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The race started at 3pm under the temperature of 19 degrees Celsius and track temperature 21 degrees Celsius. A safety car run start was decided due to heavy rainfall on the dummy grid. No.7 Narain Karthikeyan (SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS) couldn't make it on to the grid after coursing out during the 8 minute practice session, and had to start at the end of the grid.
With Ishiura in the lead, No.19 Joao Paolo de Oliveira (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL), No.10 Koudai Tsukakoshi(REAL RACING), No.11 Takuya Izawa (REAL RACING), No.40 Tomoki Nojiri (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), No.16 Naoki Yamamoto (TEAM MUGEN), No.2 Yuji Kunimoto (P.MU/CERUMO · INGING) followed the safety car around the track in their grid order. However, the weather didn't seem to get any better, and it looked like the safety car run was going to continue.

After two laps, No.8 Kamui Kobayashi (SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS) came back into the pits. Kobayashi had trouble with the machine's electric wire connection, and every time he tried to steer at the corners the power went off. He had to go back into the pits to change his steering, and went back into course after refueling. No.41 Stoffel Vandoorne (DOCOMO TeaM DANDELION RACING) also came in after Kobayashi to refuel the machine preparing for a longer safety car run. After 4 laps, No.20 Yuhi Sekiguchi (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL), No.65 Bertrand Baguette (NAKAJIMA RACING), No.34 Takashi Kogure (DRAGO CORSE), and Karthikeyan came back for fueling. No.37 Kazuki Nakajima (VANTELIN TEAM TOM'S) made a pit stop after 5 laps as well. Kobayashi, who changed the steering in his first pit stop came back in with the same problem.

Some action took place in the 6th lap in the top group. Oliveira, who was running 2nd, stopped on the course just before the Redman corner. He couldn't move his gear because rain had gotten into his steering. Oliveira had to retire at this point. While his car was being taken off course, the rain worsened, and at the 9th lap the red flag was shown. Although the teams and drivers waited for the weather to improve, at 4:05pm, the race was called off.

No.11 伊沢拓也

Ishiura made his first win of the season. Oliveira's accident placed Tsukakoshi in 2nd, Izawa in 3rd place. Nojiri, Yamamoto, Kunimoto, No.64 Daisuke Nakajima (NAKAJIMA RACING), No.36 Andre Lotterer (VANTELIN TEAM TOM'S) got their points. These drivers were given half of the regular points, because the race distance was less than 75% of what had been planned.

 

TOP 3 comments

It was the right decision to call off the race for safety

Winner
No.1 Hiroaki Ishiura (P.MU/CERUMO · INGING)

In the morning practice, I knew we would have to run a long distance in the rain so I told my team that I wanted to make some laps in the rain sets. We tried to make some laps in the rain set machine, and practiced the start. But it wasn't going as well as we thought so I had to try again and again. We basically used the morning to prepare for the upcoming wet race. I checked the situation in the warm up practice in the given 8 minutes, but the gripping was weak and I was actually 3 seconds slower than the faster machines. The amount of rain wasn't that much, but as I got closer to the machine running in front of me, it was very hard to see what was going on so I knew it was going to be one tough race.
As the race started, the second corner's conditions were terrible and it was dangerous even with the safety car. I was leading the pack, so I was supposed to have the best view but I couldn't even see the water splashing from the safety car, and that's how bad the conditions were during the race. Warming up the tires was hard too, and it almost seemed impossible to do so. During the red flag, my team told me that I could have trouble if rain came into the steering, so I kept the steering on and waited for the race to restart. If the weather conditions improved during the race, I'm sure we could have continued, but thinking about the safety, I think it was the right decision to call it off.

I am more happy than relieved at this moment

2nd place
No.10 Koudai Tsukakoshi (REAL RACING)

I had a very good feeling from yesterday's qualifying. But I wasn't doing so well in today's morning practice or the 8 minute warm up session so I felt like I was going to suffer in the race.
It was good that we started with a safety car run, but the rain was heavy and I thought that if we continued the race I would crash at some point. It's a shame that we couldn't finish the race for the fans, but I am sure that this was the right decision when thinking about safety. For me, it's been 4 years since my last podium (2012 Formula Nippon Round 7 Suzuka), and I think I am standing here today thanks to yesterday's qualifying. I am more happy than relieved as of now. Izawa is my biggest rival- we have been fighting for the championship together in 2011 and 2012. I am always trying my hardest not to lose against him, even now when we are teammates. The team always trusts us drivers and does the best for us. During the testing, I crashed and it was not the best start of the season, but Izawa had good test results so his data helped me. It's like back in 2012- both of us are getting better results, sharing data and working together for a higher performance. I finally feel like the hard work paid off.

I am happy to see everyone's hard work come together

3rd place
No.11 Takuya Izawa (REAL RACING)

My last podium was in 2013 (Super Formula Round 1), so it's been a while since I've been here for interviews. Yesterday's qualifying was really good, with both of the machines able to make it on to Q3. It was a long battle for the team, but I am happy to see everyone's hard work come together. I wasn't really doing so well in the 8 minute practice before the race. I thought if I coursed out during the practice, I might not be able to come back to the grid so I ended my session earlier, and came back to the pits for some minor changes. Luck played a part of today's results, but both of the machines made it on the podium, and 2012 was the last time I got to be on the podium with Kodai (Tsukakoshi). Hopefully we will be able to carry out more battles like this. This year we are trying not to care too much about each other and we are both doing what we think is best for ourselves but there are always things we learn from each other. I think this result is another motivation for the team, so I am sure the machine and team will be even better in the upcoming rounds.

The speed that we had from the first round lead to our win today

Winning team manager
Yuji Tachikawa Team Manager (P.MU/CERUMO · INGING)

We were able to win with a good strategy, and I am relieved at the moment. It's too bad that we couldn't carry out the race until the very end, but considering the conditions, it was what had to be done. For round 1, Ishiura had bad luck and the race didn't go like we wanted it to. But we had the speed from round 1, and I believe that that's what lead to our win today.