Photo: Super Formula Lights
Syun Koide and Rikuto Kobayashi were the winners in round three of the Super Formula Lights season at Fuji Speedway.
The 12-car field got four practice sessions at the start of the weekend, with Toda Racing’s Souta Arao leading the way with a 1m33.479s lap. TOM’S driver Kobayashi was 0.135 seconds behind in second place, with small gaps to Koide (B-MAX Racing), Yuga Furutani (TOM’S) and Jin Nakamura (TOM’S) in the next positions.
Next up were two qualifying sessions, setting the grid for races one and two. Nakamura topped the first, setting a 1m33.030s to lead Kobayashi by 0.173s. Koide was 0.214s off pole in third, with Arakawa, Furutani and Nonaka completing rows two and three.
A near identical pace was set in Q2, with Kobayashi clinching race two pole with a 1m33.055s lap. He was 0.037s faster than Nonaka, with Nakamura 0.117s off pole in third. Arao qualified fourth.
In race one it was the drivers on row two who got the best starts, with Koide immediately darting to the inside and forcing himself into the lead while Arakawa swept around the outside to get into second. After turn one he was weaving to warm up his tyres, while Koide pulled away.
He finished the 15-lap race 4.871s ahead, with Arakawa followed home by a train of cars that could never quite get close enough to each other to attempt any wheel-to-wheel action.
Furutani got into third early in lap one and held the position to the end, and Arao demoted poleman Nakamura to fifth midway through the opening lap. Kaylen Frederick pressured Kobayashi for sixth on lap three, and Kobayashi attacked Nakamura for fifth on the final lap.
“Dragon” and Nobuhiro Imada battled for much of the race further own the order until Imada spun.
Race two began with lots of overtaking, but Kobayashi did manage to hold onto the lead from pole. After that the order was all but settled, with Kobayashi pulling away from Nakamura to win while further back Arao held on to third ahead of Arakawa and Koide.
Nonaka pressured Frederick for sixth, and almost passed him at two different corners on lap eight of 21 before getting the move done at the start of the next lap.
Koide then ramped up his pressure on Arakawa, but on lap 14 he got caught out and Nonaka snuck past. Nonaka then started attacking Arakawa, and made a diving move for fourth on lap 17.
Race three pole went to Koide, and he immediately pulled away while battles raged behind. Nakamura spun at turn one on lap one, Furutani and Arakawa traded second place through lap two, and they were three seconds behind Koide after three laps.
He eventually won by 7.372s over Arakawa, who initially had a four-car train behind him. Nonaka made his way to the front of that and finished just behind Arakawa, but dropped further behind Koide in their title battle.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Syun Koide B-MAX Racing 23m42.638s
2 Rin Arakawa B-MAX Racing +4.871s
3 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +5.573s
4 Souta Arao Toda Racing +6.601s
5 Jin Nakamura TOM’S +7.896s
6 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +8.150s
7 Seita Nonaka TOM’S +9.074s
8 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +18.016s
9 Makuto Fujiawara B-MAX Racing +37.950s
10 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +44.631s
Pole: Nakamura, 1m33.030s
Fastest lap: Koide, 1m34.114s
Race 2 (21 laps)
1 Kobayashi 33m27.352s
2 Nakamura +5.127s
3 Arao +11.062s
4 Nonaka +17.355s
5 Arakawa +19.600s
6 Koide +19.929s
7 Furutani +22.016s
8 Frederick +26.366s
9 Fujiwara +50.944s
10 “Dragon” +58.758s
P: Kobayashi, 1m33.055s
FL: Kobayashi, 1m34.763s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Koide 23m44.142s
2 Arakawa +7.372s
3 Nonaka +7.733s
4 Furutani +9.544s
5 Kobayashi +12.610s
6 Arao +16.089s
7 Nakamura +17.217s
8 “Dragon” +37.556s
9 Nobuhiro Imada B-MAX Racing +37.557s
10 Yasuhiro Shimizu B-MAX Racing +44.140s
FL: Koide, 1m34.174s
Championship standings
1 Koide 52 2 Nonaka 46 3 Nakamura 40 4 Arakawa 35 5 Kobayashi 34 6 Furutani 18 7 Arao 17 8 Frederick 16 9 Imada 0 10 Dragon 0