Omura Fraga claims long-awaited pole-to-win victory, leads Honda one-two with Ohta
Fuji SpeedwayRound 9 of the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship, a 41-lap race, was held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture on Saturday 10 October, with Igor Omura Fraga (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) taking his first-ever pole-to-win victory. Kakunoshin Ohta (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) finished P2.
Round 9 Race
Under clear skies, the race got under way at 3:00 p.m. with an ambient temperature of 24°C and a track temperature of 35°C. When the lights went out, pole-sitter Omura Fraga made an excellent start and led into Turn 1. Ohta, starting P2, was slightly slow off the line and came under pressure from P3 starter Yuto Nomura (San-Ei Gen with B-Max). As Ohta and Nomura battled, Ayumu Iwasa (TEAM MUGEN AUTOBACS), who had started P4, took advantage to move into P2. While the three fought for position, Omura Fraga opened up a gap of more than one second at the front.
With the championship title within reach, Ohta retook P2 from Iwasa on Lap 2 and resumed his pursuit of Omura Fraga. The pair circulated around two seconds apart, while behind them, P6 starter Zak O’Sullivan (Toyota) showed strong pace. He passed Nomura for P4 on Lap 9 and then overtook Iwasa on Lap 12 to move into P3 behind Ohta.
The pit window opened after the completion of Lap 11, and on Lap 12, Iwasa, having just lost position to O’Sullivan, became the first of the front-runners to pit as he attempted the undercut.
Ohta, meanwhile, stayed out in P2 and tried to undercut Omura Fraga. He came in at the end of Lap 20 and, following a quick stop, rejoined ahead of Iwasa. Omura Fraga responded by pitting on the following lap. He returned to the track ahead of Ohta, but with their tyres at different temperatures, the gap gradually came down to around one second. The pair then continued an intense battle for the lead, making full use of OTS. Behind them, Iwasa was passed by O’Sullivan on Lap 26 and dropped to P4. With three laps remaining, Ohta developed a steering issue, allowing Omura Fraga to pull away again while O’Sullivan launched a strong attack from P3. Ohta nevertheless managed to hold on to P2.
Omura Fraga led every lap of the 41-lap race and took the chequered flag to claim his second victory of the season and the third of his career, completing a pole-to-win performance. Despite his late-race issue, Ohta held off O’Sullivan to finish P2, giving Honda/M-TEC runners a one-two finish. Iwasa finished P4, while Ren Sato (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) scored points in P10. Nomura, who had started P3, suffered damage to the floor of his car and retired after completing 29 laps.
Following Round 9, Omura Fraga moved ahead of Iwasa into P2 in the drivers’ championship standings.
It has been a fantastic day. The car performed extremely well in both qualifying and the race, the pit stop went smoothly, and everyone in the team did an excellent job. I’m really grateful to them all and very happy with the result.
I made a good start and was able to build a gap while the cars behind were battling. I think not having to use the Overtake System in the early stages gave me a big advantage later in the race. I had expected to be able to build a slightly bigger lead over Ohta, but the gap was close enough that a single mistake could have cost me the lead, so I had to stay focused throughout.
Until now, I had only won a sprint race (replacement race), so I really wanted to win a full-length race with a pit stop. I also wanted to take pole position, so I’m delighted to have achieved both.
It has been a fantastic day. The car performed extremely well in both qualifying and the race, the pit stop went smoothly, and everyone in the team did an excellent job. I’m really grateful to them all and very happy with the result.
I made a good start and was able to build a gap while the cars behind were battling. I think not having to use the Overtake System in the early stages gave me a big advantage later in the race. I had expected to be able to build a slightly bigger lead over Ohta, but the gap was close enough that a single mistake could have cost me the lead, so I had to stay focused throughout.
Until now, I had only won a sprint race (replacement race), so I really wanted to win a full-length race with a pit stop. I also wanted to take pole position, so I’m delighted to have achieved both.
We weren’t in particularly good shape during free practice, so I think putting everything together in qualifying was a big step forward. I lost a position at the start of the race, but I was pleased that I was able to take my chance and regain it.
I really want to secure the championship this weekend, and I had some unnecessary thoughts going through my mind, like whether I should take a conservative approach or be more aggressive against Iwasa. I knew my only chance to get ahead of Igor was when he came out of the pits, so it was disappointing that it didn’t work out. Still, I kept pushing right to the end and managed to put together a good race that sets us up well for tomorrow.
Towards the end, something suddenly went wrong with the car, and it felt like it could stop at any moment. I was lucky to hold off Zak under those circumstances. I want to win tomorrow’s race and secure the championship title.
We weren’t in particularly good shape during free practice, so I think putting everything together in qualifying was a big step forward. I lost a position at the start of the race, but I was pleased that I was able to take my chance and regain it.
I really want to secure the championship this weekend, and I had some unnecessary thoughts going through my mind, like whether I should take a conservative approach or be more aggressive against Iwasa. I knew my only chance to get ahead of Igor was when he came out of the pits, so it was disappointing that it didn’t work out. Still, I kept pushing right to the end and managed to put together a good race that sets us up well for tomorrow.
Towards the end, something suddenly went wrong with the car, and it felt like it could stop at any moment. I was lucky to hold off Zak under those circumstances. I want to win tomorrow’s race and secure the championship title.
