restart at the back of the pack, but Iwasa was able to hold on to 8th position and finish the race with one point.
My feeling about the result is that it is neither good nor bad. I had speed in the qualifying so I thought I could improve my position in the race, but I wasn't as fast as in the qualifying. I did a good job with tyre management. However, it seems that the load on the tyres was still big, and my tyres were close to the limit at the end. And the brake problems I had in qualifying worsened in the race. That caused a locking of the tyres several times. I think it's probably a temperature and heat issue. I will take countermeasures and prepare well for the Feature Race. On this track overtaking is possible, and if we can get our strategy right as well, I think I can aim for a top position.
My feeling about the result is that it is neither good nor bad. I had speed in the qualifying so I thought I could improve my position in the race, but I wasn't as fast as in the qualifying. I did a good job with tyre management. However, it seems that the load on the tyres was still big, and my tyres were close to the limit at the end. And the brake problems I had in qualifying worsened in the race. That caused a locking of the tyres several times. I think it's probably a temperature and heat issue. I will take countermeasures and prepare well for the Feature Race. On this track overtaking is possible, and if we can get our strategy right as well, I think I can aim for a top position.
