Photo: FRJC
Yuki Sano took two poles and two victories on his first Formula Regional Japanese Championship outing at Fuji Speedway.
The Toyota junior is currently sixth in the Japanese Formula 4 standings, and his double win has already put him eighth in the FRJC points table.
The other story of the weekend was Birth Racing Project’s Michael Sauter wrapping up the title with a round to spare. He topped practice by just 0.038 seconds over Sano, whose fellow Toyota junior Kazuhisa Urabe was 0.072s off the pace.
In qualifying the pace was slower, and Sano set a 1m39.072s to top Q1 by 0.13s in a Toyota one-two. Sauter trailed by 0.833s in third. Q2 went slightly better for him, cutting the gap to 0.391s as Sano set a 1m38.855s to deny Urabe pole by 0.064s.
Race one took place in hot conditions, and Sano was slow off the line. Urabe and Sauter moved past him, but a position had already been regained by turn three and soon Urabe was under pressure in the lead.
However he could not find a way past, and that kept Sauter in contention. At the final corner of lap four, Sauter returned to second place and set about seeing if Urabe’s defences could be breached.
Going into the Dunlop chicane on seven he darted to the inside of Urabe and looked to be ahead but the pair made contact. Urabe fell down the order with a damaged car, and Sano took over the lead ahead of Sauter and Helm Motorsports’ Anna Inotsume.
The safety car then bunched the field up, and on the lap 11 restart Sano pulled away to win by 3.679s. A 10s penalty for the contact with Urabe then dropped Sauter from second to sixth, with Inotsume claiming her maiden podium in second. Third place for Sauter’s team-mate Sebastian Manson kept the title fight going for a few more hours.
Sano was again bettered off the line in race two, but Urabe could not enjoy the lead for longh as Sano was back ahead by turn three. Sauter had a clutch problem and retired in the pits at the end of lap one, but the title was all but secured with Manson in the midfield.
It was an easy race for Sano thereon, building a lead of 5.16s in 15 laps and feeling very encouraged after recent struggles in F4.
TOM’S driver Yoshioki Nakamura pressured Urabe for lap after lap until he eventually got past into turn one on lap nine after Urabe went too deep.
Manson finished a distant sixth, meaning Sauter was crowned champion from his garage.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Yuki Sano TGR-DC RS 27m07.564ss
2 Anna Inotsume Helm Motorsports +7.130s
3 Sebastian Manson Birth Racing Project +9.077s
4 Yoshioki Nakamura TOM’S +9.118s
5 “Akita” Abbey Racing +11.631s
6 Michael Sauter Birth Racing Project +13.679s
7 Masayuki Ueda Rn-sports +16.953s
8 Jesse Lacey Bionic Jack Racing +20.345s
9 “Yuki” NILZZ Racing +23.462s
10 Tadakazu Kojima Eagle Sport +27.225s
Pole: Sano, 1m39.072s
Fastest lap: Sano, 1m39.642s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Sano 24m52.827s
2 Nakamura +5.160s
3 Kazuhisa Urabe TGR-DC RS +6.056s
4 Lacey +7.457s
5 Inotsume +14.144s
6 Manson +23.527s
7 “Akita” +23.684s
8 Kojima +29.866s
9 Ueda +31.560s
10 “Yuki” +55.087s
P: Sano, 1m38.855s
FL: Nakamura, 1m39.011s
Championship standings
1 Sauter 209 2 Manson 147 3 Lacey 128 4 Nakamura 128 5 Fuma Horio 98 6 Inotsume 96 7 Jiei Okuzumi 61 8 Sano 50 9 “Yugo” 43 10 Yorikatsu Tsujiko 39