Photo: Japanese F4
Honda junior Yuto Nomura put the Japanese Formula 4 title in reach with three wins at Twin Ring Motegi.
There were five practice sessions to kick off the weekend’s action, and Nomura set a 1m58.242s to lead Kageyama Racing’s Kotaro Shimbara by 0.018 seconds and fellow Honda junior Ryota Horachi by 0.064s. Helm Motorsports’ Tosei Moriyama was 0.182s back in fourth.
The cancelled race from the previous round at Autopolis was added to the schedule as race one, and in qualifying for that Horachi set a 1m57.713s to claim pole by just 0.066s over Shimbara. Nomura himself was only 0.14s off pole in third, and Bionic Jack Racing’s Ryo Shirasaki in fourth led a group of drivers who were over half a second off the pace.
Qualifying for race two followed, and Horachi was fastest again. This time he set a 1m57.786s, pipping Nomura by 0.094s and Shimbara by 0.171s. Shirasaki again made his way into fourth, 0.484s slower than Horachi this time.
Shimbara snatched the lead at the start of a very wet race one, and Nomura got into second then quickly looked for a way past. At several corners he tried getting alongside the leader but a lack of grip led to him getting crossed up a few times. When he finally did seem to make a move stick, Shimbara had enough traction to then stay alonside for several more corners before eventually Nomura dived his way past late in the lap.
Horachi got past too soon after, then Toyota junior Yuki Sano dived down Shimbara’s inside at the first corner of lap two. Ponos Racing’s Kento Omiya was next to attack him, but racing was then neutralised by the safety car due to several spinners. The restart occurred on lap eight as rain continued to fall, and Ponos’s Rintaro Sato went way off into the gravel but was able to rejoin. Shimbara lost further ground, and ended up battling with his team-mate before the safety car appeared again and the rest of the race ran under yellow flag conditions.
Race two was also wet, and Horachi was beaten off the line by Nomura and Shimbara as Shirasaki also started slowly and dropped back. Pressure was put on the leader through lap one, but he began to pull away slightly after that as Omiya kept close to Horachi.
The closest battle was for sixth, between Toyota juniors Kazuhisa Urabe and Kiyoshi Umegaki, but that was interrupted on lap five by usual frontrunner Tosei Moriyama getting stuck in the run-off at the last corner after two cars clashing ahead led to him going off.
Racing resumed on lap eight and the battles immediately heated up. Urabe and Umegaki passed Shirasaki before another safety car intervention. The next restart was on lap 11, and the Toyota juniors were fighting once more. They briefly made contact, but held their positions, as Nomura won again.
Drivers had a dry track for race three, and Nomura had pole. Shimbara and Horachi went wheel-to-wheel for second through the first sector of lap one and Horachi just held on, as Sano sat right behind him too. At turn 12 Shirasaki pulled off an amazing move, then the safety car appeared on lap two due to a crash.
Racing resumed on lap five, and a lap later Urabe suffered a terrifying crash in which his car speared off track then barrel-rolled. He was later confirmed to be without any serious injuries.
The safety car was needed again, and there was only one lap of racing following that. Sano immediately passed Horachi, and Nomura held on up front for another victory.
Results round-up
Race 1 (10 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura HFDP 30m33.739s
2 Ryota Horachi HFDP +0.244s
3 Yuki Sano TGR-DC RS +1.449s
4 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +2.297s
5 Ryo Shirasaki Bionic Jack Racing +2.738s
6 Kiyoshi Umegaki TGR-DC RS +3.672s
7 Kotaro Shimbara Kageyama Racing +6.010s
8 Itsuki Sato Drago Corse +6.460s
9 Hironobu Shimizu Drago Corse +7.398s
Pole: Horachi, 1m57.713s
Fastest lap: Umegaki, 2m17.931s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Nomura 31m25.617s
2 Shimbara +1.534s
3 Horachi +2.605s
4 Omiya +3.375s
5 Kazuhisa Urabe TGR-DC RS +4.399s
6 Umegaki +4.844s
7 Sano +5.579s
8 Rintaro Sato Ponos Racing +8.276s
9 Rio Shimono Dr. Dry Racing Team +12.170s
10 I Sato +15.192s
P: Horachi, 1m57.786s
FL: Nomura, 2m13.373s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Nomura 30m37.055s
2 Shimbara +0.672s
3 Sano +2.266s
4 Horachi +2.647s
5 I Sato +5.286s
6 R Sato +5.389s
7 Tokiya Suzuki TGR-DC RS +5.610s
8 Umegaki +6.227s
9 Shimizu +7.297s
10 Shirasaki +7.317s
FL: Nomura, 1m58.978s
Championship standings
1 Nomura 193 2 Horachi 152 3 Sano 119 4 Shimbara 116 5 Shimizu 91 6 Tosei Moriyama 74 7 Omiya 68 8 Umegaki 64 9 Sato 54 10 Suzuki 41