Practice report
Super Formula Motegi
Motegi Super Formula: Hirakawa leads Palou in practice
Impul’s Ryo Hirakawa topped the first practice for the Motegi round of Super Formula series, ahead of Fuji race winner Alex Palou.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Aug 16, 2019, 1:16 PM
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Hirakawa’s blistering time of 1m31.925s came in the dying minutes of the session, and he ended up 0.376s clear of his nearest challenger Palou.
Palou (Nakajima Racing) managed to successfully return on track towards the end of practice after getting beached in the gravel at the 20-minute mark.
The Spaniard’s off-track excursion necessitated a red flag that lasted nearly 15 minutes, and forced race control to extend the session by five minutes.
- Watch's this Sunday's Super Formula race at Motegi live on Motorsport.tv from 5:00 am GMT.
When the red flag was deployed, Kazuki Nakajima held the top spot for TOM’S with a time of 1m33.467s.
That lap remained unbeaten until the final quarter of the session, when Red Bull junior Patricio O’Ward climbed to the top with his 1m33.338s flyer.
Hirakawa deposed him during the five-minute extension to end quickest in practice, while a flurry of quick times from others left O’Ward seventh.
Kondo Racing’s Kenta Yamashita jumped up to third behind Hirakawa and Palou, but ahead of the second Impul car of Yuhi Sekiguchi.
Nakajima Racing driver Tadasuke Makino was classified fifth ahead of reigning Japanese F3 champion Sho Tsuboi (Inging) and the aforementioned O’Ward.
Nakajima slipped to eighth in the final classification, while the top 10 was completed by Formula 2 convert Artem Markelov (LeMans) and Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen).
Championship leaders Naoki Yamamoto and Nick Cassidy wound up 17th and 18th respectively after both elected not to run the faster soft tyre.
Practice results:
Cla Driver Team Time Gap 1 Ryo Hirakawa
Team Impul 1'31.925 2 Alex Palou
TCS Nakajima Racing 1'32.301 0.376 3 Kenta Yamashita
Kondo Racing 1'32.315 0.390 4 Yuhi Sekiguchi
Team Impul 1'32.449 0.524 5 Tadasuke Makino
TCS Nakajima Racing 1'32.710 0.785 6 Sho Tsuboi
JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING 1'32.961 1.036 7 Patricio O'Ward
Team Mugen 1'33.338 1.413 8 Kazuki Nakajima
Vantelin Team TOM'S 1'33.445 1.520 9 Artem Markelov
UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans 1'33.446 1.521 10 Tomoki Nojiri
Team Mugen 1'33.503 1.578 11 Koudai Tsukakoshi
Real Racing 1'33.783 1.858 12 Kazuya Oshima
UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans 1'33.90 1.975 13 Lucas Auer
B-MAX with Motopark 1'33.941 2.016 14 Harrison Newey
B-MAX with Motopark 1'33.943 2.018 15 Nirei Fukuzumi
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 1'34.042 2.117 16 Hiroaki Ishiura
JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING 1'34.354 2.429 17 Naoki Yamamoto
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 1'34.559 2.634 18 Nick Cassidy
Vantelin Team TOM'S 1'34.577 2.652 19 Yuji Kunimoto
Kondo Racing 1'34.790 2.865 20 Kamui Kobayashi
carrozzeria Team KCMG 1'35.134 3.209 View full results
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