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It was half wet during the free practice session, but the conditions kept getting drier throughout the F3 event, which was held before Super Formula. So Super Formula cars were able to switch to slick tires for the Championship that took place in muggy 25℃ weather (track temp. of 27℃). At 2 p.m., 18 machines lined up for the formation lap start. No. 64 Daisuke Nakajima (NAKAJIMA RACING) wasn’t able to participate this day due to a crash during the free practice session, which left him without a car.

As the main event got underway, each of the cars picked up speed as they went into the first turn. Pole position starter Vandoorne got off to a good start, but No. 1 Hiroaki Ishiura (P.MU/CERUMO·INGING), who had finished in 2nd during qualifications got off to a very speedy start and was able to hold off Vandoorne. Those two cars were followed by Oliveira. Kazuki Nakajima got off to a tremendous start picking up speed, while changing from the in to out grid. He was right behind Oliveira at this point. Vandoorne’s brakes locked up on him as he entered the first corner. Just as it looked as if Ishiura was in the lead, he over ran the corner. So Oliveira stepped up into the lead, followed by Nakajima. The two were followed by Bertrand Baguette (NAKAJIMA RACING), Vandoorne, Sekiguchi, Ishiura.

In the last corner during the 4th lap, Oliveira pushed it a little too much, and he fish-tailed a bit, resulting into him going slightly off course. Nakajima took advantage of this miss, and vaulted up into the top spot. Ishiura tried again to garner the top position, but went off the course once more while in the Prius Corner - dropping him all the way down to 8th place. Nakajima was able to really pick it up, so by lap 10, he had over a 3.8 second lead over 2nd running Oliveira.

The drivers in the back part of the pack started heading to the pits at this point. No. 34 Takashi Kogure (DRAGO CORSE) got fueled up and had his front tires changed on lap 10. On lap 11, Andre Lotterer, who had a problem with his clutch at the start of the race also headed to the pits to fuel up. No. 2 Yuji Kunimoto (P.MU/CERUMO·INGING) joined them as well for fuel on lap 12, because he wanted to get back onto the track quickly to try to close the time gap.

After just three laps back on the track, in the first corner of lap 16, Kunimoto spun out, putting him in the middle of the course without being able to re-start his car. It seems that Kunimoto bumping into No. 8 Kamui Kobayashi (SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS) in the hair pin of the first lap caused his gear box to leak oil and lock up. The safety car was deployed onto the track at this point due to the stall, so the remainder of the cars that hadn’t hit the pits yet headed there while the getting was good. This didn’t result in a change of positions, so Nakajima was in 1st, followed by Oliveira, Baguette, Vandoorne, Sekiguchi, and No. 3 James Rossiter (KONDO RACING). However, Lotterer began to gain on them, because he had already hit the pits before the safety car was deployed.

No.37 Kazuki Nakajima

Kunimoto’s car was finally taken off the track on lap 19. Possibly because tires and breaks had cooled down a bit, 3rd runner Baguette’s breaks locked up on him in the first corner. Also during that lap, in the Dunlop Corner, Lotterer closed the gap on Rossiter, and over took him. Lotterer kept up the fierce pace, so by lap 23, he was on Sekiguchi’s tail. These two fought for position in both the hair pin of corner 24, and in the first corner of lap 27. Sekiguchi was able to hold Lotterer off, and at one point, he had a full second lead over Lotterer’s car. Lotterer wasn’t ready to back down though, so he put the pressure on Sekiguchi once again on lap 30.

The time difference between the top cars was also shrinking by this time, as it appeared Oliveira had heated his tires up. On lap 37, Nakajima had just a 1 second lead over Oliveira. The battle for third place was also on between Baguette and Vandoorne, although there was a difference of 20 seconds between them and the top running cars. Sekiguchi and Lotterer were gaining on Baguette and Vandoorne. As Baguette had suffered a problem with his front tires just after the safety car left the track, he wasn’t able to fend off the cars behind him as well as he probably would have liked. But he used the overtake button to his full advantage during laps 10 and 46 in the first corner. While in the Dunlop Corner, Sekiguchi overtook Vandoorne. Vandoorne went off the course a bit, so Lotterer saw this and used it to his advantage. During the next lap, again during the Dunlop Corner, Sekiguchi overtook Baguette to move up into 3rd place. He was followed by Lotterer and Vandoorne. Just before entering the first corner on the next lap, Baguette was over taken by Lotterer. While breaking during that corner, 5th running Vandoorne spun out.

No.20 Yuhi Sekiguchi

As the yellow flags were deployed because of Vandoorne’s spin-out, the race for the top spot was full on. There was only a 0.2 second difference while the yellow flags were out, so Oliveira put the heat on Nakajima after the race was on again. He was able to capture the top spot from Nakajima in the first corner during lap 51 - and didn’t look back after that to capture his first victory of the 2016 season. Nakajima finished 2nd, and Sekiguchi, who put on quite a performance finished in 3rd. Lotterer, Rossiter, Ishiura, who pulled off a nose-to-nose finish with No. 7 Narain Karthikeyan (SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS) finished out the top six. Karthikeyan, and Koudai Tsukakoshi (REAL RACING) also earned points for this race. Baguette, who appeared to be on his way into the top three, was forced into the pits because of problems with his tires, causing him to retire from the race on lap 51.

Oliveira’s last victory also came on this same circuit last year. Although he ended the first two races of 2016 with no points, his name is now in the hat to possibly win this year’s title.

 

TOP 3 comments

My tenth win in Japan. I am very happy about that!

Winner
No.19 Joao Paulo de Oliveira (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL)

I had a good start and I was in a good position in turn one. But I was outside and saw both cars. Hiroaki Ishiura and Stoffel Vandoorne were inside, it was quite late already for braking. I thought they weren’t going to make it, so I went on the brakes and they both went into turn one. From there, I had a clear track in front of me, and I was pushing. Kazuki Nakajima also had a very good start. He was behind me, and following me for the first few laps. I was trying to put up a good pace, but when I went into the corner, I lost the rear grip and was pushing hard. But the rear just caught me. It was one of those things that happens in training and qualifying, but you don’t want to happen in the race. It was unfortunate I lost the rear. So I thought I wouldn’t be able to win the race today. When you’re behind you lose the grip. Then, I was looking after my tires, I was following Kazuki and was patient, just following, just waiting for a chance. I had two chances after that. I got the yellow flag in turn one, and then after that, I had one more chance. Yeah, it was good.
Today was my tenth win in Japan. I am very happy about that. I think it was the best decision of my career to come to Japan. I am very familiar with the culture, and I am very happy about the choice that I made. I hope I can make a longer career. I’m working hard to stay strong and keep the performance at the same level and maybe improve.

Now ready to get “my season” underway

2nd place
No.37 Kazuki Nakajima (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S)

Even though there were still some wet spots, I had a pretty good feeling coming into today’s race. To some degree, I still wasn’t sure how good my car would perform, and as I was starting from the 6th grid, so I knew it was going to be a long day. But in corner one, two cars (No. 41, No. 1) went off the track, and J.P.de Oliveira made a mistake in the final corner, so I was in the lead before I even realized it.
At the beginning, I was able to set a good pace and separate myself from the other cars. That is until the safety car was deployed. After that, I could feel that the difference between my car and J.P.’s was changing. In reality, the distance between us really didn’t change that much after the safety car left the track, so I was able to pick up the pace for a while. But with about 20 laps left, J.P. picked things up, which led to a tough race for me. I used the overtake switch as much as I could to try to keep my lead. But with five laps remaining, it just wasn’t enough. Which is too bad.
I haven’t been able to race the way I have wanted to so far this year. My pacing at Suzuka and Okayama, especially at Okayama during the qualifications, haven’t been good. So today’s results are probably a big plus for me. I finally feel like I am now ready to get “my season” underway, so I need to press on with the business at-hand.
I was just talking to J.P. about this, but at Le Mans (I had to retire from the 24 Hours of Le Mans), I had some tough luck, and JP hasn’t had good luck in GT or so far this year in Super Formula, so today was like “a race between the unlucky drivers.” (laugh) I think that it was good that we both made it into the top three. In my mind, the race at Motegi will be the real start for me, so I will do everything I can in that race.

Hoshino told me to “go at it hard,” that is exactly what I did!

3rd place
No.20 Yuhi Sekiguchi (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL)

This morning I ran with slick tires on, but the track wasn’t completely dry. So my lap times were slower than what they would have been in completely dry conditions. Before the race, the track finally dried out. The car felt good, so we didn’t change the settings much. During the first part of the race, my pace was bad, and when the fuel tank was full, I wasn’t getting the traction that I wanted. Andre Lotterer was coming at me hard, but I thought I would look bad if I held him off by braking, and I didn’t want to back off on the turns, so I held him off the best I could. In the end, that turned out to be the right choice, because if he would have overtaken me, I would have lost down force, and probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up. So that is why I am sitting here in 3rd place.
If just one of my sponors would have left me during the tough times I have experienced in racing, there is no way I would be sitting here now. In addition, my team has welcomed and supported me, so I have finally been able to sit in a Super Formula driver’s seat. I haven’t been able to post the results that I have wanted to so far thoughtout the first three races, but I am happy to be here in the top three. I fought it out hard with Lotterer during the race, and the director of our team Mr. Hoshino told me to “go at it hard,” so that is exactly what I did!