Makino, Nomura and Sato qualify in the top 10 for Round 6
Fuji SpeedwayOn Saturday 18 July, qualifying for Round 6 of the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship (SF) was held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture. The event features a triple-header, incorporating the Round 3 race that was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.
Two Free Practice sessions were scheduled for the morning and afternoon of Friday 17 July. However, unsettled weather persisted, with rain repeatedly starting and stopping, and the group sessions for Groups A and B were cancelled. Kakunoshin Ohta (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) set the fastest time in Free Practice.
Qualifying
Qualifying began at 8:15am in wet conditions, with an air temperature of 23°C and a track temperature of 26°C. The cars headed into the 10-minute time attack session, kicking up heavy spray.
Among the Honda/M-TEC runners in Q1 Group A, Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) was the only driver to advance to Q2.
Conditions improved slightly for Q1 Group B, in which Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN AUTOBACS) set the fastest time and Ren Sato (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) was third. Ohta, who had shown strong pace the previous day, was seventh and was eliminated in Q1.
The changing conditions continued to hamper the drivers in Q2, preventing them from improving their lap times as expected. Makino was the highest-placed Honda/M-TEC runner in eighth, followed by Yuto Nomura (San-Ei Gen with B-Max) and Sato, leaving the Honda/M-TEC contingent in the midfield.
