Ulsterman Richard Lyons took the lead in the Japanese Formula Nippon championship at the weekend after dominating the second round of the series at the undulating Sugo circuit near Sendai City.
Lyons started from pole position and was never headed in the two races which made up the second round of the leading Formula One feeder series that has previously produced the likes of Ralph Schumacher, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine.
After heading the testing times on Friday and taking his first pole position in the Super Pole shoot out on Saturday, he led from lights to flag in the 28 lap sprint race which decided the grid for the second race and then maintained his dominance in the all important points scoring final over 36 laps later in the afternoon.
In race one Lyons controlled the pace with ease in his DoCoMo Dandelion Lola to head Yuji Tachikawa and ex-Jaguar F1 tester Andre Lotterer across the line.
In the feature event he shrugged off an early race stoppage, which also damaged his front wing, to lead the field away at the restart and he held his advantage throughout ahead of Yuji Ide and Wakisaka to complete the perfect day.
"It's been a fantastic weekend all round," said Lyons afterwards. "The team have been working really hard lately and it's really paid off today.
"I managed to nail it in top ten shoot out qualifying which was satisfying and after that it was a case of controlling from the front. I was always confident that I could stay ahead and it was a case of reeling off the laps and keeping an eye on Ide, although I could see that he was really wringing his cars neck to just keep in contention."
"This sets us up nicely for the championship now. Unlike last year there are 5 or 6 drivers who can challenge for the title this year and I think we have a really good car for all conditions and I'm really looking forward to Motegi in five weeks time."
Lyons now heads both of the top Japanese championships. He has joined Takashi Kogure at the head of the Formula Nippon standings to go with his lead of the Japanese GT series.
Yuji Ide continued his impressive start to the 2004 season as he tailed Lyons to the flag in his Team Impul Lola B3/51. Ide, who replaced reigning champion Satoshi Motoyama at the Kazuyoshi Hoshino led team. Completing the podium in the points scoring sprint race was German Andre Lotterer in the first of the Nakajima Lolas.
Formula Nippon 2004 Rd.02 SUGO Race 1
Pos. - No. - DRIVER - TEAM - LAP - TOTAL1. 40 - RICHARD LYONS - DoCoMo DANDELION - 28 34'28.4112. 4 - YUJI TACHIKAWA - Yellow Hat KONDO - 28 34'29.4053. 31 - ANDRE LOTTERER - PIAA NAKAJIMA - 28 34'30.9744. 11 - TSUGIO MATSUDA - COSMO OIL CERUMO - 28 34'45.3115. 20 - YUJI IDE - mobilecast IMPUL - 28 34'45.4196. 7 - JUICHI WAKISAKA - LeMans - 28 34'46.2177. 3 - RYO MICHIGAMI - Yellow Hat KONDO - 28 34'46.5078. 41 - NAOKI HATTORI - DoCoMo DANDELION - 28 34'53.2019. 8 - TAKESHI TSUCHIYA - LeMans - 28 34'55.82010 2 - TOSHIHIRO KANEISHI - ADiRECT 5ZIGEN - 28 34'56.11511 19 - BENOIT TRELUYER - mobilecast IMPUL - 28 34'57.22012 25 - TATSUYA KATAOKA - LeMans Spirit - 28 35'04.77013 28 - HIDEKI NODA - CARROZZERIA MOHN - 28 35'04.98514 32 - TAKASHI KOGURE - PIAA NAKAJIMA - 28 35'34.9081 SATOSHI MOTOYAMA - ADiRECT 5ZIGEN - DNS
Formula Nippon 2004 Rd.02 SUGO Final
1. 40 Richard Lyons - DoCoMo DANDELION - 36 0:44:36.401 2. 20 Yuji Ide - mobilecast IMPUL - 36 0:44:38.514 - 2.113 3. 7 Juichi Wakisaka - LeMans - 36 0:44:40.197 - 1.683 4. 31 Andre Lotterer - PIAA NAKAJIMA - 36 0:44:41.673 - 1.476 5. 3 Ryo Michigami - Yellow Hat KONDO - 36 0:44:48.007 - 6.334 6. 19 Benoit Trluyer - mobilecast IMPUL - 36 0:44:49.128 - 1.121 7. 41 Naoki Hattori - DoCoMo DANDELION - 36 0:44:59.750 - 10.622 8. 28 Hideki Noda - CARROZZERIA MOHN - 36 0:44:59.963 - 0.213 9. 32 Takashi Kogure - PIAA NAKAJIMA - 36 0:45:00.269 - 0.306 10 8 Takeshi Tsuchiya - LeMans - 36 0:45:03.627 - 3.358 11 25 Tatsuya Kataoka - LeMans Spirit - 36 0:45:14.883 - 11.256 12 1 Satoshi Motoyama - ADiRECT 5ZIGEN - 35 0:43:56.616 - 1Lap 13 2 Toshihiro Kaneishi - ADiRECT 5ZIGEN - 32 0:39:51.750 - 3Laps 14 11 Tsugio Matsuda - COSMO OIL CERUMO - 25 0:45:07.441 - 7Laps 15 4 Yuji Tachikawa - Yellow Hat KONDO -2 0:44:46.972 23Laps
Championship Standings
1, Richard Lyons 10 points= Takashi Kogure 103, Andre Lotterer 94, Ryo Michigami 6= Yuji Ide 6
