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Nomura’s three straight wins at Okayama put him tied with Sano on points
Yuto Nomura（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
For the last race of the Super Formula Lights Okayama weekend that began on Thursday Yuto Nomura driving HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING claimed pole position on the starting grid determined according to the finishing order of Rd 7. Rikuto Kobayashi (in Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) was his fellow front-row starter. The second row was secured by a B-Max pair of Zach David (B-MAX RACING 324) and Kaylen Frederick (Pilot ONE Racing with B-MAX. Yuki Sano (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) and Yusuke Mitsui (DELiGHTWORKS) would start from the third row.
Start of Round.9■Nomura make a clean start to retain his lead
Contrary to the forecast it did not rain when the formation lap started at 2pm.
Nomura and Kobayashi each made clean getaway from the front row heading into Turn one in the grid order.
David was passed by Frederick off the line and then was caught up by Mitsui, but managed to defend the fourth place. Behind them Esteban Masson (PONOS Racing TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) and Sano engaged in a fierce scrap over sixth place.
Once the race settled down on lap three each gap among the top four of Nomura, Kobayashi, Frederick and David began to open up, while close battles over fifth spot were fought by a pack of Mitsui leading Masson, Sano and Yuga Furutani (Deloitte. HTP TOM'S SFL).
After several laps with no changes in positions of leaders Reimei Ito (LMcorsa OTG 320) spun off into the gravel on lap 13 trying to avoid Kazuhisa Urabe (B-MAX RACING 324) at the hairpin while battling for nineth spot, causing the first safety car of the weekend to clear the car.
Safety car period.■Shimizu takes back master class lead for sixth win of the season
The safety car was deployed just for a lap, and the race restarted on lap 16, with Masson overtaking Mitsui for fifth place. Still, with no changes in positions of the top four, Nomura eventually made it to the chequered flag with 1.243secs advantage over Kobayashi. His three straight wins at Okayama put him tied on points with Sano who narrowly missed out on points.
Mitsui completed the points-scoring positions as he finished sixth behind Frederick, David and Masson.
In master class, in the meanwhile, DRAGON (TEAM DRAGON 324) got a determined start, as if the start would be the deciding factor, to take a lead from Yasuhiro Shimizu (GNSY RACING 324). His strong pace did not allow his rival within range, and he looked to take win as in Rd 8.
However, Shimizu took back the lead just after the restart on lap 16 and score his sixth class win of the season as DRAGON suffered a spin on lap 16.
