Race report
Super Formula Suzuka II
Suzuka Super Formula: Oyu wins as title race tightens
Honda protege Toshiki Oyu scored his first Super Formula victory in the penultimate round of the season at Suzuka, as the title race took another dramatic turn.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Dec 6, 2020, 1:13 PM
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From second on the grid, Nakajima Racing rookie Oyu sat behind poleman and early leader Nick Cassidy, and gained the advantage when Cassidy's TOM'S machine suffered a terminal engine problem at the start of lap nine of 30.
Oyu was then tasked with keeping fellow Honda man Nirei Fukuzumi behind him, hanging on by just 0.462 seconds to become the sixth different race winner of the season.
Pre-race championship leader Naoki Yamamoto was another early retirement, slowing during the first safety car period with suspected gearbox dramas, and he now leads the championship jointly with Ryo Hirakawa, who recovered from 14th on the grid to finish seventh.
Yamamoto had been running third behind Cassidy and Oyu in the early stages before the first of three safety car periods, caused by Sacha Fenestraz crashing at the final chicane while dicing for position with Kamui Kobayashi - who also suffered damage and had to pit.
When Yamamoto dropped out, it was Fukuzumi that was promoted to third place, and after misfortune struck for Cassidy, Oyu was promoted into the lead ahead of Fukuzumi.
A second safety car period was triggered as Cassidy came to a halt at the outside of Turn 1, flames coming out of the back of his ailing TOM'S machine, with his teammate Kazuki Nakajima suffering a puncture at almost the exact same time.
That prompted everyone to pit with the exception of Nobuharu Matsushita and Ukyo Sasahara, who moved into a temporary one-two until their stops.
The final caution period, caused by a puncture and a spin for Yuji Kunimoto at the S Curve, prompted Matsushita and Sasahara to pit, promoting Oyu back to the lead.
It was then a matter of fending off the remaining Dandelion car of Fukuzumi for the remaining laps after the final restart on lap 23, and although Fukuzumi was within half a second of Oyu entering the final lap, he never looked close enough to pass.
Toshiki Oyu（TCS NAKAJIMA RACING）
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Nonetheless, it was a first podium of the year for Fukuzumi, while a strong start from 10th on the grid allowed Yuhi Sekiguchi (Impul) to score his first top-three of the season.
Sho Tsuboi (Inging) was fourth ahead of Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen), up from 17th on the grid, while Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing) was able to hold Hirakawa at bay for sixth as the latter appeared to run out of push-to-pass relatively early in the race.
Hirakawa is now tied at the head of the standings with Yamamoto on 55 points, with both drivers now not needing to drop scores ahead of this month's Fuji finale.
Cassidy is third on gross scores but fourth behind Nojiri when dropped scores are considered.
Completing the scorers were Tadasuke Makino (Nakajima), Kazuya Oshima (Inging) and Hiroaki Ishiura (Inging), with Sasahara (Mugen) ending up 11th.
Tatiana Calderon (Drago Corse) matched her best Super Formula finish in 12th ahead of the two B-Max Racing cars of Charles Milesi and Matsushita.
Race results*:*
Cla # Driver Team Laps Gap 1 65 Toshiki Oyu
TCS Nakajima Racing 30 2 6 Nirei Fukuzumi
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 30 0.462 3 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi
ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL 30 10.449 4 39 Sho Tsuboi
JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING 30 10.975 5 16 Tomoki Nojiri
Team Mugen 30 15.092 6 3 Kenta Yamashita
Kondo Racing 30 16.765 7 20 Ryo Hirakawa
ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL 30 17.391 8 64 Tadasuke Makino
TCS Nakajima Racing 30 19.224 9 14 Kazuya Oshima
ROOKIE Racing 30 19.321 10 38 Hiroaki Ishiura
JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING 30 20.763 11 15 Ukyo Sasahara
Team Mugen 30 21.786 12 12 Tatiana Calderon
ThreeBond Drago CORSE 30 23.238 13 51 Charles Milesi
Buzz Racing with B-Max 30 23.424 14 50 Nobuharu Matsushita
Buzz Racing with B-Max 30 24.260 15 7 Kamui Kobayashi
carrozzeria Team KCMG 30 28.499 16 36 Kazuki Nakajima
Vantelin Team TOM'S 29 1 Lap 17 18 Yuji Kunimoto
carrozzeria Team KCMG 18 12 Laps 18 1 Nick Cassidy
Vantelin Team TOM'S 8 22 Laps 19 5 Naoki Yamamoto
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 5 25 Laps 20 4 Sacha Fenestraz
Kondo Racing 1 29 Laps View full results
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