Photo: Super Formula Lights
Seita Nonaka took his fourth and fifth victories of the Super Formula Lights season at Suzuka, as a bad weekend for points leader Syun Koide kept the title fight open.
There are 23 points covering the top four drivers with one round to go, where 32 points will be available to score. That event takes place at Twin Ring Motegi on November 29-December 1, having been moved forward a week by the championship.
Track action at Suzuka kicked off with three practice sessions, and Toyota junior Nonaka was fastest overall. He set a 1m51.092s to lead Toda Racing’s Honda junior Souta Arao by 0.382s, with fellow Toyota junior Jin Nakamura a further 0.245s back.
Nonaka remained on top in qualifying, the TOM’S driver snatching race one pole by 0.062s. Arao was second fastest, with Nakamura and B-MAX Racing’s Honda junior Koide filling the next two spots. Rikuto Kobayashi, another Toyota junior, was fifth and only 0.337s off pole.
Nakamnura lowered the pace in qualifying for race two, setting a 1m51.009s to pip Koide to pole by 0.02s. Nonaka and Kobayashi were only 0.045s and 0.085s slower than Nakamura, with Arao and TOM’S Yuga Furutani within 0.16s of the pace too.
Nakamura made a slow start to race one, with Kobayashi leaping past him into third. Koide dropped to sixth behind team-mate Kaylen Frederick, and tried getting back past him late in lap one.
Nonaka built a 1.43s lead straight away, which had grown to over three seconds by lap five. But Arao then closed back in, and was 0.7s behind on lap 13 when he almost lost control of his car on a kerb. He was still able to draw Nonaka in, and finished just 0.411s behind him.
Nakamura tried passing Kobayashi at turn one on laps two, three and four but could not quite make it work, then renewed his attacks there on lap eight but still Kobayashi held firm. In the race’s second half he lost ground to him, while Frederick successfully held Koide at bay throughout.
Seventh place went to Furitani after he swept past Tsubasa Iriyama at turn one on lap two.
Nakamura started slowly from race two pole, and Nonaka was immediately past. Koide almost made it three-wide but ended up losing third to Kobayashi, who then dived down the insode of Nakamura at turn one. That sent the poleman off slightly exiting the corner but he held third, with Koide holding off Arao behind.
Furutani went around the outside of Arao at the chicane, and on lap six slipstreamed past Koide. Nonaka meanwhile had a peaceful race up front, but had a 10s penalty for jumping the start.
That meant Kobayashi was victorious ahead of Nakamura, who attempted a move at turn one on lap seven, and Furutani.
Arao pressured Koide for lap after lap, particularly at the chicane, until sweeping around the outside of him at turn one on lap 11 of 12 to take fifth. Iriyama spun away eighth, meaning the position went to Nobuhiro Imada after he held off “Dragon” by 0.157s in what was a four-car fight in the ‘Masters’ classification.
Race one’s results set race three’s grid, putting Nonaka on pole. The top two sprinted away, and Nakamura passed Kobayashi into turn one. Kobayashi lost out to Frederick at turn two, as Koide and Furutani squabbled behind through lap one.
A five-second penalty dropped Frederick to seventh, and Imada won another close Masters battle in ninth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Seita Nonaka TOM’S 32m23.702s
2 Souta Arao Toda Racing +0.411s
3 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +11.987s
4 Jin Nakamura TOM’S +17.011s
5 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +24.585s
6 Syun Koide B-MAX Racing +25.867s
7 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +28.145s
8 Tsubasa Iriyama Albirex Racing Team +50.351s
9 Yasuhiro Shimizu B-MAX Racing +1m08.214s
10 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +1m19.457s
Pole: Nonaka, 1m51.305s
Fastest lap: Nonaka, 1m53.103s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Kobayashi 22m55.517s
2 Nakamura +1.385s
3 Furutani +1.528s
4 Nonaka +4.621s
5 Arao +5.204s
6 Koide +6.129s
7 Frederick +11.838s
8 Nobuhiro Imada B-MAX Racing +53.047s
9 “Dragon” +53.204s
10 Makoto Fujiwara B-MAX Racing +54.462s
P: Nakamura, 1m51.009s
FL: Nonaka, 1m53.926s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Nonaka 22m49.810s
2 Arao +3.051s
3 Nakamura +7.266s
4 Kobayashi +8.802s
5 Koide +10.445s
6 Furutani +12.240s
7 Frederick +13.306s
8 Iriyama +42.921s
9 Imada +55.879s
10 Shimizu +56.663s
FL: Nonaka, 1m53.751s
Championship standings
1 Koide 85 2 Nonaka 76 3 Kobayashi 62 4 Nakamura 62 5 Frederick 42 6 Arao 38 7 Rin Arakawa 35 8 Furutani 29 9 Reimei Ito 1 10 Imada 0