.... to take Fuji win The 4th round of the Formula Nippon series took place at Fuji Speedway on Sunday with the event beginning under clears skies, but then succumbing to a thunderstorm which turned the track in to a river. One after another, cars slid off the track and the red flag was waved on lap 31. The second part of the race took place under extremely wet but relatively safe conditions as cars finished the remaining 32 laps of the scheduled 65. Through it all came Benoit Treluyer – Team IMPUL who took control of the second heat, winning his first race this season.
Despite claiming a clear pole position Richard Lyons lost out at the start to rookie driver - Katsuyuki Hiranaka (CERUMO), who qualified alongside the Ulsterman on the front row. Behind Hiranaka was third placed starter Tatsuya Kataoka (Team LeMAns). Right after the start in Corner 1, Takashi Kogure (PIAA NAKAJIMA) and Sakon Yamamoto (KONDO). When drivers behind tried to swerve around the two cars, positions altered. At the end of lap 1, the leaderboard read - Hiranaka, Kataoka, Ronnie Quintarelli (KONDO), Benoit Treluyer, Takeshi Tsuchiya (Team LeMans), Yuji Ide (mobilecast IMPUL), Richard Lyons, and Satoshi Motoyama (Arting IMPUL).
On lap 5 however, the leader was hit with a drive through penalty for a jumped start. Thus, he headed to the pit on lap 6. At this point, it was Kataoka who took over in the lead.
Soon, Treluyer was pressuring Quintarelli and he duly overtook his fellow Frenchman for 2nd. Lyons and Motoyama both successfully passed Ide and were now in 5th and 6th respectively. About 20 laps into the race, it began to rain and rain hard. Both Motoyama and Hiranaka headed to the pit on lap 25, Kataoka, Matsuda, Hattori, on lap 26, and Treluyer, Quintarelli, Tsuchiya, and Andre Lotterer (PIAA NAKAJIMA) on the following lap.
Lyons was the last driver to pit, but he lost control of the car as he headed in to the very wet pit road. This caused him to lose several positions. When all cars exited the pit, the positions were: Kataoka, Tsuchiya, Lotterer, Motoyama, Quintarelli, Matsuda, and Treluyer.
By this time, rainwas monsoon-like and the leader, Kataoka spun in the Hairpin Curve on lap 30, then again at the first corner on lap 31 which caused him to stall his engine and forced him in to retirement. Behind Kataoka, Lotterer overtook Tsuchiya and found himself in the lead of the race . Tsuchiya almost immediately spun on the main Straight of lap 31 and retired. Even lead driver Lotterer was struggling to drive in a straightline. Other drivers had no other choice but to stop their cars on the track after spinning. Under these conditions, the red flag was waved and the race was halted.
Following race instructions, the second heat was to be held over 32 laps. At 4:30 p.m., the race started for the second time with the safety car leading the way. Grid positions stayed as they had been on lap 30, but Kataoka who was leading and Tsuchiya who was 2nd had slid off the track and were unable to take part in the re-started race.
The new starting order was Lotterer, Motoyama, Quintarelli, Matsuda, Treluyer, Naoki Hattori (DoCoMo DANDELION), Hiranaka, Toranosuke Takagi (TAKAGI PLANNING), Ide, Kogure, and Lyons. When the safety car left the track on lap 5, it was Matsuda who brilliantly passed Quintarelli at the first corner and moved up to 3rd position. Motoyama spun in the Coca Cola Corner and fell back to 5th position, pushing Matsuda up to 2nd. Treluyer overtook Quintarelli near the Chicane and was in 3rd. At the final corner, Motoyama also passed Quintarelli and was up in 4th position. Lyons, who started the second phase of the race in last position, successfully overtook several cars, and on lap 13, he was already in an astonishing 5th position. Lead driver Lotterer managed to widen the gap between himself and Matsuda, and by lap 12, he was nearly 5 seconds ahead of Matsuda. However, Lotterer was hit with engine trouble and headed to the pit on lap 14, but was unable to continue the race.
Treluyer began to aggressively pressure Matsuda. On lap 19, Treluyer managed to get a good tow from Matsuda and tried to take the inside line at the Chicane. When he did so, Treluyer's front left tyre slightly hit Matsuda's rear right tyre, causing Matsuda to spin and Treluyer to stop in the middle of the track. Luckilly though, both drivers were able to regain control and they restarted the race. Treluyer then made a clean move on Matsuda and took over the lead which he held until the chequered flag.
Matsuda was now in 2nd and Motoyama in 3rd. All Matsuda could do was to defend his position against Motoyama who was baring down on his fellow Japanese driver. On lap 23 of the second phase of the race, Matsuda outbraked himself at Turn 1, giving away the 2nd position to Motoyama. Motoyama duly finished 2nd, ahead of Matsuda. Rounding out the top 6 were Lyons, Quintarelli, and Hiranaka.
This result puts Motoyama at the top of the drivers points table followed by Lyons, Ide, and Treluyer.
RACE RESULTS
1st Part- START:14:28 / FINISH:15:15'30 / WEATHER:CLOUDY-RAIN / COURSE:DRY&WET2nd Part- START:16:30 / FINISH:17:33'40 / WEATHER:RAIN / COURSE:WET
Pos./No./DRIVER/ TEAM/ TOTAL /LAP/1st Part TIME (Pos.)/ 2nd Part TIME (Pos.)1 *19 BENOIT TRELUYER mobilecast IMPUL 62 48'05.683 (7) 1:03'40.504 (1)2 23 SATOSHI MOTOYAMA Arting IMPUL 62 47'48.755 (4) 1:03'47.765 (2)3 5 TSUGIO MATSUDA 5ZIGEN 62 47'54.049 (6) 1:03'50.489 (3)4 1 RICHARD LYONS DoCoMo DANDELION 62 49'27.314 (13) 1:03'58.185 (4)5 4 RONNIE QUINTARELLI KONDO 62 47'50.018 (5) 1:03'59.363 (5)6 *11 KATSUYUKI HIRANAKA CERUMO 62 48'17.938 (9) 1:04'03.258 (6)7 20 YUJI IDE mobilecast IMPUL 62 48'26.406 (11) 1:04'10.744 (7)8 32 TAKASHI KOGURE PIAA NAKAJIMA 62 48'53.666 (12) 1:04'20.308 (8)9 12 TORANOSUKE TAKAGI TAKAGI CERUMO 62 48'23.927 (10) 1:04'28.849 (9)10 2 NAOKI HATTORI DoCoMo DANDELION 62 48'11.385 (8) 1:05'03.040 (10)(ABOVE FINISHED)- 31 ANDRE LOTTERER PIAA NAKAJIMA 44 47'40.100 (3) 33'56.405 (-)- 7 TATSUYA KATAOKA Forum Engineering LeMans 30 47'40.100 (1)- 8 TAKESHI TSUCHIYA Forum Engineering LeMans 30 47'30.300 (2)- 3 SAKON YAMAMOTO KONDO 25 47'36.344 (-)- 28 HIDEKI NODA CARROZZERIA MOHN 4 6'20.424 (-)
FASTEST LAP: No.5 TSUGIO
