Photo: Japanese F4
Ryota Horachi and Hironobu Shimizu were the stars of round three of the Japanese Formula 4 season at Fuji Speedway.
There were six practice sessions across Thursday and Friday, and Drago Corse’s Shimizu was fastest of all in the 37-car field with a 1m46.092s lap. He led Honda junior Horachi by 0.082 seconds, with Ponos Racing’s Kento Omiya 0.185s behind in third. A second covered the top 15.
Qualifying followed on Saturday, and Horachi set a 1m45.988s to beat Helm Motorsports’ Tosei Moriyama to race one pole by 0.12s. Honda junior Yuto Nomura and Shimizu were both within 0.3s of pole, and Toyota junior Kiyoshi Umegaki qualified fifth.
The top four were the same in Q2, with Horachi setting a 1m46.136s to claim pole by just 0.02s. Nomura trailed by 0.154s.
Moriyama went side-by-side with Horachi into the opening corner of race one, but after that was a non-threatening presence in the leader’s mirrors and finished two seconds behind him.
The battle for third ran all race, but lacked drama. On four occasions Nomura had to go deep into turn one, using up all the road, to keep Shimizu at bay but he faced little pressure everywhere else in the lap.
Toyota junior Tokiya Suzuki went from eighth to fifth on lap one and stayed there until Bionic Jack Racing’s Ryo Shirasaki passed him late on. But Shirasaki had a penalty that dropped him to eighth.
Race two began with Horachi sweeping to the inside to keep the lead, enabling Nomura to get past Moriyama at turn one and Shimizu doing the same at turn three.
Horachi got crossed up there and dropped to fourth behind Moriyama, with the top two breaking away until the safety car was called out due to a collision at the chicane.
Racing resumed on lap six, and at the start of lap eight Shimizu slipstreamed past Nomura while Horachi did the same to Moriyama. Nomura reclaimed the lead before turn three, as the top eight bunched up.
Shimizu slipstreamed past again on lap nine and despite a turn one lock-up was able to stay ahead, with a four-car fight for second forming behind. Horachi went around the outside of Suzuki for third at the chicane as Nomura spun in front of them, and Shimizu found himself with a big lead.
Moriyama went down the inside of Suzuki at turn one on lap 10, and Omiya dived past him at the chicane. Rintaro Sato cleared him at turn one on lap 11, and team-mate Omiya at the same corner on lap 13 while Shimizu was hunted down.
Moriyama tried passing Horachi at turn three on the final lap but there was contact and he spun, freeing Shimizu once again up front.
Omiya ended up finishing third as Sato was penalised, and Suzuki dropped to seventh before a 40s penalty demoted him to 29th.
Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Ryota Horachi HFDP 24m56.359s
2 Tosei Moriyama Helm Motorsports +2.059s
3 Yuto Nomura HFDP +3.087s
4 Hironobu Shimizu Drago Corse +3.471s
5 Tokiya Suzuki TGR-DC RS +8.532s
6 Kiyoshi Umegaki TGR-DC RS +9.336s
7 Kotaro Shimbara Kageyama Racing +9.913s
8 Ryo Shirasaki Bionic Jack Racing +13.359s
9 Itsuki Sato Drago Corse +20.039s
10 Yuki Sano TGR-DC RS +20.668s
Pole: Horachi, 1m45.988s
Fastest lap: Shimizu, 1m46.882s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Shimizu 30m10.018s
2 Horachi +0.752s
3 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +4.568s
4 Shimbara +6.873s
5 Umegaki +7.281s
6 Rintaro Sato Ponos Racing +8.704s
7 Sano +9.440s
8 Nomura +9.553s
9 Kenta Kumagai OTG Motor Sports +9.628s
10 I Sato +9.899s
P: Horachi, 1m46.136s
FL: Moriyama, 1m46.610s
Championship standings
1 Horachi 91 2 Nomura 87 3 Shimizu 87 4 Moriyama 73 5 Shimbara 57 6 Sano 40 7 Umegaki 26 8 Omiya 25 9 I Sato 19 10 R Sato 18