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Fukuzumi quickest in third Fuji test session

Dandelion Racing driver Nirei Fukuzumi set the fastest time in the third session of Super Formula pre-season testing at Fuji Speedway, leading a one-two for Honda.

Nirei Fukuzumi, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING

Nirei Fukuzumi, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING

Masahide Kamio

Ex-GP3 and Formula 2 racer Fukuzumi left it until the final two minutes of the extended 130-minute Wednesday morning session to move to the top of the times, posting a 1m20.785s on fresh tyres to move clear of fellow Honda runner Tomoki Nojiri.

That was just over a tenth slower than Ryo Hirakawa's best time on Tuesday afternoon.

The second day of running at Fuji started one hour later than it did on Tuesday, leading to a smoother start of the session that was only interrupted by one red flag.

That came at the 35-minute mark when Tadasuke Makino's Nakajima Racing machine ground to a halt exiting Turn 2 with an electrical failure.

At that point Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing) had been leading the way on a 1m21.833s, which remained the time to beat until Nojiri (Mugen) went quickest at the one-hour mark with a 1m21.775s, which he quickly improved to a 1m21.509s.

Hirakawa, the fastest driver in both of Tuesday's sessions, took over at the top of the times with less than 30 minutes to run with a 1m21.203s, but unlike many of his rivals the Impul Toyota driver did not improve at the very end of the session.

Just before the chequered flag, Nojiri briefly retook the top spot with a 1m20.942s before being outpaced by Fukuzumi to the tune of 0.157s.

Hirakawa stayed third, 0.418s off the pace, while two Honda-powered rookies completed the top five, Toshiki Oyu (Nakajima) and Nojiri's Mugen teammate Juri Vips.

Defending champion Nick Cassidy was sixth-fastest in the second best of the Toyota-powered entries, leading TOM'S stablemate Kazuki Nakajima and Sho Tsuboi (Inging).

Fenestraz slipped to ninth in the final order ahead of Kondo teammate Kenta Yamashita.

Naoki Yamamoto (Dandelion) was only 13th-fastest and 1.347s adrift of Fukuzumi, while Makino ended up 16th after his dramas, only completing one more installation lap.

Super Formula novices Sergio Sette Camara (B-Max/Motopark) and Tatiana Calderon (Drago Corse) were 11th and 20th respectively, both improving on their Tuesday times.

Session results:

Pos. No. Driver Team/Engine Time Gap
1 6 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi Dandelion/Honda 1m20.785s  
2 16 Japan Tomoki Nojiri Mugen/Honda 1m20.942s 0.157s
3 20 Japan Ryo Hirakawa Impul/Toyota 1m21.203s 0.418s
4 65 Japan Toshiki Oyu Nakajima/Honda 1m21.596s 0.811s
5 15 Estonia Juri Vips Mugen/Honda 1m21.620s 0.835s
6 1 New Zealand Nick Cassidy TOM'S/Toyota 1m21.623s 0.838s
7 36 Japan Kazuki Nakajima TOM'S/Toyota 1m21.710s 0.925s
8 39 Japan Sho Tsuboi Inging/Toyota 1m21.729s 0.944s
9 4 France Sacha Fenestraz Kondo/Toyota 1m21.783s 0.998s
10 3 Japan Kenta Yamashita Kondo/Toyota 1m21.791s 1.006s
11 50 Brazil Sergio Sette Camara B-Max/Honda 1m21.856s 1.071s
12 38 Japan Hiroaki Ishiura Inging/Toyota 1m22.042s 1.257s
13 5 Japan Naoki Yamamoto Dandelion/Honda 1m22.132s 1.347s
14 7 Japan Kamui Kobayashi KCMG/Toyota 1m22.212s 1.427s
15 18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto KCMG/Toyota 1m22.236s 1.451s
16 64 Japan Tadasuke Makino Nakajima/Honda 1m22.259s 1.474s
17 51 France Charles Milesi B-Max/Honda 1m22.270s 1.485s
18 14 Japan Kazuya Oshima Inging/Toyota 1m22.285s 1.500s
19 19 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi Impul/Toyota 1m22.534s 1.749s
20 12 Colombia Tatiana Calderon Drago Corse/Honda 1m23.111s 2.326s

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Edition

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