MUGEN

2013.7.17

Yamamoto again stood at the podium in a row and got 2nd position in the point ranking!

Series name: 2013 Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA Round3
Event name: 2013 Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA Round3 FUJI SPEEDWAY
Course: 4.563km × 55 laps (250.965km)
Qualifying: 2013-07-13 Sat / Fine / Attendance 8,900 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race: 2013-07-14 Sun / Fine / Attendance 15,700 (Announcement from the organizer)

Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA Round3 was held at FUJI SPEEDWAY. TEAM MUGEN participated in this race with drivers, #16 Naoki Yamamoto and #15 Takashi Kobayashi. #16 Naoki Yamamoto won 3rd prize at previous race and is currently ranked at 2nd position (there are two drivers in the 2nd position including #16 Yamamoto) only 1 point behind the champion.

█   Race
#16 Naoki Yamamoto 3rd place (55 laps: 1hr27mins41.363secs / Best lap: 1min27.511secs)
#15 Takashi Kobayashi 15th place (55 laps: 1hr28mins21.238secs / Best lap: 1min27.742secs.)

At 2:15pm with the sun shining between shallow clouds the race started just after a formation lap. Soon after some accident occurred at the back and a safety car appeared even the first lap was not finished. At this point #16 Yamamoto was in 8th position and #15 Kobayashi was in 15th position.

The race itself restarted from 6th lap and while the safety car was on the course, some leading cars made a pit stop for gas and the second machine was imposed on the drive-through penalty. So then in the end #16 Yamamoto went up in the ranking to the 5th position and #15 Kobayashi did to the 13th position at the 7th lap.

#16 Yamamoto made a pit stop just after finishing 30th lap for gas and tire change. He went down to the 10th position temporally, however, marked his best record and kept a good pace. On the other hand, #15 Kobayashi made a pit stop after finishing 33rd laps for gas and tire change and went back to the course.

By the time when all the machines finished pit stop, #16 Yamamoto was in the 6th position and #15 Kobayashi in the 16th position. #16 Yamamoto chased after the machine in front and at the 42nd laps while the machines in the 4th and the 5th positions competed he dived into inside of the machine in its 5th position a t the hairpin curve and got the 5th position.

At the 43rd lap the driver at the 2nd position received the drive-through penalty and at the 53rd lap just before the goal, due to a machine trouble, the machine at the 2nd position stopped, and then #16 Yamamoto went up to the 3rd position and finished the race with 3rd position following the 3rd place in the 2RD at AUTOPOLIS.

As the result of this race the total points of #16 Yamamoto at this series is 17 and gets the solely 2nd position. The next race will be held at the home ground of Yamamoto, TWIN RING MOTEGI, Tochigi prefecture at August 3rd and 4th.

█ Comment from the team director Tezuka

We could start off the qualifying with a decent condition, and went far to Q3. Our engineers and drivers did their best and got 7th position 3 seconds behind the top machine. There must something, something is lacking for winning the race, but at this point I am satisfied with this result. I am so relieved that because the 2nd set of the tires worked very well and the operation at the pit worked also very well we could win a 3rd prize of the race at FUJI which we normally not do well. I admit that we could not get this result without luck but still our driver passed by one car by his own.

Considering the position of Kobayashi at the qualifying, we set up the goal, completion of the race which he could not in the previous race at the AUTOPOLIS. He seemed to learn a lot about the characteristics of our machine even this was just a second race this year for him. I hope he can get a better result for the next race. In general though this time we tried new strategy and did our very best, we could not win, that means there still is something remaining lacking and no to be competed. We would like to try new strategy and win the next race. Since next race will be held at TWIN RING MOTEGI, a home ground course for Yamamoto, we come together to do our best to let Yamamoto stand the center of the podium. We thank you very much for your constant support and hope you will continue to cheer us on.