MUGEN

2014.5.12

TEAM MUGEN with two new cars completed the first race of the season! Seeing hope for the round 2

Series name: 2014 Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA Round 1 at SUZUKA CIRCUIT
Event: SUZUKA 2&4 RACE
Course: 5.807km × 43 laps (249.701km)
Qualifying: 2014-04-12 Sat / Fine / Attendance 23,000 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race: 2014-04-13 Sun / Cloudy / Attendance 28,000 (Announcement from the organizer)

The season-opening race of the Japanese top formula race was held in SUZUKA CIRCUIT in Mie Prefecture. The name of the series was changed to Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA last year, and this year, rules for cars were thoroughly reviewed to have both chassis and engine newly developed.

TEAM MUGEN entered the race with two cars, one for Naoki Yamamoto, who won the championship last year in his third season in the team, with the champion number 1, and the other for Yuhki Nakayama, who drived MUGEN CR-Z GT in SUPER GT 300, with number 2. For TEAM MUGEN, this is the fifth entry into the Japanese top formula race series.

April 11th, (Fri)

■  Exclusive drive
#1 Naoki Yamamoto 18th position (00:01:40.700)
#2 Yuhki Nakayama 19th position (00:01:41.964)

In accordance with the introduction of new cars, we had an exclusive drive for one hour starting at 16:00 on 11th, Friday. The engine mounted on to SF14, which was newly created by Dallara Automobile in Italy, is Honda HR-414E, which is a 2,000 cc in-line four-cylinder direct-injection turbocharged engine. Since we used a test engine in development tests so far and this was the first time to drive the cars with engines for actual races, we mainly performed a basic system check during the exclusive drive in preparation for the regular schedule from Saturday.

April 12th, (Sat)

■  Qualifying
#1 Naoki Yamamoto Q1:7th position (00:01:38.130), Q2: 9th position (00:01:38.086), Q3:-
#2 Yuhki Nakayama Q1:17th position (00:01:39.109), Q2:-, Q3:-

As has happened in the past, the qualifying process was in the three-step knockout format. With all cars entered, Q1 started at 13:50 in dry conditions. The two cars were set for the qualifying session based on data obtained in the morning. Q1 is a 20-minute session. In the first half, we checked settings and tried a time attack with used tires. Probably, thanks to the settings for the qualifying, Yamamoto (#1) ran faster than he had been in the free run, and held on to the hope for a time attack in the race.

In the latter half, Yamamoto (#1) rushed into the track with new tires equipped, took two laps to warm tires up before he started trying a time attack, and recorded 00:01:38.130. He got the 7th position, which was the first among Honda drivers, in Q1 and entered Q2. On the other hand, Nakayama (#2) couldn't make a time attack as well as he expected. Though he recorded 00:01:39.109, which was his personal best, he ended up getting the 17th position and couldn't enter Q2. This made him to be in grid 17.

Q2 started at 14:20 for seven minutes. Yamamoto (#1) took two laps to warm tires up before he started trying a time attack, and recorded 00:01:38.086 which further reduced his Q1 time. However, he ended up as the ninth in Q2 unfortunately, and couldn't make it to Q3 which only eight drivers would enter. This made him to be in grid 9.

April 13th, (Sun)

■   Final Race
#1 Naoki Yamamoto 11th position (43 laps 01:16:56.301 / Best lap 00:01:42.004)
#2 Yuhki Nakayama 12th position (43 lpas 01:56.999 / Best lap 00:01:42.574)

It was slightly overcast in Suzuka area, and outside air temperature and road surface temperature was slightly lower than the day before. In consideration of the developed engine status, the team decreased downforce to run in the final race with a strategy to reduce time in straight sections though it would be tough for them during cornering.

Right when the start of the race was signaled, Yamamoto (#1) accelerated the car successfully to overtake a car ahead and came in 8th, while Nakayama (#2) failed to accelerate the car and came in 18th in the race at the start. Yamamoto (#1) came in 1st among Honda drivers and followed the car ahead without being left far behind. However, while taking laps, cars behind closed in, so he had to pay attention not to allow them to overtake him and to keep his position.

After Lap 12, there were some movements. Car #7, which was following Yamamoto (#1) made a pit stop for replacing tires and fueling. Yamamoto (#1), who noticed it, decided to make a pit stop earlier than originally planned on Lap 13, and he drove to the pit lane. Yamamoto (#1) came back on the track with the car #7 behind him, and he kept his position.

Since a car stopped in the track on Lap 15, a safety car came on to the circuit and made drivers to form a queue behind it. Yamamoto (#1) used this to get closer to a car ahead. In addition, since most of drivers racing in top positions also made pit stops during the safety car run, when the race was resumed on Lap 18, Yamamoto (#1) was apparently in the sixth position.

Since drivers in top positions, who didn't make pit stops during the safety car run, made pit stops midway through the race after the resuming, Yamamoto (#1) went up to the fifth position on Lap 31. After that, Yamamoto (#1) successfully kept his position by preventing the cars behind from overtaking him. In the latter half of the race, the cars behind closed in at corners while he left them far behind again in straight sections by speeding up from the start of a straight section. The strategy to decrease downforced helped a lot in the situation.

However, rear tires were gradually worn. This made the car less stable when the brakes were applied and it became difficult for him to drive while paying attention not to allow cars behind to overtake him. The lap time of Yamamoto (#1) was slower by about three seconds compared to that of drivers in top positions, and cars behind closed in aggressively, but he continued the race in the same position by taking tactical lines and using the overtaking system.

#15 Sato also made a good start to jump up to 15th and then 14th position, by the 2nd lap. Sato also tried hard to overtake the car in front, but eventually took the flag in 14th position.

Despite all the efforts, even he had no way to overcome the machine conditions. Yamamoto (#1) gradually started falling behind. On Lap 38 which was late in the race, he overran at the beginning of the spoon corner and lost substantial positions. He eventually finished 11th in the race which was 00:01:06.499 behind a winner. Nakayama (#2) also struggled with unstable behavior of the car when brakes were applied in the last part of the race while taking laps at a constant pace. He finished 12th in the race, right after Yamamoto (#1) did.

■ Comments from the team director, Nagataka Tezuka

They drove fast in the race when the tires were in good conditions. But, in the middle of the race, a little after replacing tires, something went wrong. They said rear tires got less grippy, and the pace got slow suddenly. Yamamoto made great efforts not to be overtaken for a while with that decreased pace. I think he did a great job. Nakayama seemed to have made a mistake at start, but I think he learned a lesson while taking laps and keeping his nerve. I hope he will move up in qualifying sessions next time!

The staffs worked very hard and patiently until late at night. Without any serious trouble, I find myself feeling relieved and it may sound odd.
I would like to look into what went wrong to resolve them for next races so that the team will get stronger with faster cars.
We will try hard also in the next race to repay our fans and people involved for their support and help.

♦ Photo Gallery (Round1)