TEAM MUGEN achieves a 1-2 Finish. The Race ends with the red flag and half points are awarded
Sportsland SUGOJune 22 (Sat) - 23 (Sun) —— The third round of the 2024 SUPER FORMULA series was held at Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi Pref.)
A total of 10 drivers of 6 teams using Honda/M-TEC engine participated in the race as per follows: Tadasuke Makino #5 (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), Kakunoshin Ohta #6 (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), Atsushi Miyake #12 (ThreeBond Racing), Ayumu Iwasa #15 (TEAM MUGEN), Tomoki Nojiri #16 (TEAM MUGEN), Iori Kimura #50 (San-Ei Gen with B-Max), Juju #53 (TGM Grand Prix), Nobuharu Matsushita #55 (TGM Grand Prix), Naoki Yamamoto #64 (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING), Ren Sato #65 (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING).
Sportsland SUGO is the shortest track in the series (3,586m) also known as a technical circuit with a lot of ups and downs in its difference of elevation little less than 70m. On 22 (Sat), the day dawned perfectly fine and clear as if like a midsummer morning, and both the ambient and road surface temperatures hiked up to 31℃ and 50℃ respectively at 2:00 p.m., when the qualifying session was scheduled to start.
The Q1 sessions run in two groups, 11-cars for Group-A and 10 for Group-B, saw five out of ten Honda/M-TEC-powered cars marked the eligible time to proceed to Q2. In the Q2 session fought by the best 12-qualifiers, after some fierce exchange of top time between #16 Nojiri and #15 Iwasa, the former captured the pole position with a 0.120-sec margin, and made up the front row occupation by the TEAM MUGEN duo. #5 Makino secured 4th grid, #6 Ohta got 7th despite a course off in the morning practice session due to some mechanical trouble, and rookie Kimura #50 sit on 11th grid.
The weather drastically changed worse next day on 23 (Sun), and the morning began under the rainy sky. #15 Iwasa spun on the home straight just 5-minutes after the free practice began, and the session suspended to remove the damaged car was subsequently cancelled off due to bad weather.
A 20-minute warm up session was carried out prior to the race start that was to be started at 2:00 p.m., however, in the perilous condition not only with the heavy rain but also with the thick fog, #64 Yamamoto slid out at the final turn and hit the guard rail. The session was cancelled again in order to repair the guard rail. By this incident, the start time was postponed till 3:35 p.m., and the race began with the safety car leading the procession. As the safety car withdrew right after Lap-5, the entire field was set for real action from Lap-6. #16 Nojiri and #15 Iwasa launching from the front row immediately began to run away sending up a cloud of spray over the cars running behind. But in the middle of the blindfold mess, one of the back markers crashed at the final turn, and the safety car was duly deployed.
The race was restarted from Lap-13, and the battle for the top between #16 Nojiri and #15 Iwasa was supposed to open once more. But as it turned out, just a moment later, another back marker veered out from the final turn, for the third time in the race, and then the red flag yet again. The already battered guard rail would need more time to repair, which subsequently lead to the painful decision to stop the race for good.
The race result was officially held, and #16 Nojiri was confirmed as winner and so was #15 Iwasa in 2nd, which meant 1-2 finish by TEAM MUGEN; and on down, #5 Makino 4th, #50 Kimura 9th, all scored championship points albeit a half of the normal allocation, which is applicable to the race run less than 75% of the prescribed distance. As the result, #16 Nojiri was given 13-points including the extra for the qualifying result and sat on the top of the ranking with a total of 36-points. #15 Iwasa followed in 2nd adding up 9.5-points with a total of 29.5-points. #5 Makino in 3rd with 4-points up to a total of 27-points, completing Honda/M-TEC engine users’ top-3 sweep at the end of the 3rd round of the series. The 4th round will take place on July 20 (Sat) - 21 (Sun) at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.)
In the previous race (R2), I qualified 5th whereas Iwasa took the pole position. The time gap between us was so big, which made me pissed off and mentally depressed at the same time. In the face of this race weekend, I told myself I should just believe in my team. And, yes, I could somehow drive almost the best drive I’ve ever done before, and got the pole position! Actually, I felt I’ve got cornered, and it kinda ignited me, I guess.
In the race, I was running at the forefront, therefore I could barely keep on going. But the track was so slippery and it’s extremely hard to drive. Although I won it at the end of the day, I felt uneasy because it’s not the way I wanted. I also feel sorry to the fans coming here with ticket for their frustration of being kept waiting such a long time. I’d been anticipating tough weekend, and yet, I got a pole-to-win with a lot of help from my team. It seems that things heaving my way, just a little bit though.
In the previous race (R2), I qualified 5th whereas Iwasa took the pole position. The time gap between us was so big, which made me pissed off and mentally depressed at the same time. In the face of this race weekend, I told myself I should just believe in my team. And, yes, I could somehow drive almost the best drive I’ve ever done before, and got the pole position! Actually, I felt I’ve got cornered, and it kinda ignited me, I guess.
In the race, I was running at the forefront, therefore I could barely keep on going. But the track was so slippery and it’s extremely hard to drive. Although I won it at the end of the day, I felt uneasy because it’s not the way I wanted. I also feel sorry to the fans coming here with ticket for their frustration of being kept waiting such a long time. I’d been anticipating tough weekend, and yet, I got a pole-to-win with a lot of help from my team. It seems that things heaving my way, just a little bit though.
Feeling of the car in Q1 didn’t hit me right, so I talked with the engineer for some (setting) change, and got it just right in Q2. Nevertheless, I couldn’t make full use of the potential, and let go of the pole position. It’s a pity. I also regret that I couldn’t complete the race. It’s started with the safety car leading the pack, but my experience taught me the situation was perilous indeed.
If running all alone, you could run on your own pace, however, you have to push hard in the race and it brings out a certain amount of risk. In that sense, today’s condition was way too much, I figure. On the other hand, I really wanted to run till to the end, and I felt sorry to the fans for not being able to show the race in full distance, especially to those who had come all the way to the circuit. Back-to-back runner up positions are never an assent to me. I’ll do my best to be stronger and faster, to win the race, for the next time.
Feeling of the car in Q1 didn’t hit me right, so I talked with the engineer for some (setting) change, and got it just right in Q2. Nevertheless, I couldn’t make full use of the potential, and let go of the pole position. It’s a pity. I also regret that I couldn’t complete the race. It’s started with the safety car leading the pack, but my experience taught me the situation was perilous indeed.
If running all alone, you could run on your own pace, however, you have to push hard in the race and it brings out a certain amount of risk. In that sense, today’s condition was way too much, I figure. On the other hand, I really wanted to run till to the end, and I felt sorry to the fans for not being able to show the race in full distance, especially to those who had come all the way to the circuit. Back-to-back runner up positions are never an assent to me. I’ll do my best to be stronger and faster, to win the race, for the next time.
