2016 SUPER FORMULA
Round3 Fuji Speedway
- Fuji Speedway
-
Qualifying 07-16 sat /
Race 07-17 sun
Fuji Speedway : 4.563 km
Qualifying
No. 41 Stoffel Vandoorne Captures First Pole Position !
No.41 Stoffel Vandoorne
The qualifying sessions for Super Formula Round 3 took place on Saturday, July 16th at Fuji Speedway under somewhat wet and foggy 21℃ conditions (track temp. of 22℃). As it is a three-day-weekend in Japan, even under these unfavorable weather conditions, loyal fans came out to the track to show their support. The three-part knock-out format qualifying sessions got underway at 2:45 p.m. The first qualifier took place under wet conditions, but drivers’ times picked up as the track got a little drier during qualifications 2 and 3. No. 41 Stoffel Vandoorne (DOCOMO DANDELION RACING), participating in just his third Super Formula event, captured his first-ever pole position, in this his debut at Fuji Speedway. No. 1 Hiroaki Ishiura (P.MU/CERUMO·INGING), who started in the pole position in Round 2 at Okayama, finished behind Vandoorne, with No. 19 J.P. Oliveria (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL) finishing third. No. 16 Naoki Yamamoto (TEAM MUGEN), who sits in the top of the point rankings after the first two rounds, finished 14th overall in the qualifying sessions, and No. 2 Yuji Kunimoto (P.MU/CERUMO·INGING), who is second in points thus far, finished 13th.
Nineteen cars began the 20-minute first qualification session, with only 14 of those cars being able to move on under the knock-out format. As it rained just before the start of the session, the racers began with wet tires on. Vandoorne, No. 65 Bertrand Baguette (NAKAJIMA RACING), No. 64 Kazuki Nakajima (NAKAJIMA RACING), No. 36 Andre Lotterer (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) all recorded good lap times from the beginning of the session. As tires warmed up, so did the lap times, with the top changing hands several times throughout. But Vandoorne was the only driver who recorded a time of 1 min. 43 sec. or better in this session. He was followed by Oliveria, No. 20 Yuhi Sekiguchi (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL), Lotterer, Ishiura, No. 8 Kamui Kobayashi (SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS), No. 7 Narain Karthikeyan (SUNOCO TEAMS LEMANS), No. 3 James Rossiter (KONDO RACING). Kazuki Nakayama (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) and Baguette both finished the session with just barely enough margin to spare to move on to the next session. No. 18 Yuichi Nakayama (KCMG), No. 4 William Buller (KONDO RACING), No. 11 Takuya Izawa (REAL RACING), No. 40 Tomoki Nojiri (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), No. 34 Takashi Kogure (DRAGO CORSE) were the five drivers that were knocked out of this session.
No.1 Hiroaki Ishiura
After a 10 minute interval, at 3:15 p.m. 14 cars began Q2. This 7-minute session saw the drivers lined up and ready to go at the pit exit area. Qualification 2 took place under a little drier conditions than the first. Ishiura was able to record a time faster on the first lap than that of Vandoorne’s in the previous session. The other drivers’ times also continued to improve, but Ishiura finished with the best time of 1:42.833. Just as the session was finishing, Daisuke Nakajima was able to record his personal best lap time to-date, so he claimed 2nd, followed by Vandoorne. Kamui Kobayashi, No. 10 Koudai Tsukakoshi (REAL RACING), Rossiter, Karthikeyan, Kunimoto, Yamoto were all knocked out of this session.
No.19 Joao Paolo de Oliveira
After another 10 minute interval, the qualification session to determine which driver would begin the Championship in pole position got off to a start at 3:32 p.m. with eight machines. This session was also just 7 minutes, so the drivers began the run from the pit road. With Ishiura in the front position, the other drivers entered the course. Under even drier conditions than the previous two sessions, Ishiura and Kazuki Nakajima both recorded lap times of 1 min. 41 sec. At this point it was Ishiura, Kazuki Nakajima, Lotterer, who had recorded the top times, respectively. In the end however, Stoffel Vandoorne was able to overtake them all in a time of 1 min. 41 sec. just as he was taking the checkered flag-helping him to capture his first ever pole position start. Ishiura attacked the course hard on his first lap of this session, so it looked as if he might be able to finish ahead of Vandoorne’s time. But in the end, that didn’t prove to be the case.
Qualifying Digest [VIDEO LIBRARY]