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Maiden victory for Gasly in Super Formula

MOTEGI,JAPAN,19.AUG.17 - MOTORSPORTS, RED BULL JUNIOR TEAM - Japanese Super Formula Championship, Twin Ring Motegi. Image shows Pierre Gasly (FRA).

Round 4 of the 2017 Super Formula season began at Twin Ring Motegi under 28? temperatures, with a track temperature of 30?. It was Kamui Kobayashi who got off to a rocket start to the race from his 2nd grid position overtaking pole position starter Kenta Yamashita. Tomoki Nojiri, who started the 250 km (52 lap) race in 3rd also was able to get past Yamashita to move up into 2nd. Pierre Gasly who started in the 4th grid, and Felix Rosenqvist, who started in 5th, were both able to maintain their positions.

On lap 5, Kamui had a 3 sec. lead over the rest of the machines that pursued him. Naoki Yamamoto, who began in the 16th grid, had moved up to 11th by that point in the race. Koudai Tsukakoshi, whose car stalled at the start, had jumped up 10 spots all the way to 9th.

It was Yamashita who headed to the pit first for the mandatory tire change, and some fuel. On lap 11, Yamamoto also went to the pit and changed to medium tires, which would prove to be the difference in the rest of his day.

Kamui, who still had on soft spec tires, had lost contact with his team because of transceiver problems, continued in the top spot and had a 6.8 sec. lead over 2nd running Nojiri. Gasly was in 3rd, Felix Rosenqvist in 4th, and Nick Cassidy in 5th. Narain Karthikeyan was in 6th place.

During lap 19, Tsukakoshi briefly headed to the pit to change to another set of soft tires. But he would still need to change over to medium tires at some point due to the regulations for this race.

On lap 21, Kamui had built a 14.6 sec. lead. It was now Pierre Gasly in 2nd, and Rosenqvist in 3rd. Then on lap 25, Rosenqvist changed to soft tires. But Kamui still had on the soft tires that had begun the race on. Rosenqvist’s soft tires were working well, as he was able to get past Nojiri on lap 30. Then on lap 31, he moved up to 6th.

During lap 32, Kamui’s team began preparing for a tire change. While that was happening, Andre Lotterer’s car ran into Takuya Izawa from behind, causing Izawa’s car to run into the guardrail. He appeared to briefly lose control of his car due to his left rear tire almost coming off as a result of the crash.

On lap 34, Kamui headed to the pit and changed tires and had fuel added. But trouble in the pit caused a huge time loss for Kamui–pretty much ending hopes of winning his first Super Formula race.

On lap 36, Rosenqvist was directly behind Kamui’s car, but Kamui was able to maintain his 2nd place position. The story of the day was Pierre Gasly who had a 14 sec. lead over Kamui on lap 41. Gasly was able to maintain that lead and capture his first Super Formula victory. Kamui finished the race in 2nd, and Rosenqvist in 3rd. Hiroaki Ishiura, who began the race in the 16th grid, moved up all the way into 4th, where he finished the race. Nick Cassidy finished in 5th, and his teammate pole position starter Kenta Yamashita was in 6th.

Results:

Po. No. Driver Car Name / Engine Laps Time Delay BestTime
Chassis: SF14  /  Tire: Yokohama
1 15 Pierre Gasly TEAM MUGEN SF14Honda HR-417E 52
M/S
1:24’26.817 177.39km/h 1’35.147
2 18 Kamui Kobayashi KCMG Elyse SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
S/M
1:24’45.400 18.583 1’34.688
3 7 Felix Rosenqvist SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:24’46.324 19.507 1’35.660
4 2 Hiroaki Ishiura P.MU/CERUMO?INGING SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:24’47.012 20.195 1’34.439
5 3 Nick Cassidy FUJI×raffinee KONDO SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:24’52.906 26.089 1’34.871
6 4 Kenta Yamashita FUJI×raffinee KONDO SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
S/M
1:25’06.156 39.339 1’35.637
7 36 Andre Lotterer VANTELIN KOWA TOM’S SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:25’07.715 40.898 1’35.480
8 40 Tomoki Nojiri DOCOMO DANDELION M40S SF14Honda HR-417E 52
S/M
1:25’13.921 47.104 1’35.689
9 10 Koudai Tsukakoshi REAL SF14Honda HR-417E 52
S/S/M
1:25’16.507 49.690 1’34.259
10 8 Kazuya Oshima SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
S/M
1:25’24.159 57.342 1’36.842
11 37 Kazuki Nakajima VANTELIN KOWA TOM’S SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:25’29.256 1’02.439 1’36.623
12 64 Daisuke Nakajima TCS NAKAJIMA RACING SF14Honda HR-417E 52
M/S
1:25’36.332 1’09.515 1’35.826
13 16 Naoki Yamamoto TEAM MUGEN SF14Honda HR-417E 52
S/M
1:25’38.139 1’11.322 1’36.989
14 20 Jann Mardenborough ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:25’43.685 1’16.868 1’35.012
15 1 Yuji Kunimoto P.MU/CERUMO?INGING SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:25’44.227 1’17.410 1’35.705
16 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL SF14TOYOTA RI4A 52
M/S
1:25’45.581 1’18.764 1’36.163
17 50 Takashi Kogure B-Max Racing team SF14Honda HR-417E 52
S/M
1:26’01.479 1’34.662 1’37.045
Not Classified
65 Narain Karthikeyan TCS NAKAJIMA RACING SF14Honda HR-417E 42
S/M
1:09’12.186 10Laps 1’36.915
41 Takuya Izawa DOCOMO DANDELION M41Y SF14Honda HR-417E 30
S/M
49’25.687 22Laps 1’36.451

Super Formula Press Release