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Iori Kimura makes it back-to-back win to get back on top of the standings
Iori Kimura（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
The 2023 Japanese Super Formula Lights championship that began at Autopolis in May has finally come into is final day on Sunday to wrap up the season with Rd 17 and Rd 18 races.
In the Saturday’s qualifying Iori Kimura driving HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING took second consecutive pole position for Rd 17 with a time of 1m43.277 that he posted on his fifth lap.
Igor Omura Fraga in FANATEC-GRAN TURISMO with B-MAX secured another front row position with 1m43.457.
Qualifying third was Hibiki Taira (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S 320 TGR-DC) – who had finished a disappointing seventh in Rd 16.
Start of Round.17■Kimura picks up the holeshot
Despite very cold weather early in the morning the Rd 17 race kicked off at 8:50 am under clear skies for 20 laps, the longest distance of the weekend.
Both Kimura and Omura Fraga got strong start from the front row, while Taira got a slow start, allowing Togo Suganami (JMS RACING WITH B-MAX) to move up to third. However, Suganami was soon overtaken by a fifth-starting Shun Koide (HFDP WITH TODA RACING) in a scrap at Turn three and Turn four, and lost further positions after being challenged by Koide and Taira.
At the end of the fierce opening lap came Kimura at the front as in the previous round, pulling away from Omura Fraga in second. Koide came fourth behind Koide.
In order to ensure his sixth win of the season Kimura proceeded to further extend his lead that had built up to 3.003 secs at the end of lap five, leaving Omura Fraga and Koide circulating within a second of each other, with Koide unable to find opportunities to overtake Omura Fraga who is relatively fast in early stages.
The race leader also picked up the fastest lap of the race with 1m44.609 on lap three, and opened up the gap over Omura Fraga to 4.102 secs at the end of lap 10.
Iori Kimura（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
■Taira slapped with time penalty
Kimura gradually multiplied his lead, ending up 6.572 secs ahead of the closest pursuer at the flag. This perfect victory gave him another 12 points, bringing his total to 106 points.
Omura Fraga fended off Koide by 0.712 secs.
Taira finished fourth on the road, but was slammed with a post-race five-second time penalty for off-the-track running on the run towards Turn four on the opening lap, resulting in just five points as he was classified fifth behind Seita Nonaka (PONOS Racing TOM’S 320 TGR-DC).
Enzo Trulli (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S 320) rounded out the points in sixth.
Nobuhiro Imada (JMS RACING with B-MAX) nailed the start again to maintain his lead over DRAGON（TEAM DRAGON B-MAX 320）throughout the race, crossing the line with a sizeable 11.659 secs lead. Imada became 2023 SFL master class champion with his third straight win and tenth of the season.
