Photo: FRJC
Michael Sauter won the two Formula Regional Japanese Championship races in round four at Twin Ring Motegi.
Birth Racing Project driver Sebastian Manson set the pace in qualifying for race one, earning pole by just 0.015 seconds over team-mate Sauter. Fuma Horio was 0.209s behind in third, and 0.016s split Jesse Lacey and Yoshiaki Nakamura – who were both half a second off pole – in fourth and fifth.
Manson swept to the inside at the start, squeezing Sauter onto the grass, while Horio held off Lacey through the first two corners.
Helm Motorsports’ Anna Inotsume, who had failed to set a representative laptime in qualifying, started from the pits and made three return trips there before retiring.
Manson led by 0.7s at the end of lap one, with Horio having passed Sauter. The race was all but settled from that point, with the top three pulling away while Lacey and Nakamura ran together.
The battle for fourth heated up on lap seven, and again on lap 10, while the top three bunched up when they lapped “Yugo” on lap 12 of 16.
Nakamura almost passed Lacey a lap later, and on the penultimate tour Sauter took second from Horio before turn two. He then closed in on Manson, who out of the final corner of the race slid over the kerbs and onto the grass. It meant he slowed before reaching the chequered flag, and Sauter beat him to it by 0.906s.
Horio crossed the line 0.187s behind Manson, then drove into the back of his car and flew over the top of it. Their destroyed chassis skated towards turn one before coming to a stop, and Manson was handed a one-lap penalty which dropped him to sixth.
Inotsume missed qualifying for race two, while Sauter took his fifth pole of 2024 by 0.521s. Manson was second fastest, ahead of Horio, Nakamura and Lacey.
Sauter held off Manson into the opening corner of the race, and Inotsume passed Lacey, “Yuki” and “Yugo” to get into fifth. Horio had to fend off Nakamura at turn three, and after that the positions were set.
With a pace advantage of almost 0.9s per lap, Sauter streaked away for his sixth win of 2024 by 14.358s.
Manson had Horio, Nakamura and Inotsume in his mirrors throughout, primarily thanks to the track’s long straights offering a view of what was going on further behind him, but the quartet ran in a train and never actually got close enough to each other to battle.
Horio finished 0.651s behind Manson and 0.383s ahead of Nakamura, with Inotsume a further 0.941s back.
Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Michael Sauter Birth Racing Project 30m21.137s
2 Fuma Horio Sutekina Racing Team +1.093s
3 Jesse Lacey Bionic Jack Racing +16.638s
4 Yoshiaki Nakamura TOM’S +16.726s
5 “Yuki” NILZZ Racing +55.084s
6 Sebastian Manson Birth Racing Project +1 lap
7 “Yugo” N-Speed +1 lap
Ret Anna Inotsume Helm Motorsports
Pole: Manson, 1m51.452s
Fastest lap: Manson, 1m52.915s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Sauter 30m03.883s
2 Manson +14.358s
3 Horio +15.009s
4 Nakamura +15.392
5 Inotsume +16.333s
6 Lacey +31.684s
7 “Yuki” +1m19.564s
8 “Yugo” +1 lap
P: Sauter, 1m50.404s
FL: Sauter, 1m51.962s
Championship standings
1 Sauter 201 2 Manson 124 3 Lacey 112 4 Horio 98 5 Nakamura 98 6 Inotsume 68 7 Jiei Okuzumi 61 8 “Yugo” 48 9 Yorikatsu Tsujiko 39 10 “Motoki” 26