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Shun Koide snatches lead at the start for third win of the season
Shun Koide（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
After two-day four practice sessions the Japanese Super Formula Lights championship had its qualifyings on Friday afternoon for a change this weekend at Fuji Speedway.
In the qualifying for Rd 10 that started at 3:50pm each car set about doing attacks on its fourth or fifth lap, and like many other drivers Jin Nakamura in Mobility Chukyo TOM’S 320 improved his time on his second lap of the attack to claim his first SFL pole position with 1m33.030.
TOM’S locked out the front row as Rikuto Kobayashi (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S 320 TGR-DC) posted 1m33.203 to qualify second.
Shun Koide (HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING) briefly topped the times and ended up third with 1m33.244.
Fourth and fifth went to Rin Arakawa (B-MAX RACING 324) and Yuga Furutani (Deloitte. HTP TOM’S 320) respectively.
Having been strong through the practice sessions Souta Arao (HFDP WITH TODA RACING) would start from seventh.
Start of Round.10■ The start sees a significant change in order
As Rd 10 got underway at 8:20 on Saturday under cloudy skies and slightly cooler temperatures than in the previous sessions both Nakamura and Kobayashi got wheelspin from the front row, allowing the second-row pair of Koide and Arakawa to ease past the TOM’S pair on the run to TGR.
Furutani got a good start from fifth to push Nakamura further back to fourth, with the latter losing another position to a fast-starting Arao through Dunlop.
At the end of the opening lap came Koide, Arakawa, Furutani and Arao, a completely different order from that on the grid.
Koide quickly pulled out a lead of more than a second over Arakawa, who was trailed by Furutani by around a second. Behind Arao in fourth followed a bunch of Nakamura, Kobayashi and Seita Nonaka (PONOS Racing TOM’S 320 TGR-DC) – who was now seventh after passing Kaylen Frederick (Pilot ONE Racing with B-MAX).
Unusually for the overtaking-prone Fuji Speedway the race there was no order change in the race leaders thereafter, and Koide took his third win of the season, crossing the line 4.871 secs clear of Arakawa. He also picked up a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race on lap two with 1m34.114.
Finishing second was a best-ever result in SFL for Arakawa. Furutani took his first podium finish of the season as he placed third.
Prevailing in a close four-way battle Arao took the chequered flag in fourth ahead of Nakamura and Kobayashi.
Koide’s victory put him ahead of Nonaka at the head of the standings for the first time this season as Nonaka finished seventh.
Shun Koide（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
■Fujiwara wins fierce master-class scraps
In master class, in the meanwhile, Yasuhiro Shimizu (GNSY 324) started from his first-ever pole position and retained his lead by the end of opening lap, but would gradually lose places.
DRAGON (TEAM DRAGON 324) came out on top next, only to be overtaken by Makoto Fujiwara (TEAM DRAGON 324) on lap six.
From here, DRAGON and Fujiwara went into a battle, which would also involve Nobuhiro Imada (JMS RACING TEAM). Soon it turned into a fierce scrap over second spot between DRAGON and Imada, which was concluded after several laps on lap 10 when Imada spun at the exit of 13 Turn just after he finally moved up to second.
Fujiwara held on for his maiden master-class win ahead of DRAGON. Imada settled for fourth behind Shimizu.
Rin Arakawa（B-MAX RACING 324）
Souta Arao（HFDP WITH TODA RACING）
Jin Nakamura（MOBILITY CHUKYO TOM'S 320 TGR-DC）
