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Sano wraps up Suzuka opening event with convincing third straight win; third runner-up finish in a row for Nomura
Yuki Sano（Mobility Chukyo TOM'S TGR-DC SFL）
The last race of the four-day Super Formula Lights’ first Suzuka event got underway at 12:50pm in the warmth of spring with track temperatures more than 10C higher than in the previous race.
According to the finishing order of Rd 1 Yuki Sano in Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL started from pole position for Rd 3, aiming for third straight win. Another front-row sitter was Yuto Nomura (HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING).
Having been forced to retire in Rd 2 Rikuto Kobayashi (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) had claimed third with Zach David (B-MAX RACING 324) in fourth.
Start of Round.3■Kobayashi gets the holeshot
Sano’s getaway was not bad, but he struggled to get up to speed due to wheelspin, while Kobayashi got the holeshot with the best acceleration of the field. Sano was also passed by Nomura on the run to the S-shape turn.
However, Sano took advantage of his better pace to snatch back the second spot from Nomura at Astemo on lap three, and then set about hunting down Kobayashi.
A little behind them, six cars became bottled up behind Yusuke Mitsui (DELiGHTWORKS), who was struggling to keep pace with the race leaders, having nailed his favourite start to move up to fourth ahead of Zach David (B-MAX RACING 324).
After spending a couple of laps in the pack David overtook Mitsui at Astemo on lap five, and then Kaylen Frederick (Pilot ONE Racing with B-MAX) also left Mitsui, Tosei Moriyama (JMS RACING TEAM), Souta Arao (DELiGHTWORKS), Yuga Furutani (Deloitte. HTP TOM’S SFL) and Reimei Ito (LMcorsa OTG 320) behind.
Yuki Sano and Rikuto Kobayashi
■Sano takes third consecutive win
Sano finally got onto the tail of Kobayashi on lap seven to engage in a close scrap. Kobayashi kept pushing ‘as much as he [I] could, trying to put pressure on his [my] rival’, only to go off the track at Degner on lap eight.
Although Kobayashi managed to avoid the barrier and return to the track, he not only allowed Sano and Nomura to ease past him, but also found himself being tailed closely by David and Frederick, the three running nose-to-tail in the closing stages.
Sano crossed the line with 5.961secs margin, wrapping up the Suzuka opening event with convincing third straight win. He also scored a point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
Kobayashi held on to finish third behind Nomura. Fourth went to David. Frederick took a brilliant fifth place, having started from nineth.
After allowing David and Frederick to get past him, Mitsui kept the chasing pack down to pick up the final point on offer. Yasuhiro Shimizu (GNSY 324) took his third consecutive master class win after delivering an impressive drive to finish just 2.8secs shy of the pack that fought over sixth place.
