Race report
Super Formula Fuji II
Fuji Super Formula: Sasahara gifted win by Sekiguchi disaster
Ukyo Sasahara was gifted a first race victory in Super Formula at Fuji Speedway as long-time leader Yuhi Sekiguchi lost a near-certain win after shedding a wheel.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Jul 17, 2022, 9:09 AM
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Mugen driver Sasahara was the prime beneficiary of the second of two safety car periods in an eventful 40-lap race, triggered by the Impul machine of Sekiguchi stopping after losing its left-rear wheel.
Sekiguchi had just exited the pits well clear of early-stopping rival Tomoki Nojiri at the end of lap 25, thanks to a lightning quick mandatory pitstop, having led the entire race up to that point from pole.
But the stop proved to be too hasty as Sekiguchi spun exiting the Turn 10-11-12 complex on his out lap, his left-rear having not been fastened properly.
His stoppage played into the hands of those drivers that had still yet to make their stops, with Sasahara taking the lead after pitting on lap 27 and front-row starter Sho Tsuboi - who had been ahead but squandered that advantage by pitting on the previous lap - barely nosing ahead of Nojiri at the pit exit for second.
At the restart on lap 31, Sasahara streaked away from Inging driver Tsuboi, reeling off the remaining laps without drama to claim a first Super Formula win by a margin of just over two seconds.
That was despite Sasahara, the fifth different race winner in six races so far in 2022, qualifying down in 13th and running eighth during the first safety car period.
Ukyo Sasahara, TEAM MUGEN
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Points leader Nojiri attacked Tsuboi for second on the restart, but couldn't get the move done and had to turn his attentions to defending third from TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata, another driver to benefit hugely from the second safety car period having started from last on the grid.
Nojiri nonetheless came away with an enhanced championship advantage of 29 points as both of his main title rivals, Ryo Hirakawa and Sacha Fenestraz, were eliminated in separate on-track incidents.
Hirakawa, who qualified 11th in the second Impul car, was taken out exiting Turn 1 as he was tapped from behind by the Nakajima Racing car of Toshiki Oyu, with Team Goh's Atsushi Miyake also taken out in the ensuing melee.
Kondo Racing man Fenestraz only made it as far as the start of lap three before crashing heavily into the barriers on the exit of Turn 2, an incident that caused the first safety car period.
Fenestraz had been defending seventh from a fast-starting Naoki Yamamoto in the other Nakajima car, who had made up an enormous amount of ground from 18th on the grid, but exiting Turn 1 the Franco-Argentine driver moved left to defend from Yamamoto, who in turn moved slightly right to trigger the contact.
The stewards blamed the Nakajima drivers in both cases, with Oyu and Yamamoto both serving drive-through penalties.
After serving his penalty, Yamamoto resumed right in front of Nojiri - who was first to pit when the window opened on lap 10 - and appeared to be holding up his Honda colleague, allowing Sekiguchi breathing room at the head of the field.
Another of the early stoppers, Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion Racing), came home fifth ahead of Red Bull junior Ren Sato (Goh), another driver to be able to serve his mandatory stop under the safety car.
The surviving Kondo machine of Kenta Yamashita was seventh after being passed late on by Sato, while Yuji Kunimoto (KCMG) and the recovering Nakajima cars of Yamamoto and Oyu completed the top 10.
Giuliano Alesi (TOM'S) was a non-finisher after experiencing car trouble during his pitstop, while Nobuharu Matsushita (B-Max Racing) also retired having spun exiting the last corner on the formation lap, triggering an extra formation lap.
Fuji Super Formula - race results:
Cla # Driver Team Laps Gap 1 15 Ukyo Sasahara
Team Mugen 40 2 38 Sho Tsuboi
P.MU/CERUMO･INGING 40 2.098 3 1 Tomoki Nojiri
Team Mugen 40 7.549 4 37 Ritomo Miyata
Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 40 8.854 5 5 Tadasuke Makino
Dandelion Racing 40 13.454 6 53
Ren Sato
Team Goh 40 14.116 7 3 Kenta Yamashita
Kondo Racing 40 15.660 8 18 Yuji Kunimoto
KCMG 40 18.438 9 64 Naoki Yamamoto
TCS Nakajima Racing 40 19.258 10 65 Toshiki Oyu
TCS Nakajima Racing 40 21.269 11 12 Nirei Fukuzumi
ThreeBond Drago CORSE 40 22.350 12 39 Sena Sakaguchi
P.MU/CERUMO･INGING 40 27.097 13 14 Kazuya Oshima
docomo business ROOKIE 40 28.396 14 7 Kamui Kobayashi
KCMG 40 30.040 15 6 Hiroki Otsu
Dandelion Racing 40 30.696 19
Yuhi Sekiguchi
Team Impul 25 15 Laps 36 Giuliano Alesi
Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 20 20 Laps 4 Sacha Fenestraz
Kondo Racing 2 38 Laps 50 Nobuharu Matsushita
B-Max Racing Team 2 38 Laps 55 Atsushi Miyake
Team Goh 1 39 Laps 20 Ryo Hirakawa
Team Impul 0 View full results
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