Testing report
Super Formula Fuji March testing
Sekiguchi quickest on penultimate Super Formula test day
Former All-Japan Formula 3 champion Yuhi Sekiguchi topped the penultimate day of Super Formula pre-season testing at the Fuji Speedway on Wednesday.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Mar 28, 2018, 12:30 PM
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Sekiguchi lapped the 4.5km circuit in 1m21.861s in the morning to go over a second clear than the session’s previous best time, set by sometime F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan.
Despite further improvements in laptimes in the afternoon, Sekiguchi’s benchmark would remain unbeaten as neither of the remaining 18 drivers dipped below the 1m21s mark.
Super Formula 2016 champion Yuji Kunimoto came closest of all, recovering from an early-morning spin to set a time of 1m22.168s.
James Rossiter, who has replaced Andre Lotterer in TOM’S line-up, finished third, but nearly half a second down on Kunimoto’s lap that was set moments after the chequered flag was waved.
Kondo Racing’s Kenta Yamashita was a further 0.070s adrift in fourth, while Nirei Fukuzumi was Honda’s top challenger in fifth position.
Katsumasa Chiyo, in another Honda-powered car, was classified only 0.026s behind in seventh, and nearly half-a-tenth ahead of defending champion Hiroaki Ishiura.
Koudai Tsukakoshi’s 1m23.108s lapper in the afternoon was good enough to put him eighth in the combined order, ahead of Dandelion’s Tomoji Nojiri and the lead Nakajima Racing car of Karthikeyan.
Pietro Fittipaldi, whose Team LeMans seat was confirmed yesterday, finished 16th in the classifications, with a best time of 1m23.534s.
Results:
PosNameTeamBest TimeGap 1 
Yuhi Sekiguchi IMPUL 1’21.861 2 Yuji Kunimoto INGING 1’22.168 0.307 3 
James Rossiter TOM’S 1’22.611 0.750 4 Kenta Yamashita KONDO 1’22.681 0.820 5 Nirei Fukuzumi MUGEN 1’22.741 0.880 6 Katsumasa Chiyo B-MAX 1’22.767 0.906 7 Hiroaki Ishiura INGING 1’22.812 0.951 8 Koudai Tsukakoshi REAL 1’23.108 1.247 9 Tomoki Nojiri DANDELION 1’23.119 1.258 10 
Narain Karthikeyan NAKAJIMA 1’23.133 1.272 11 Naoki Yamamoto MUGEN 1’23.179 1.318 12 Ryo Hirakawa IMPUL 1’23.265 1.404 13 Takuya Izawa NAKAJIMA 1’23.305 1.444 14 
Nick Cassidy KONDO 1’23.429 1.568 15 Kazuki Nakajima TEAM TOM’S 1’23.521 1.660 16 
Pietro Fittipaldi LEMANS 1’23.534 1.673 17 Kazuya Oshima LEMANS 1’23.537 1.676 18 Nobuharu Matsushita DANDELION 1’23.655 1.794 19 Kamui Kobayashi KCMG 1’23.761 1.900
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