MUGEN

2015.11.12

Successful conclusion brought to TEAM MUGEN. Pole to Win in the RACE2 of JAF Grand Prix, the final round in the series!

Series name: 2015 Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA Round 7
Event: JAF GRAND PRIX SUZUKA
Course: RACE1 5.807km × 20 laps (116.14km)
RACE2 5.807km × 28 laps (162.60km)
Qualifying: November 7 (Sat) / Cloudy / Attendance 13,500 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race: November 8 (Sun) / Rain / Attendance 16,000 (Announcement from the organizer)

On November 7th (Saturday) and 8th (Sunday), 2015 Japanese Championship SUPER FORMULA Round 7, JAF GRAND PRIX SUZUKA, was held at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. Among the races held in various circuits in the 2015 series, this was the second race at Suzuka since its season-opening race. The race was titled as JAF GRAND PRIX, and two-race system was employed for the final race.

The instantaneous fuel flow restrictors were set to 95 kg/h, which was a regular value. Using the overtaking systems (OT) was allowed only in the final race, and if you used it, the maximum flow rate was increased from 95 kg/h to 105 kg/h for 20 seconds, as it has been in the past. However, the frequency of using the OT is limited from five times per race to “five times in two races” considering the two-race system.

November 7 (Sat)

■  Free practice first round
#16 Naoki Yamamoto, 8th position (00:01:39.642)

Starting at 09:30 in the morning of 7th on Saturday, the free practice was held for one hour under dry condition. During this event of the two-race system, this was the only planned free practice throughout the weekend in the formal schedule.

#16 Yamamoto took his time to drive onto the course with used tires equipped for his car to check the preconfigured setting. He recorded time as 00:01:40.513 on the lap 4 (third at this point of time), and returned to the pit.

#16 Yamamoto thought they had something to improve the preconfigured setting. The team made fine adjustments of the setting, and they let #16 Yamamoto drive onto the course again after 20 minutes had passed since the session started. In response, #16 Yamamoto reduced the time to 00:01:40.451 (5th at this point of time) and returned to the pit to make further adjustments of the setting. #16 Yamamoto drove onto the course when there were 20 minutes to go. He reduced the time to 00:01:39.642 and finished the free practice driving 18 laps in total.

■  Official qualifying
#16 Naoki Yamamoto (Q1:6th position, 00:01:38.645, Q2: 3rd position, 00:01:38.375, Q3: 1st position, 00:01:37.963)

With the two-race system for the final, some irregular rules were applied. The qualifying race featured the knockout format that consisted of three sessions. The results of the Q1 session, which lasts for 20 minutes, decide starting grids for the race 1. This means all drivers have to give it their best in the Q1 session. We expected more aggressive Q1 session than usual.

As usual, the starting grids for the race 2 are determined based on the qualifying races of the knockout format in Q1 through Q3 sessions. The top 14 out of all drivers in Q1 will run Q2, and they will make time attacks for seven minutes. The top 8 in Q2 will run Q3 to compete for the top eight starting grids including the pole position.

The twenty-minute Q1 session started at 13:30 in the afternoon. It was cloudy, the temperature was 19°C, and the road surface temperature was 22°C, which were relatively low. When the course was opened to drivers, #16 Yamamoto drove onto the course from behind a group of drivers. He took two laps for tires warm-up, recorded time as 00:01:39.721 on the lap 3 (4th at this point of time), and returned to the pit.

#16 Yamamoto made a final adjustment of the setting for time attacks to be made in the latter part of the session. He drove onto the course when there were six minutes left in the session, took two laps to warm up the tires, and made a time attack. He recorded time as 00:01:38.645, and he was at the top at this point of time. However, since other drivers beat his record later, he finished 6th in the Q1 with 0.291 seconds behind the top car.

As a result of this, #16 Yamamoto got the 6th grid in the race 1. This was the top position among cars with Honda engines equipped.

Q2 started at 14:00 in the afternoon as scheduled, and it lasted for seven minutes. #16 Yamamoto drove onto the course last among all 14 cars to compete. He warmed up the tires while keeping his position, and made a time attack. He recorded time as 00:01:38.375. He was the 3rd position and made it to the Q3.

The Q3 session started at 14:17. In consideration of the number of cars for the session, which was reduced to eight, no car drove onto the course when the course was opened. They started to drive when about one minute had passed.

When one minute and 45 seconds had passed, #16 Yamamoto drove onto the course. It was the seventh out of the eight cars. He took two laps to carefully warm up the tires, recorded time as 00:01:37.963, and became the first. The session finished without change in positions, and #16 Yamamoto got the pole position for the race 2.

November 8 (Sun)

■   Race 1 Final race
#16 Naoki Yamamoto, 14th position (19 laps / 00:41:29.363 / Best lap: 00:01:57.588)

The rain started in the middle of the night the previous day, and Suzuka Circuit was in wet condition. Because of the irregular final race of the two-race system, the second free practice session, which should be usually held in the morning, was not held. After warm-ups in eight minutes starting at 9:15 in the morning, a safety car took a lead to start the final race because of the rainfall.

It was slightly raining when the safety car started running. Large splash was made by rain tires of each car when they warmed up the tires. The safety car took a lead for two laps, and then, the race of 20 laps started from the lap 3. #16 Yamamoto remained in the 6th position and he followed close behind a car ahead.

However, with the splash, #16 Yamamoto could not move up. He was gradually falling behind, and rather chased by cars behind him. Though #16 Yamamoto kept the 6th position, a car behind overtook him driving beside his car in 130R on the lap 8. He managed to fend it off and came to a chicane when a left front wheel of the car behind was driven over a right rear wheel of #16 Yamamoto's car, and the two cars crashed. They lost balance and overran the chicane.

The race continued with the car behind him returned to the course, and then #16 Yamamoto. #16 Yamamoto moved down to the 7th position once, however, he moved back to the 6th position before the first curve since the car, which had overtaken him, could not run faster because of the damage in its front by the crash. However, he was more than five seconds behind a car ahead, and he could not drive faster because of loosened nuts in the right rear wheel and tire damages by the crash. It was a difficult situation for him to overtake in the remaining laps.

#16 Yamamoto continued to chase the cars ahead, but the loosening developed gradually and on the lap 19, he could not accelerate the car and driving the car at racing speed was impossible. He gave up continuing the race, slowed down to the pit to end the race.

■  RACE 2 Final Race
#16 Naoki Yamamoto, 1st position (27 laps / 00:52:32.553 / Best lap 00:01:56.064)

Before the race 2, which was to start at 15:00, a warm-up session started at 14:16.

The rain stopped once after the race 1, but it started raining again and the track surface was in wet conditions. #16 Yamamoto drove onto the course to check the setting sufficiently improved by the team based on the data obtained in the race 1. Since he felt the setting was good, he returned to the pit before the end of the eight-minute session considering tire tread wear.

The race 2 applied the standing start method. After the formation lap, all cars were in their starting grids with #16 Yamamoto, who was in the pole position, at the head. However, right before the start signal would be given, one of the cars had a fire, and this caused a delay in the start.

After an interval of 15 minutes, it was decided to decrease the race distance by one lap and restart the race with 27 laps. Though the race rules required cars in the race 2 to make pit stops to replace tires, no pit stop was required since all cars started with rain tires equipped.

The track surface was completely in wet conditions, and rain tires made a big splash. At the instant of the start, #16 Yamamoto gained a fantastic acceleration. A driver accelerated his car nicely from behind, and he tried to overtake #16 Yamamoto before the first curve on the inside. However, #16 Yamamoto delayed the timing of applying the brakes to block the car from the outside line and went into the curve at the top.

#16 Yamamoto kept the 1st position while updating his best lap record and leading competitors far behind. On the lap 1, he was leading the car behind by 1.6 seconds. The gap became wider as 2.0 seconds on the lap 2, 4.0 seconds on the lap 5, and 5.0 seconds on the lap 8.

About halfway through the 27-lap race, he was leading the second-place car by 7.0 seconds. The rain weakened and the amount of the rain water on the track surface was also decreasing. The team determined that he had a sufficient lead, so they switched to a strategy to decrease his pace considering tire tread wear. In the middle stage of the race, #16 Yamamoto maintained 7.0 seconds-plus lead against the second-place car and he continued a safe race.

#16 Yamamoto finished the 27-lap race without any change in the situation, and he delivered the first win of the season. #16 Yamamoto and TEAM MUGEN won the championship for the first time since the race 1 of the round 7 in 2013. As a result, #16 Yamamoto added nine Championship points, and this made a total of 26 points in the series. He finished 5th in this season, which was the highest among Honda drivers. Furthermore, TEAM MUGEN was ranked 6th with a total of 21 points in this series.

■ Comments from driver, Naoki Yamamoto

I just feel very happy that I could win. I did not have a good feeling when I started to drive the car this weekend. But the team made detailed adjustments step by step, and I could drive as I expected in the Q3. Honestly, during the race 1 when it was raining, the car did not respond so well. To tell the truth, I thought “I can't do it” when I started the warm-up session.

So, I worried very much about the race 2 as well. But, thanks to our engineers' efforts to make great improvements to the car during the interval, I thought “I may be able to make it” during the warm-up session before the race. That's why I did not finish the eight-minute session but returned to the pit to do starting practice only. I could run the race keeping my head.

Well, I still had a little bit of concern over starting since I had not done it well during the practice When we had to restart, I felt “disappointed” since my excitement was at the highest level. But I quickly turned around to think positively like “Oh, it's great that I can practice once more”.

I could manage to make a good start in the actual race, but Nakajima also made a good start and he was chasing me. So, I was relatively aggressive thinking I would not be able to win if I could not block him. I could do nothing but drive aggressively. I appreciate Nakajima's fair way of competing with me in that situation.

During the race, I did not think anything but concentrated on driving the car aggressively. I think that is the reason I could drive without making worse lap time until the end of the race. On the last two laps, I prayed that no trouble would happen. I'm very happy we did not have any problem and could finally bring the victory to Honda in the last race.

■ Comments from the team director, Nagataka Tezuka

When we started the practice with our preconfigured setting this weekend, we did not have a good feeling and everyone felt “We may fail again...” But the team had really a great job after that, and we could win the race at the last moment. I'm very happy.

Settings are really tough and their difficulty level is very high. From the first race to the last one, we were always competing for the victory, but we had a tough time and struggled very much halfway through the season. Our team staff including drivers worked on the job with aspirations. I think this resulted in the victory at the very end of the series.

It was good that we could get the pole position. However, when I think back on the race 1 in the rain, it was a rough situation. The engineers made substantial changes to the setting for the race 2, and it worked. Yamamoto responded to their efforts by blocking the car behind before the first curve! I felt he proved himself. Though it was raining and he was not good at the wet conditions, he could show his strength in the last race.

I'm happy and satisfied with the great result and the way he won the race, leading the others far behind. As the amount of rain water on the track was decreasing in the middle of the race, we could expect rear tires would be in serious condition. Yamamoto even controlled his pace considering the condition. Since no car with Honda engine equipped had won a race this year, everyone involved was pleased with the last-minute victory. In addition, we could demonstrate the strength of our team and collect data for the next season, and these are really good results.

I'm very happy to be able to end this season with such a great result for our fans and many people who support us. Thank you very much for your support. We will pursue a higher goal next year.

♦ Photo Gallery (Round7)