Formula Nippon - Matsuda Dominates The Race, Earns His Fourth Win of This Season - Rd.5 1st Race Report

Formula Nippon Round 5 Suzuka was an inaugural event of the two-race system. Each race was considered separately, given points, and reverse grid system, which the standings of the first race from first to 8th place was reversed and used as the starting grid for the second race, was utilized.The first race was held under a mid summer condition that had continued from the day before, and it was a sprint race that severely influenced the drivers as well as the tires. In the second race, the major accident occurred, but fortunately, none of the drivers were injured. In this Round 5, first race, Tsugio Matsuda (LAWSON IMPUL), and second race, Kohei Hirate (TP Checker IMPUL) won the races respectively, showing the strength of TEAM IMPUL.

On Sunday, July 13th, continued from the day before, the races at Suzuka was held under a mid summer condition. Free run started at 8 a.m, and after each team finalized the set-up for the final round, they prepared for the first race that begun in the afternoon. At 1 p.m, the formation lap started under the temperature of 33 degree Celsius, and the track temperature of 48 degree Celsius.

After all 20 machines lined up at the starting grid, the race started at 1:04 p.m.The driver who made the hole-shot was second place starter, Benoit Treluyer (LAWSON IMPUL). Matsuda from the pole position fell behind because of the engine stall, but still kept second place. Takashi Kogure (PIAA NAKAJIMA) from the third grid also fell behind due to the same problem as Matsuda, and in exchange, Toshihiro Kaneishi (SG 5ZIGEN) from 4th and Andre Lotterer (PETRONAS TOM’S) from 5th grid gained their positions.

The opening lap was led by Treluyer, but his machine faced a trouble on lap 2. The wheel-nut of the left rear tire began to loose up, preventing him from speeding up the pace. He protected his position, but finally, surrendered to Matsuda at the first corner on lap 5. In the same lap, his machine faced a dangerous condition at the exit of Hairpin Curve, to let the other machines pass by, and forcing him to return to the pit.As a consequence, Matsuda led the race and increased his lead with behind.

He started to dominate the race by increasing nearly a second each lap. In the mean time, the battle for second began to heat up, closely competed by Kaneishi, Lotterer, Kogure, J.P. de Oliveira (KONDO RACING), Hirate, and Loic Duval (PIAA NAKAJIMA). But after few laps with this battle, all machines started to grip down at the rear tire, forcing them to battle on their own rather than the other competitors.In such, another machine retired from this group.

On lap 14, Kaneishi began to decelerate at the Degner Curve and slowly headed back to the pit. It was caused by the loose wheel-nut at the right front wheel. The result was so regrettable since he was running in the top group in a while.

After all, Matsuda dominantly finished first place, and without any standings change, the runner-up was Lotterer, third place, Kogure, followed by Oliveira, Hirate, Duval. 7th place was Naoki Yokomizo (KONDO RACING), and 8th Satoshi Motoyama (Team LeMans), and as a consequence, they will be the front row starter in the second race.

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