Yuhi Sekiguchi has taken his second win of the season at SUGO after showing a strong pace and pulling away from Gasly, who has finished second and has got very close to the championship lead. Kazuki Nakajima has finished third.
Nick Cassidy was on Pole, but he had an awful start that made him lose places to P5. Yuhi Sekiguchi took the lead, followed by Pierre Gasly, Andre Lotterer and Kazuki Nakajima.
On lap 5, Daisuke Nakajima was the first driver to pit for fuel and tyres in what would be a one-stop race. Three laps later, Gasly closed the gap to Sekiguchi to less than one second. Lotterer pitted on lap 11 and returned to track on fourth place, but he quickly moved up to the last podium spot..
On laps 21 and 22, Cassidy and Lotterer, respectively, had to visit the Pit Lane again due to drive-through penalties for speeding on the Pit Lane. By lap 28, Sekiguchi‘s gap to Gasly was way bigger, more than 5 seconds ahead of the French driver. K. Nakajima was third, followed by Yuji Kunimoto, Takuya Izawa and Kamui Kobayashi, who was overtaken by championship leader Hiroaki Ishiura on lap 31.
On lap 42, Sekiguchi was losing much time due to lapped cars, so he did his Pit Stop. This caused that Gasly took the lead provisionally. Two laps later, Koudai Tsukakoshi and D. Nakajima collided and the TCS Nakajima driver lost part of his front wing. This was the only incident of the race.
Gasly pitted with ten laps to go and returned to track in second place. K. Nakajima, third, pitted two laps later and came back in third position. Podium places seemed already consolidated.
Nothing changed until the end and Sekiguchi took his second win of the season and the second consecutive on this track. Gasly finished second and he’s now closer than ever to the championship leader. K. Nakajima finished third, his second podium this season after winning the opening round in Suzuka. Kunimoto, Felix Rosenqvist (5th after having started 12th), Ishiura, Kobayashi and Takuya Izawa are the others points scorers.
This results leave Ishiura still on the lead, with 33.5 points, but Gasly is only now half a point behind. Rosenqvist is third with 28.5, followed by Sekiguchi with 25, K. Nakajima with 22, Lotterer with 20, Kobayashi with 16.5 and Kunimoto with 16.
These eight drivers are the ones that, with a double-header finale round with special scoring left to be held, are matematically able to win the championship. This round is set to be held the 21st and 22nd of October in Suzuka.
