After a month break, the japaneseF3 was back on track at themythic Suzuka circuit. It is thesecond time this year that thedrivers visit this venue, yet theheat of the japanese summerwould surely pose some challenges:“In anticipation of thisrace I have used the break to trainvery hard and make sure I amready to dedicate my full focus toseeking the performance” Imperatorisaid.
The week-end began promisingly,with Alexandre setting the fastesttime on old tyres in friday’s practicesession. “We used differentnew tyres in the afternoon thanour competitors so even thoughwe were a little slower on newtyres we are not really worried as we have found a good setup withmy engineer.”
The qualifying was held on saturdaymorning and Alexandre tookthe best out of his tyres to securea spot on the front row of the gridfor both races. With cars onlyseparated by a tenth, it wouldprove a close fight in the races.
Unfortunately the first race wasdecided at the start when theyoung swiss made his first startmistakeof the season and stallthe engine: “I anticipated the starta fraction too much and had to reclutch.At the same time the lightswent off and in the precipitation Iwrongly managed the clutch andstalled. It was entirely my mistake”the PTRS driver admitted.
He could restart and had to settlefor 5th place: “I was quite quickerthan the guys in front but as soonas I came too close into the badair it became really difficult”. Alsothe engine tuners revealed afterwardsthat the engine was abnormallyhot by just a few degreesand had automatically enteredinto a safe mode, retardingthe timing of the engine.
Therefore, Alexandre took precautionsin sunday’s race: “Icooled the engine as much aspossible in my installation lap in abid for performance in the firstfew laps”. At the start, Alex tookoff the best when the lights cameoff and lead into the first corner.At the hairpin, a competitor fromthe A-class spun in front of thecar number 20 of Imperatori andthe swiss had to take the insideline to avoid the car. He also hadto slow down too much and put 2wheels off the track. Secondplaced Matsushita just had thetime to take the outside line andcould accelerate better and easilytake the lead. “The hairpin incidentis sheer bad luck. I wasquite a lot quicker than Matsushita(5 tenths a lap in fastestlap classification) so I could have gone away. As soon as I got behindthe engine kept heating toomuch like yesterday and I graduallylost power. Even in slipstreamI was loosing ground but couldmake up in the corners.”.
Alex being stuck behind Matsushitaallowed Yamauchi (ToyotaTDP driver), to catch up and in lap9, Imperatori could not block apass down the main straight: “Icould make a small gap out ofspoon, yet he was easily catchingup in the straight and out of thechicane he just got too much slipstreamand that was it” Alexandrecommented. Top speed standingsindeed showed Yamauchi to havea 5 km/h advantage at the speedtrap.
The first three had created a gapand Alexandre kept pushing butwith his engine again in safemode it was hard to try any move,even though he had the quickestpace. “In the bad air, it was hardto try anything and I couldn’t evengain from the slipstream so it wasa hard race but we got anotherpodium here and the championshipis open. Now we need tolook at the engine problem and fixit for the next race in Fuji”.
Alexandre Imperatori - Press Release
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