Asian Motor Sports

After an hour and a half interval from the first race, the second race began its progress. At 3:40 p.m., each machine after the 9th place formatted the grid. Five minutes later, reverse grid qualifier, from the 8th place to the first place, Motoyama, started to formulate. The formation lap began at 4 p.m., and the race began at 4:05 p.m. after all machines reached the grid under a similar condition with the first race, the mid summer weather that never lessened with the temperature of 32 degree Celsius and the truck temperature of 47 degree Celsius.

The drivers desperately drove for their lines to gain any positions since the second race was a 20 laps sprint race. In such, the driver who made the hole shot was a pole starter, Motoyama. On the other hand, Yokomizo from the second grid failed vastly at the start, and as a consequence, Hirate from the 4th grid gained to second, followed by third place starter, Duval, who kept his position, followed by Lotterer from 7th grid, and jumped up to 4th. The standings were followed by Oliveira, Yokomizo, Kogure, and Matsuda.

But suddenly, a major accident occurred in the groups behind. The right front tire of Kosuke Matsuura (DoCoMo DANDELION) collided with the left sidepontoon of Takuya Izawa (ARTA), forcing Izawa to spin counterclockwise at the main straight, and slide across the track from inside to outside. Making things worse, the left front tire of Yuji Ide (ARTA) ran into the right rear tire of Hiroaki Ishiura (Team LeMans) who tried to avoid collision with Izawa’s machine and decelerated, making Ide’s machine blow up into the sky. As it was, his machine rolled into the outside grass and stopped there.

But fortunately, none of the drivers were injured. Meanwhile, an impulse of Ide’s machine forced Ishiura’s to face to the left direction, and re-collided with Takeshi Tsuchiya (DoCoMo DANDELION) who was driving behind. Tsuchiya’s machine was damaged and he stopped at the track side. Matsuura also damaged the suspension, and stopped his machine after proceeding to Degner Curve. All of a sudden, five machines retired and due to this accident, the safety car was put in.

After all the damaged machines were collected, the race restarted after lap 3. First of all, it was Motoyama who tried to drive away. He developed a 1.7 second margin with second place Hirate after 2 laps from the restart. But because Motoyama’s machine was a five-gear spec, compared to six with Hirate, he had a large disadvantage speeding up at the back straight. Therefore, the lead was suddenly turned into a tale-to-nose battle, but Motoyama never showed an opening until lap 13.

Finally on lap 14, Hirate decreased the gap with Motoyama in the first part of the track, and suddenly approached in the second part of the track. Hirate put his machine right behind Motoyama at the exit of Spoon Curve, got the slipstream at the Back Stretch, utilizing his straight speed, and successfully surpassed at 130R. In order to avoid collision, Motoyama slightly took off the accelerator, resulting him to slow down and even letting Duval to surpass. After all, top three drivers drove independently by increasing their lead with each other.

In the mean time, the battle for 6th place began to heat up, making Kogure and Matsuda to approach Yokomizo, who started to pace down in the mid stage. But the possibility of the down force decreasing when approached closer prevented the standings from being changed.

As a consequence, the second race was won by the rookie Hirate for his first time in his career, followed by Duval and Motoyama. Motoyama made his first way to the podium this year. The standings were followed by Lotterer and Oliveria, who was the final point earner.

The next round will be held on August 9-10 at Twin Ring Motegi, and the two races system and the reverse grid system at this round will continue to be used. Will four-time winner Matsuda show his strength? Or is there going to be another winner as Hirate did this time? It will be a race that couldn’t be forgotten including the battle for the series championship title.

Winner:
Kohei Hirate (TP Checker IMPUL)
I started fourth because of the reverse grid system, so I thought that I could be in a good position if I make a good start. That start was good enough for me, and all I had to do was to stick behind. Motoyama made a good restart after the safety car run and increased his lead, but it was not far enough, therefore, I felt that I had a chance to overpass him by chasing him closely. I was looking for a chance, was faster from Hairpin Curve to Spoon Curve, and just when I sought that 130R or Chicane would be an opportunity to overpass him, I slipped at the exit of Spoon Curve, and surpassed him since I was able to drive side by side before 130R. It was the only timing to overtake him, so when I did, the rest of the race became easier. Because the second race was 10 laps shorter than the first one, the similar machine set-up with the qualifying round worked well. This is the victory since the opening round of 2006 Euro Formula 3, so I am very happy with this win.

Runner up:
Loci Duval (PIAA NAKAJIMA)
The machine set-up of the first race was not perfect, but I challenged the second race without making much change due to the engineer’s decision. I made a good start, was able to overtake, and finished second place. But the result of the qualifying round is considerable, and I am here (at the press conference) thanks to the reverse grid system regulation, and need to consider many strategies from now on. When I overtook Motoyama, it was after when Irate made a good move forcing Motoyama to drive slightly off his line. Motoyama didn’t prevent my line. In my current machine set-up, there is less chance for me to overpass the machines in front, but I was fortunate to have that chance in this race.

3rd Place:
Satoshi Motoyama (Team LeMans)
Standing on the podium is what the team and I had desired, so it was a good result since our team is moving to a positive direction, which we tried from the beginning of this season. But this weekend was not that good in this positive condition. We couldn’t finalize the machine set-up throughout the weekend, but the team did a great job of accepting my request to make many changes of the set-up after the first race. When Irate overtook me at the 130R, I was feeling something unpleasant because the speed of the straight was not fast enough from the first race.

Winning team manager:
Takuya Kurosawa (TP Checker IMPUL)
Hirate did a great job. He made a good start in both races, and finished his opening laps calmly. His lap time during the race was very good, so we felt that we would have a great chance in the second race, and Irate answered to that expectation.

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