Suzuka Super Formula: Ishiura takes double pole in season finale

Defending champion Hiroaki Ishiura has locked out pole position for the final two races of the Super Formula season at Suzuka.

While the grid for the second race was determined using the standard three-stage knockout format, Q1 was used to decide the starting order for Race 1.

Ishiura was ominous in the opening leg of qualifying, but faced a stern challenge from McLaren F1 protege Stoffel Vandoorne during Q3.

The Japanese driver has been awarded two points for clinching a double pole, placing him firmly in the thick of the title battle.

Ishiura cruises to Race 1 pole

Ishiura led the timesheets for the majority of Q1 with a time of 1m38.438s, before a late improvement to 1m37.453s saw the Japanese driver seal pole position for Race 1.

Yuji Kunimoto claimed the second spot to secure an all-Inging front row, ahead of of Tomoki Nojiri and Audi WEC driver Andre Lotterer.

The German was lying on the brink of Q1 elimination until a late-gasp effort catapulted him to fourth on the grid.

Meanwhile, Bertrand Baguette was fifth fastest in the session, with Kazuki Nakajima sixth and Vandoorne qualifying seventh on the grid.

Drago Corse’s Takashi Kogure, Mugen driver Naoki Yamamoto and former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi completed the top 10.

Championship leader Yuhi Sekiguchi endured a difficult session, ending a second off the pace in 13th place.

Former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan and LMP1 racer James Rossiter were the biggest casualties in Q1.

Ishiura pips Vandoorne for Race 2 pole

The field was a lot closer in Q3, with Vandoorne getting to within 0.005s of Ishiura’s benchmark of 1m37.026s.

The Belgian set purple times in sectors one, two and four, but lost out to the Japanese driver in the penultimate sector.

Behind, Kunimoto ended third fastest with a time of 1m37.224s, with early pace setter Tomoki Nojiri finishing fourth.

Lotterer qualified fifth, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima, Baguette and Daisuke Nakajima. The top10 was completed by Koudai Tsukakoshi and Joao Paulo de Oliveira.

Sekiguchi’s troubles continued, with the points leader resigned to 13th on the grid after getting eliminated in Q2.

Q1 Results:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Hiroaki Ishiura	INGING	1'37.453	-
2	Yuji Kunimoto	INGING	1'37.801	0.348
3	Tomoki Nojiri	DANDELION	1'37.833	0.032
4	Andre Lotterer	TOM’S	1'37.884	0.051
5	Bertrand Baguette	NAKAJIMA	1'37.941	0.057
6	Kazuki Nakajima	TOM’S	1'38.048	0.107
7	Stoffel Vandoorne	DANDELION	1'38.153	0.105
8	Takashi Kogure	DRAGO CORSE	1'38.239	0.086
9	Naoki Yamamoto	TEAM MUGEN	1'38.288	0.049
10	Kamui Kobayashi	TEAM LEMANS	1'38.484	0.196
11	Daisuke Nakajima	NAKAJIMA	1'38.491	0.007
12	J.P.de Oliveira	TEAM IMPUL	1'38.525	0.034
13	Yuhi Sekiguchi	TEAM IMPUL	1'38.592	0.067
14	Koudai Tsukakoshi	REAL SF	1'38.761	0.169
15	Yuichi Nakayama	KCMG	1'38.788	0.027
16	Narain Karthikeyan	TEAM LEMANS	1'38.916	0.128
17	William Buller	KONDO	1'39.006	0.090
18	James Rossiter	KONDO	1'39.076	0.070
19	Takuya Izawa	REAL SF	1'39.469	0.393

Q1-Q3 Results:

Po.	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Hiroaki Ishiura	INGING	1'37.453	1'37.589	1'37.026
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	DANDELION	1'38.153	1'37.673	1'37.031
3	Yuji Kunimoto	INGING	1'37.801	1'37.364	1'37.224
4	Tomoki Nojiri	DANDELION	1'37.833	1'37.877	1'37.438
5	Andre Lotterer	TOM’S	1'37.884	1'38.023	1'37.537
6	Kazuki Nakajima	TOM’S	1'38.048	1'38.020	1'37.626
7	Bertrand Baguette	NAKAJIMA	1'37.941	1'37.895	1'37.898
8	Daisuke Nakajima	NAKAJIMA	1'38.491	1'37.938	1'37.961
9	Koudai Tsukakoshi	REAL SF	1'38.761	1'38.175
10	J.P.de Oliveira	ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	1'38.525	1'38.208
11	Naoki Yamamoto	TEAM MUGEN	1'38.288	1'38.212
12	Takashi Kogure	DRAGO CORSE	1'38.239	1'38.546
13	Yuhi Sekiguchi	TEAM IMPUL	1'38.592	1'38.795
14	Kamui Kobayashi	TEAM LEMANS	1'38.484
15	Yuichi Nakayama	KCMG	1'38.788
16	Narain Karthikeyan	TEAM LEMANS	1'38.916
17	William Buller	KONDO	1'39.006
18	James Rossiter	KONDO	1'39.076
19	Takuya Izawa	REAL SF	1'39.469

Series	Super Formula
Event	Suzuka II
Location	Suzuka
Drivers	Stoffel Vandoorne , Hiroaki Ishiura
Teams	Inging Motorsport
Author	Rachit Thukral