Fuji Super Formula: Sasahara gifted win by Sekiguchi disaster

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