Photo: FRJC
Kiyoshi Umegaki grew his Formula Regional Japanese Championship lead by winning both races at Fuji Speedway on September 27.
His title rival Tokiya Suzuki topped practice, setting a 1m37.505s to lead Kento Omiya by 0.071 seconds and Umegaki by 0.095s.
The gap between them grew in qualifying, with Suzuki posting a 1m37.316s in Q1 to beat Umegaki to race one pole by 0.181s. Kazuhisa Urabe was 0.548s behind, and Omiya 0.726s off pole in fourth.
Umegaki responded in Q2, improving to 1m36.470s to pip Suzuki to race two pole by 0.083s. Urabe and Ai Miura, the 2021 FRJC runner-up, were 0.682s and 0.94s behind.
The top two were messy off the line in race one, and two drivers stalled at the back. Suzuki led into the opening corner, and would never concede first place. However his lead never grew further than 1.56s, and was 0.647s at the finish when a five-second penalty for track limits abuse meant he lost victory to Umegaki anyway.
Urabe lost third to Omiya on lap one, but reclaimed it around the outside of turn one on lap 12 of 15. Miura was on their tail thereon, but could not attempt any moves.
Chenghua Lin starting chasing Yu Oda for sixth on lap five, and got the move done into turn one next time by, and further back Anna Inotsume was busy attacking Hideaki Irie for ninth. They finally got by on lap 11 under braking for turn one.
The race’s most dramatic moment was on lap two, when “Akita” pitted with a broken front wing.
Suzuki had a slow start to race two and came under attack from Urabe through the first two corners. Soon he shook him off and filled Umegaki’s mirrors until lap 12 of 15 when he spun and dropped behind Urabe.
Starting the final lap, Urabe weaved to defend from Suzuki. He did not actually attempt an overtake until far later into the lap, then again at the finish thanks to the slipstream. He finished just 0.06s behind, with Umegaki 11.563s up the road.
Omiya lost fourth on lap eight when his rear-right wheel came off, promoting Miura into the position. Lin was fifth, having passed Oda into turn one on lap two, and “Akita” was seventh.
Zhanbin Jia overtook Shoichiro Akamatsu on lap five after forcing an error out of them through lots of pressure, then was in a four-car group. He got ahead of Irie after going side-by-side into turn one on lap eight, then Irie attacked him in return two laps later. Irie did so again at the end, but Jia held on by 0.05s.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Kiyoshi Umegaki TOM’S 24m28.449s
2 Tokiya Suzuki TOM’S +4.353s
3 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +10.497s
4 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +12.046s
5 Ai Miura Aiwin +12.781s
6 Chenghua Lin Ragno Motor Sport +21.722s
7 Yu Oda Rn-sports +24.342s
8 Shoichiro Akamatsu Eagle Sport +33.998s
9 Anna Inotsume Hitotsuyama Racing +41.035s
10 Hideaki Irie Fujita Pharmacy Racing +42.520s
Pole: Suzuki, 1m37.316s
Fastest lap: Umegaki, 1m37.372s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Umegaki 24m24.543s
2 Urabe +11.563s
3 Suzuki +11.623s
4 Miura +15.497s
5 Lin +22.630s
6 Oda +24.576s
7 “Akita” Abbey Racing +34.136s
8 Inotsume +38.479s
9 Zhanbin Jia B-MAX Racing +45.291s
10 Irie +45.341s
P: Umegaki, 1m36.470s
FL: Suzuki, 1m37.136s
Championship standings
1 Umegaki 235 2 Suzuki 211.5 3 Omiya 157.5 4 Urabe 119 5 Oda 73.5 6 Lin 62 7 Yutaka Toriba 60 8 Jia 57 9 Inotsume 57 10 Irie 45