Nojiri Grabs Third Place at Fuji Speedway
Fuji SpeedwayJuly 20 (Sat) - 21 (Sun) —— The fourth round of the 2024 SUPER FORMULA series, also called as the 1st Princess Yohko Cup, was held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka 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), Hiroki Otsu #55 (TGM Grand Prix), Naoki Yamamoto #64 (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING), Ren Sato #65 (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING). #55 Otsu is replacing Nobuharu Matsushita who had participated in the first three rounds of the 2024 season.
As the rainy season had officially ended a few days ago, the race weekend at Fuji Speedway was greeted by a scorching sun and the both ambient and road surface temperatures shot up all the way towards 2:00 p.m. when the Q1 session was started. As for A-group, #15 Iwasa, #5 Makino and #64 Yamamoto swept the top three times, and for B-group, #16 Nojiri and #6 Ohta marked the 5th and 6th fastest times respectively; a total of five Honda/M-TEC users made way to the Q2 session. Among the twelve Q2 qualifiers, #15 Iwasa captured the 2nd grid, the best of the Honda squadron, on down, #6 Ohta 5th, #5 Makino 6th, #16 Nojiri 7th and #64 Yamamoto 9th to start the race next day.
On 21 (Sun), the sun was in full swing from the early morning and the temperature was reaching at its peak both for the atmosphere and the track surface. As the formation lap began for the race start scheduled at 3:00 p.m., an electrical failure occurred on Ohta’s #6 car and forced him retire soon after.
The moment when the start signal was given, #15 Iwasa had his engine stalled due to the mischievous clutch-meet. Although managing to hang onto the race by reengaging the clutch, Iwasa inevitably lost many places in the remedial process. On the other hand, #5 Makino and #16 Nojiri made a superb start from the 6th and 7th grid, passed #36 Sho Tsuboi (VANTELIN TEAM TOM'S) who had left from the 4th grid, and climbed up to 3rd and 4th respectively into Lap-2. But, #36 Tsuboi soon resumed his pace and overtook #16 Nojiri on Lap-3 and #5 Makino on Lap-7 letting them fall back a position each.
Any race run in the extreme heat is often decided by the tire management, and #16 Nojiri was the first driver to put this theory into practice. He chose the earliest possible stop and came in for new set of tires as soon as the minimum 10-lap stint was cleared. #16 Nojiri losing some apparent positions, but now on fresh tires, immediately began pushing hard. #5 Makino made his stop a lap later, however, #16 Nojiri already started gaining places in the out-lap and even marked the fastest lap (1’24.990) on Lap-12. His pursuit continued further while #39 Toshiki Oyu (VERTEX PARTNERS CERUMO-INGING) ahead steered to the pit lane after Lap-13, and made up yet another virtual position.
#8 Nirei Fukuzumi (Kids com Team KCMG), the pole sitter and the then race leader, was pitted on Lap-14 only to have delayed too long in the tire change and lost many positions. #36 Tsuboi inherited the leading position and #16 Nojiri followed it in virtual 2nd. #39 Oyu closed in on and, at Turn-1 on Lap-17, got ahead of #16 Nojiri who in turn had to start the catch up game all over again.
#36 Tsuboi put off his stop until Lap-28 and got back in the race behind #16 Nojiri and #5 Makino. Nevertheless, being shod with the fresh rubber, #36 Tsuboi clearly had the pace fast enough to upset the order. On Lap-30, he whipped #5 Makino and then #16 Nojiri on the next, and in the same momentum, overtook #39 Oyu soon after, finally recaptured the leading position.
At the end of Lap-41, the checkered flag was shown to the finishers crossing the line in the order immovable thereafter. #16 Nojiri coming in 3rd, #5 Makino 5th, #65 Sato 7th and #64 Yamamoto 10th were all given each share of series points. #16 Nojiri added 11-points for this time and secured the point lead with a total of 47-points. #5 Makino added 6-points and sit in 3rd on the point table (total 33-points). #15 Iwasa recessed to 4th overall with a total 31.5-points. The fifth round of the series will be held on August 24 (Sat) - 25 (Sun) at Mobility Resort Motegi (Tochigi Pref.)
The result of qualifying runs was hugely frustrating. It was a close game. By a hair’s breath, I could’ve made the 2nd row, I figure. I was telling to myself in the morning that I make good start and change tires after running the minimum stint (the number of laps mandated before the first stop.) The plot worked out just as we intended, but unfortunately, Tsuboi and Oyu were way stronger, and I had to accept the defeat. One of those races that I remember with some vexing. I’ll prepare whatever I can do for the revenge next time.
The result of qualifying runs was hugely frustrating. It was a close game. By a hair’s breath, I could’ve made the 2nd row, I figure. I was telling to myself in the morning that I make good start and change tires after running the minimum stint (the number of laps mandated before the first stop.) The plot worked out just as we intended, but unfortunately, Tsuboi and Oyu were way stronger, and I had to accept the defeat. One of those races that I remember with some vexing. I’ll prepare whatever I can do for the revenge next time.
The pit-in timing was the crucial point of the race for this round. I should have stopped at the earliest possible timing, but I didn’t confirm the number of laps. It made me doing everything one step behind, and let Nojiri-san under-cut me, that’s all. The next race run at Mobility Resort Motegi where overtaking is never easy at all. So the qualifying run is very important and the race strategy would get more place to play on. We need to prepare things using our heads fully. I know that the point gap is getting wider, so I try my best to shrink it, for sure.
The pit-in timing was the crucial point of the race for this round. I should have stopped at the earliest possible timing, but I didn’t confirm the number of laps. It made me doing everything one step behind, and let Nojiri-san under-cut me, that’s all. The next race run at Mobility Resort Motegi where overtaking is never easy at all. So the qualifying run is very important and the race strategy would get more place to play on. We need to prepare things using our heads fully. I know that the point gap is getting wider, so I try my best to shrink it, for sure.
