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Yuto Nomura moves into the lead of SFL standings with a lights-to-flag victory
Yuto Nomura（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
Qualifying for Japanese Super Formula Lights Rd 10 started at 2pm on Friday at Sportsland Sugo. Having topped all the three practice sessions, Yuto Nomura driving HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING took pole position with a course record of 1m12.568.
After warming up his tires and doing three laps like many other drivers Zach David in B-MAX RACING 324 posted 1m12.869 to secure another front row position.
Yuki Sano (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) reduced his time at the last second to 1m12.893 to place third.
Start of Round.10■Both Sano and Kobayashi improve positions at the start
The race started with formation lap at 10:35am on Sunday under cloudy skies but in hot and humid conditions with temperatures approaching 30C.
Nomura led away from pole, while David got a sluggish start, allowing Sano and Rikuto Kobayashi (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) to move up to second and third respectively.
Kaylen Frederick (Pilot ONE Racing with B-MAX) was overtaken by Esteban Masson (PONOS Racing TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) to drop to sixth, having started from fourth.
Nomura quickly set about opening up his lead over Sano, while Sano also pulled out a gap to Kobayashi, the top three being separated by more than a second of one another at the end of lap three.
From lap seven through eight Kobayashi was closed in by a pack of David, Masson, Frederick and Yusuke Mitsui (DELiGHTWORKS) who had started nineth.
However, even in the middle stages there were no major moves that could lead to position changes, perhaps because every driver was more cautious than usual with tire management for the longest 26 laps of the Sugo weekend with four races.
Yuto Nomura（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
■Imada marks second master class win of the season
With no position changes seen in the race leaders since lap two when Masson overtook Frederick and Yuga Furutani (Deloitte. HTP TOM'S SFL) passed Mitsui, Nomura was able to manage his tires throughout the race for a lights-to-flag victory, finally taking the championship lead after four consecutive wins from Sano - who finished second even though he eventually got the gap to his rival down to 1.814secs.
Kobayashi fended off the pack headed by David to place third. Fifth and sixth went to Masson and Frederick respectively.
Nobuhiro Imada (JMS RACING TEAM) retained his master class lead from DRAGON (TEAM DRAGON 324) and Yasuhiro Shimizu (GNSY RACING 324) at the start, with the three gradually spreading out.
On lap 23 DRAGON got off the track at Turn four. He managed to return to the track but allowed Shimizu to get ahead of him.
Imada continued to pull out a healthy lead to snatch his first win since Rd7 5 at Autopolis.
Yuki Sano (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL)
