FNIPPON: Michael Krumm Suzuaka report

Qualifying

Michael qualified an un-characteristic fifteenth position. Michael and team mate Hattori who qualified in eleventh, struggled with set-up problems on the Suzuka Short Circuit. The qualifying was held in dry conditions, following free practice which was wet, the team elected not to complete many laps in the wet free practice - as wet tyres are also limited to three sets in Formula Nippon. " We definitely struggled today, we have some major problems with mechanical grip and if we had made some more laps this morning in the wet I think it would have helped. In the first session we looked good for one of the first three rows, but then as the track improved our cars did not. With my car we found a problem in the diff which certainly was losing me a lot of time, but we also have to work on the set up here" Michael commented.

Morning Warm Up

Michael used the valuable time to make major set-up changes, with a heavy fuel load - making several improvements, which he was pleased with.

Race

From the start Michael held position, planning to pit as early as possible to gain space on the track and hopefully lap in clean air (quickly) gaining positions as others stopped.

Pitting on lap three Michael rejoined the circuit directly behind team mate Hattori who had pitted on the first lap, both the 5zigen cars then began to lap quickly with Michael putting Hattori under a lot of pressure. " We were right at the back, but could go very quickly - I think I had a quicker car overall than Naoki but he had better traction so I could not pass him" Michael commented. On lap twenty-five Kaneishi rejoined the circuit from his pit stop, slotting in between Michael and Naoki as they began the lap. Michael and Kaneishi collided on the second corner taking both cars out of the race. " Kaneishi exited the pits and got between Hattori and I as we began the lap - on the second corner he just drove in the middle of the road, I took the inside line and he simply closed the door on me taking us both out. If we had been battling for points at the front of the field I would not have risked going to his inside but we were at the back and he was going so slow he left me no choice" Michael commented.

Qualifying

Pos. No. DRIVER TEAM BEST 1st 2nd 1 14 RYO MICHIGAMI MOONCRAFT 56.332 56.877 *56.332 2 19 SATOSHI MOTOYAMA excite IMPUL 56.339 57.121 *56.339 3 56 TAKESHI TSUCHIYA ARTA 56.342 57.348 *56.342 4 3 YUJI TACHIKAWA Olympic KONDO 56.498 56.668 *56.498 5 55 JUICHI WAKISAKA ARTA 56.584 57.052 *56.584 6 1 TSUGIO MATSUDA PIAA NAKAJIMA 56.618 57.363 *56.618 7 20 NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN excite IMPUL 56.692 57.442 *56.692 8 2 RALPH FIRMAN PIAA NAKAJIMA 56.769 57.64 *56.769 9 11 MASAMI KAGEYAMA COSMO OIL CERUMO 56.792 58.037 *56.792 10 68 HIDEKI NODA DoCoMo DANDELION 56.798 57.275 *56.798 11 5 NAOKI HATTORI 5ZIGEN 56.841 57.784 *56.841 12 4 KATSUTOMO KANEISHI Olympic KONDO 56.925 58.04 *56.925 13 8 YUDAI IGARASHI LeMans 57.004 57.592 *57.004 14 12 SEIJI ARA COSMO OIL CERUMO 57.043 57.774 *57.043 15 6 MICHAEL KRUMM 5ZIGEN 57.194 57.499 *57.194 16 69 HIDETOSHI MITSUSADA DoCoMo DANDELION 57.356 57.757 *57.356 17 10 ANDRE COUTO Team Morinaga NOVA 57.687 59.232 *57.687 18 *7 ALEX YOONG LeMans 57.794 58.269 *57.794 19 * 9 RICHARD LYONS Team Morinaga NOVA 57.895 58.137 *57.895 20 37 MASAHIKO KAGEYAMA TAKAGI B-1 57.903 58.466 *57.903 21 36 TETSUJI TAMANAKA TAKAGI B-1 58.277 58.713 *58.277

Race Results

Pos.    No.     DRIVER                  TEAM                    LAP     TOTAL
1       19      SATOSHI MOTOYAMA        excite IMPUL            72      1:10'41.495
2       14      RYO MICHIGAMI           MOONCRAFT               72      1:10'42.841
3       56      TAKESHI TSUCHIYA        ARTA                    72      1:10'56.662
4       3       YUJI TACHIKAWA          Olympic KONDO           72      1:10'58.826
5       1       TSUGIO MATSUDA          PIAA NAKAJIMA           72      1:11'03.913
6       55      JUICHI WAKISAKA         ARTA                    72      1:11'04.037
7       8       YUDAI IGARASHI          LeMans                  71      1:11'07.472
8       5       NAOKI HATTORI           5ZIGEN                  71      1:11'18.744
9       12      SEIJI ARA               COSMO OIL CERUMO        71      1:11'19.188
10      7       ALEX YOONG              LeMans                  71      1:11'33.323
11      9       RICHARD LYONS           Team Morinaga NOVA      70      1:10'54.563
12      68      HIDEKI NODA             DoCoMo DANDELION        70      1:11'02.763
13      69      HIDETOSHI MITSUSADA     DoCoMo DANDELION        70      1:11'12.115

(ABOVE FINISHED) - 11 MASAMI KAGEYAMA COSMO OIL CERUMO 58 0:58'04.728 - 36 TETSUJI TAMANAKA TAKAGI B-1 57 0:59'12.471 - 2 RALPH FIRMAN PIAA NAKAJIMA 50 0:50'09.633 - 4 KATSUTOMO KANEISHI Olympic KONDO 25 0:24'52.257 - 6 MICHAEL KRUMM 5ZIGEN 25 0:25'16.025 - 20 NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN excite IMPUL 17 0:16'47.701 - 10 ANDRE COUTO Team Morinaga NOVA 0 ---- - 37 MASAHIKO KAGEYAMA TAKAGI B-1 D.N.S.

-MKR