Kondo Racing Toyota’s Kenta Yamashita finally managed to set the quickest time to top the final day of 2019 Super Formula test at Fuji Speedway.
After ending up third in all the previous three days of Super Formula test in Suzuka and Fuji, Yamashita managed to go one better to top the final day at Fuji with a 1m21.798s lap in the morning session as Team Impul Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa came close to beat him.
A late quick lap of 1m21.991s right at the fag end of the day saw him slot in second, pushing KCMG Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi (1m22.012s) to third with Team Tom’s Toyota’s Nick Cassidy (1m22.146s) in fourth ahead of teammate Kazuki Nakajima (1m22.225s).
The duo set their time in the morning session with the next afternoon time setter being Inging Toyota’s Sho Tsuboi (1m22.234s) as he completed a Toyota 1-2-3-4-5-6 with Dandelion Racing’s Nirei Fukuzumi the lead Honda in seventh with a 1m22.243s lap.
Team Impul Toyota’s Yuhi Sekguchi’s late afternoon lap put him in eighth ahead of Inging Toyota’s Hiroaki Ishiura (1m22.459s) with Team Mugen Honda’s Tomoki Nojiri (1m22.492s) rounding the Top 10 – only two Honda featured in the Top 10.
Just missing out was Nakajima Racing Honda’s Alex Palou (1m22.540s) in 11th from Red Bull junior & B-Max with Motopark Honda’s Lucas Auer (1m22.554s) ahead of Team LeMans Toyota’s Kazuya Oshima (1m22.586s).
In a close fight B-Max with Motopark’s Harrison Newey (1m22.625s) was 14th from Kondo Racing Toyota’s Yuji Kunimoto (1m22.626s) with Day 1 pace-setter Dandelion Racing’s Naoki Yamamoto (1m22.657s) only 16th.
Interestingly, Nakajima Racing’s Tadasuke Makino and Red Bull junior & Team Mugen’s Dan Ticktum were 17th and 18th respectively but set the same time of 1m22.708s – the former setting in the morning session with the latter in the afternoon.
The 20 drivers’ list was rounded out by Real Racing Honda’s Tristain Charpentier (1m23.155s) – with the team deciding to give Charpentier the whole day of running – and Team Le Mans Toyota’s Artem Markelov (1m23.288s).