Photo: FRJC
Toyota junior Yuzuki Miura narrowly missed out on a clean sweep of victories in the Formula Regional Japanese Championship’s season opening weekend at Suzuka.
Races one and three were dominated by Miura but the TOM’S driver was edged out by Ponos Racing driver Ryota Horachi in race two.
Miura started strongly from third, leapfrogging Horachi and polesitter Hibiki Komatsu to lead into the first turn.
Horachi however quickly dispatched Masan Muto, who had jumped him at the start, and began to pile the pressure on Miura.
Despite sitting within half a second of the leader for almost the second half of the race, Horachi’s attempts proved futile as Miura held him off by just 0.083 seconds to secure victory. Muto rounded out the podium finishers with Komatsu nine tenths adrift of him at the chequered flag.
Race two proved to be a redemption race for Horachi as he converted pole position into victory, having edged out Miura by 0.064s in the faster second qualifying session.
He fended off the similarly liveried car of Miura into the first turn after the lights went out and resolutely held the lead for the remainder of the race.
Miura finished seven tenths adrift of his teammate at the chequered flag with Komatsu rounding out the podium having started third on the grid.
In race three Miura returned to the top step, converting his pole position while Horachi fought his way up from sixth on the grid to fourth.
This was a more comfortable race for Miura, as he led the field away at lights out to finish a second and a half clear of the field.
Muto narrowly avoided a dramatic crash at lights out as the Toyota-based TOM’S driver failed to move away from his second-place grid slot at lights out. The field narrowly avoided the 16-year-old who managed to recover to fifth.
Having failed to match the pace of his team-mate Horachi up to this point, Ponos Racing driver Kento Omiya came home 1.426s behind Miura in second and 1.651s clear of Lin Chenghua, who profited from Muto’s stall at the start to claim third.
That meant Miura finished the opening weekend with an early series lead of 13 points ahead of the championship’s return to Suzuka for round two in May.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Yuzuki Miura TOM’S 23m07.248s
2 Ryota Horachi Ponos Racing +0.083s
3 Masana Muto TOM’S +5.450s
4 Hibiki Komatsu Rn-sports +6.387s
5 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +7.214s
6 Lin Chenghua Ragno Motor Sports +11.552s
7 Li Xuanyu Team LeMans +21.473s
8 Rio Shimono Dr Dry Racing Team +24.534s
9 Makato Akita Abbey Racing +33.321s
10 Yutaka Toriba AiWin +34.489s
Pole: Komatsu, 1m54.909s
Fastest lap: Horachi, 1m54.401s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Horachi 23m06.640s
2 Miura +0.706s
3 Komatsu +5.103s
4 Muto +8.678s
5 Omiya +8.982s
6 Chenghua +10.515s
7 Akita +19.390s
8 Shimono +23.866s
9 Xuanyu +28.212s
10 Masayuki Ueda Rn-sports +46.155s
P: Horachi, 1m54.389s
FL: Miura, 1m54.904s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Miura 23m10.928s
2 Omiya +1.426s
3 Chenghua +3.077s
4 Horachi +3.907s
5 Muto +10.843s
6 Komatsu +12.304s
7 Shimono +17.936s
8 Xuanyu +19.821s
9 Akita +26.204s
10 Toriba +32.694s
P: Miura, 1m55.882s
FL: Muto, 1m55.015s
Championship standings
1 Miura 68 2 Horachi 55 3 Omiya 38 4 Muto 37 5 Komatsu 35 6 Chenghua 31 7 Shimono 14 8 Xuanyu 12 9 Akita 10 10 Toriba 2