MUGEN

August 28, 2018

Yamamoto gained series points and Fukuzumi recorded the fastest lap

Series name: 2018 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship Round 5
Round name: 2018 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship Round5 Twin Ring Motegi
Course: 4.801km x 52 laps (249.652km)
Qualifying: August 18 (Sat) / Slightly cloudy/ Attendance 16,500 (Announcement from the organizer)
Race: August 19 (Sun) / slightly cloudy / Attendance 20,500 (Announcement from the organizer)

2018 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship Round 5 took place at the Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi Prefecture. TEAM MUGEN joined the race with two cars, #16 Naoki Yamamoto along with #15 Nirei Fukuzumi who has been away from previous 3 races due to his participation in FIA-F2 championship. Honda used the second up-graded engine in this season for this race.

 

August 18 (Sat)

Free Practice
#15 Nirei Fukuzumi, (4th place / Best time: 00:01:32.816)
#16 Naoki Yamamoto, (13th place / Best time: 00:01:33.268)

 

One-hour free session was held from 9:40AM. Though so called abnormal weather, extremely hot days had continued, the weather during the race week in Motegi was slightly windy from the north and both ambient and road surface temperatures went down. Quite mild weather. When the free session began both #15 Nirei Fukuzumi and #16 Naoki Yamamoto selected medium tires and took some laps at a good pace. #15 Nirei Fukuzumi from the beginning joined the top group and #16 Naoki Yamamoto was in the middle. It was 26℃ and road surface temperature was 37℃, which were ideal conditions for the sessions.

Some cars started to switch to the soft tires after a half of the race. Two drivers at TEAM MUGEN continued to use the medium tires and took some laps, and when in 15 minutes remaining before the end of the session, #15 Nirei Fukuzumi switched to the soft tires, but #16 Naoki Yamamoto did not until just before the end of the session, and got ready for the simulation run. In the end #15 Nirei Fukuzumi took 20 laps and recorded a time of 00:01:32.816 at the 17th lap putting him in 4th place and #16 Naoki Yamamoto took 19 laps and recorded a time of 00:01:33.268 at the last lap and ended the session in 13th place.

 

Qualifying
#16 Naoki Yamamoto： (Q1:4th place 00:01:33.032 / Q2: 7th place 00:01:31:960 / Q3: 7th place 00:01:32:258)
#15 Nirei Fukuzumi：(Q1: 14th place 00:01:33:743 / Q2: 14th place 00:01:32.738 / Q3:DNS)

 

The 3 knockout formula qualifying sessions started with the 20-minute Q1 session at 2:30PM. It was slightly cloudy and cool air breezed in Twin Ring Motegi. Both #15 Nirei Fukuzumi and #16 Naoki Yamamoto appeared on the track and took some laps among middle group and came back to the pit.

With 7 minutes remaining in the qualifying session as usual all the cars entered the track one after another, and warmed up the tires to try time attacks. #16 Naoki Yamamoto recorded a time of 00:01:33.032 putting him in 4th position and advanced to Q2. But #15 Nirei Fukuzumi could not pick up speed nor go faster than the time of 14th position, the bottom line. In the end just before the checkered flag was waved, he tried a time attack and recorded a time of 00:01:33.743 and could move up to 14th place and advanced to the Q2 session.

The 7-minute Q2 session started at 3:00PM. #16 Naoki Yamamoto tried a time attack just before the checkered flag appeared and recorded a time of 00:01:31.960 putting him in 7th place and advanced to the Q3 session. On the other hand #15 Nirei Fukuzumi could not pick up the speed and ended up the Q2 session with a time of 00:01:32.738, 14th place and could not advance to Q3. The Q3 session started from 3:17PM and #16 Naoki Yamamoto recorded a time of 00:01:32.258 with 0.667 seconds behind the top and his starting grid was determined to be in 7th position.

 

August 19 (Sun)

 

Race
#16 Naoki Yamamoto, 7th place (52 laps / 01:25:03.616 / Best lap: 00:01:36.068)
#15 Nirei Fukuzumi, 17th place (52 laps / 01:25:41.455 / Best lap: 00:01:34.758)

  

The 30-minute free session was held at 10:00AM on Sunday. Both drivers selected soft tires and entered the track. After taking 12 laps #16 Naoki Yamamoto switched to the medium tires and continued to take laps. #15 Nirei Fukuzumi kept on using the soft tires and took a pit stop and adjusted a setting of the car. #16 Naoki Yamamoto recorded a time of 00:01:35.110 putting him in 7th place and #15 Nirei Fukuzumi did 00:01:35.325 and 12th place. Warming up session just before the race both drivers selected medium tires and #15 Nirei Fukuzumi took 5 laps and recorded a time of 00:01:35.843 and #16 Naoki Yamamoto did 00:01:41.709 and got ready for the race.

Formation lap of the race started at 2:15PM. #15 Nirei Fukuzumi who had to start from 14th staring grid chose medium tires with less gas and was planning to take 2 pit stops. #16 Naoki Yamamoto started with a car with medium tires installed on and had a strategy to switch to the soft tires during the race.

As soon as the race began #16 Naoki Yamamoto accelerated well enough to move up to 5th position. #15 Nirei Fukuzumi started his race in a group of many cars and took a pit stop at the 1st lap as planned and switched to the soft tires and came back to the group. He tried to maximize the speed while no cars went in front and as the result he could record the fastest lap, 00:01:34.758 at the 4th lap.

At the 3rd lap #16 Naoki Yamamoto was overtaken by the car installed with the soft tires going behind, and moved down to 6th position. After that he kept the same position and took some laps. After finishing 13 laps he took a pit stop and switched to the soft tires and was refueled then went back to the track. On the other hand #15 Nirei Fukuzumi continued to go with the maximum speed and caught up in the slowest group.

Since this position would not allow him to continue to go with the maximum speed, he was ordered to come back to the pit for the second pit stop. At this pit stop the worn soft tires were changed to another set of soft tires and the refueling was done. It took comparatively long time for refueling since the team had chosen a strategy to maximize the speed to make up for the loss time and the amount of the gas had been minimized at start of the race.

#15 Nirei Fukuzumi again avoided traffic and tried to catch up the competitors going ahead, however, when his apparent position moved up to 14th and he tried to overtake the car in front of him but contacted the car and the front wing of #15 Nirei Fukuzumi’s car was fallen off. He had no choice but to make another unexpected pit stop. As the result his positon dramatically went down from 15th.#16 Naoki Yamamoto took laps steadily and at the 40th lap he moved up to 5th position. But at the end of the race due to wear of the tires, the two cars behind approached him. He tried to avoid it, however, the tires could not endure and the cars with fresh tires overtook him and #16 Naoki Yamamoto ended the 52-lap race in 7th place and so did #15 Nirei Fukuzumi in 17th place.

As the result, #16 Naoki Yamamoto got 2 driver’s points and his total points increased to 24 points and moved down to 2nd position. TEAM MUGEN also gained 2 team points and moved down to 4th place. The 6th race will be held at Okayama International Circuit on September 8th and 9th.

  

Comments from #16 Naoki Yamamoto

This weekend was no good. Since I made a good start, I looked forward to a good race, however, we lost the timing of the pit stop and when I reentered the track, I spent extra time to try to overtake the other car. Also in the end of the race, I was overtaken by two cars. At least I gained two points. That means I still have a chance to win the series. I did not see any difference between our engines and others. There must be something else we have to improve for the next race in Okayama.

 

Comments from #15 Nirei Fukuzumi

Though I did not receive any points, the race itself was the positive one. 2 pit stop strategy was acceptable and the pace in the race was not bad. But I regret contacting other car. In the Q2 because the tires could not get hot enough, I could not go fast. I would like to perform well in the qualifying and get the front starting grid and try to compete in the race steadily in Okayama.

 

Comments from team director Nagataka Tezuka

Since #16 Naoki Yamamoto made a good start, I was sure he would show a good performance. It is regrettable he was overtaken at the end of the race since he was in 5th position till then. He gained some points at least, which was good. #15 Nirei Fukuzumi’s start was also good. He chose 2 pit stop strategy and tried to maximize the speed whenever he had chances. I believe he gained some confidence through this race. His contact with other car was not acceptable, though. In general he has a tendency to lose tire’s performance and which will be the assignment to be improved for the next race in Okayama. Please keep on cheering us up.