Japanese driver Hiroaki Ishiura was the fastest in the qualifying session of the fifth round of 2018 Super Formula Championship. The Inging Motorsport driver beat Tomoki Nojiri and Nobuharu Matsushita by 0.051 seconds.
With a format similar to Formula 1, in Q1 5 drivers were eliminated for the battle for pole position. These drivers were Kazuya Oshima (Uomo Sunoco Team LeMans), Yuhi Sekiguchi (Itochu Enex Team Impul), James Rossiter (Vantelin Team Tom’s), Katsumasa Chiyo (B-Max Racing Team) and Yuichi Nakayama (Carrozzzeria Team KCMG), who will start from positions 15 to 19.
In the second “qualy”, Ryo Hirakawa (Itochu Enex Team Impul) was 1 tenth slower and hasn’t have enough to not being eliminated along with Yuji Kunimoto (P.Mu/Cerumo Inging), Tom Dillmann (Uomo Sunoco Team LeMans) who is replacing Pietro Fittipaldi who has a commitment with IndyCar Series.
Takuya Izawa (TCS Nakajima Racing) will start from the eleventh place, Joao Paulo de Oliveria (Vantelin Team Tom’s) was thirteenth while FIA Formula 2 driver Nirei Fukuzumi (Team Mugen) closes the last place in Q2, the Japanese will start from the fourteenth place.
In an unparalleled fight, Hiroaki Ishiura (P.Mu/ Cerumo Inging) took the pole position with a lap-time of 1:31.591, being only 0.051 seconds faster than his compatriot Tomoki Nojiri (Docomo Team Danelion Racing) who finished ahead of his teammate Nobuharu Matsushita who will start third.
They complete the top 5, only 2 tenths off from pole position, Narain Karthikeyan (TCS Nakajima Racing) and Nick Cassidy (Kondo Racing). Cassidy beat teammate Kenta Yamashita who will start from sixth place.
Naoki Yamamoto (Team Mugen) and Koudai Tsukakoshi (Real Racing) complete the first eight places on the grid for tomorrow at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit.
Down below watch the on-board pole position lap of Hiroaki Ishiura:
