Photo: Japanese F3
Ritomo Miyata closed the gap to Sacha Fenestraz in the Japanese Formula 3 standings after he and Toshiki Oyu won at Sportsland SUGO.
TOM’S’ Miyata claimed pole for both races, beating free practice pacesetter and B-MAX Racing with Motopark driver Fenestraz.
The poleman wasn’t troubled during the first race, despite the safety car having to be deployed early on due to a collision further down the field.
After the restart he was able to sweep up both the race victory – finishing over six seconds ahead of team-mate Kazuto Kotaka – and the fastest lap to give him maximum points for the race.
Fenestraz only qualified fifth and fourth for race one and two respectively. However at the start of the first race, he was able to stay alongside team-mate Enaam Ahmed on the outside line for the first two corners before making the move stick for fourth into Turn 3.
He moved up into the third after the restart when he got by Okayama Team’s Charles Milesi at Turn 1. The first corner was also where Fenestraz moved into third place ahead of Kotaka at the start of the second race.
Miyata had the chance to win the second race, but Toda Racing driver Oyu got a great start and took over the lead immediately. The 20-year-old held on to take victory, his first since racing in Japanese Formula 4 in 2017.
Finishing just 0.306 seconds behind was Miyata, who took another point for fastest lap. Fenestraz finished third again, but has now had his championship lead reduced to 19 points.
Ahmed was able to outqualify Fenestraz for the opening race, but after losing the place to his team-mate at the beginning of the race was passed by both Hiroki Otsu and Oyu one lap later.
He eventually finished sixth, although in race two he was able to take advantage of Fenestraz’s pass on Kotaka at the start to also get by and move up to fourth.
Despite running in third for half of race one, Milesi was forced to enter the pits and retire the car not long after being passed by Fenestraz. Milesi also didn’t take part in the second race.
Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Ritomo Miyata TOM’S 28m24.149s
2 Kazuko Kotaka TOM’S +6.146s
3 Sacha Fenestraz?B-MAX Racing with Motopark +6.938s
4 Hiroki Otsu ThreeBond Racing +12.655s
5 Toshiki Oyu Toda Racing +14.042s
6 Enaam Ahmed B-MAX Racing with Motopark +14.699s
7 Yoshiaki Katayama Okayama Team +15.969s
8 Shunsuke Kohno RS Fine +22.282s
9 Ameya Vaidyanathan B-MAX Racing with Motopark +23.021s
10 Ai Miura ThreeBond Racing +26.194s
Pole: Miyata, 1m12.604s
Fastest lap: Miyata, 1m13.540s
Race 2 (25 laps)
1 Oyu 42m01.176s
2 Miyata +0.306s
3 Fenestraz +1.102s
4 Ahmed +2.147s
5 Kotaka +2.768s
6 Katayama +3.605s
7 Otsu +4.912s
8 Kohno +6.219s
9 Vaidyanathan +6.898s
10 Miura +8.090s
P: Miyata, 1m13.147s
FL: Miyata, 1m14.055s
Championship standings
1?Fenestraz 83? ?2?Miyata 64? ?3?Oyu 41? ?4?Ahmed 26? ?5?Katayama 24? ?6?Kotaka 21? ?7?Otsu 13? ?8?Sena Sakaguchi 10? ?9?Kohno 8? ?10 Charles?Milesi 8