Photo: Super Formula Lights
TOM’S driver Yuki Sano made a near-perfect start to the Super Formula Lights season in round one at Suzuka.
Sano topped three of the four practice sessions, and with a fastest lap of 1m50.444s ended up quickest by 0.358 seconds over B-MAX Racing’s Kaylen Frederick.
His advantage continued into qualifying, setting a 1m51.230s in the first session to claim race one pole by just 0.003s. B-MAX’s Yuto Nomura was the driver who just missed out, and TOM’S driver Rikuto Kobayashi was 0.273s back in third. Delightworks Racing’s Souta Arao and Frederick were the only other drivers within a second of the pace.
Sano improved to 1m50.628s in Q2, clinching him another pole. Kobayashi was just 0.027s slower than him, and Arao was 0.103s off pole. Nomura completed a top four split by 0.168s, and Frederick trailed by over half a second.
At the start of race one, Arao and Frederick stalled, with LM Corsa’s Reimei Ito lurching off the line before stopping. At the front, Sano swept to the inside then back to the racing line to lead into turn one as Nomura and Kobayashi went side-by-side through the corner.
Nomura kept ahead, and got alongside Sano at the end of the lap. He swept around the outside at turn one to take the lead, and gradually built a gap of 2.861s over the rest of the race. But a five-second penalty for jumping the start dropped him behind Sano.
Kobayashi had a lonely run to third, and on lap 12 B-MAX’s Zachary David passed Delightworks’ Yusuke Mitsui for fourth on the outside at turn 15.
After taking sixth from B-MAX’s Kazuhisa Urabe on lap three, Arao held him and B-MAX’s Tosei Moriyama for a long time. Urabe got back past on the outside entering the final chicane on lap 14, but Arao slipstreamed back ahead down the pit straight and Frederick became involved.
Urabe overtook Arao again at turn 15, then left little room at the chicane and Arao went off. He rejoined ahead, but let Urabe back past.
The race ended with Urabe and Moriyama in sixth and seventh, as Arao got a five-second penalty for off-track driving and Frederick was penalised for jumping the start.
Sano led lights-to-flag in race two, as his rivals struck trouble. Kobayashi had a transmission failure at the chicane on lap two, and Arao should have inherited second but went off during the safety car period that followed and rejoined at the back of the pack.
B-MAX boss “Dragon” crashed later on, causing a second safety car period, and completing the podium behind Sano were Nomura and Frederick.
Sano started on pole again for race three, but both Kobayashi and Nomura were able to go around the outside of him at turn one. Urabe also dropped down the order after stalling.
Nomura reclaimed second on lap three, as David, Mitsui and Frederick squabbled behind.
Kobayashi threw away victory by going off on lap eight, and rejoined in third. Sano was left with a big gap up front and a third win.
Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Yuki Sano TOM’S 30m19.023s
2 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing +2.139s
3 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +10.225s
4 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +14.710s
5 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +18.316s
6 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +24.709s
7 Tosei Moriyama B-MAX Racing +27.179s
8 Souta Arao Delightworks Racing +31.528s
9 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +32.757s
10 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +36.127s
Pole: Sano, 1m51.230s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 1m52.993s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Sano 29m03.951s
2 Nomura +0.513s
3 Frederick +1.655s
4 Furutani +2.649s
5 Urabe +3.594s
6 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +4.226s
7 Mitsui +5.365s
8 David +6.031s
9 Yasuhiro Shimizu B-MAX Racing +9.135s
10 Moriyama +10.642s
P: Sano, 1m50.628s
FL: Sano, 1m52.189s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Sano 22m42.309s
2 Nomura +5.961s
3 Kobayashi +7.647s
4 David +7.812s
5 Frederick +8.277s
6 Mitsui +19.354s
7 Arao +19.623s
8 Moriyama +19.967s
9 Ito +21.357s
10 Urabe +21.428s
FL: Urabe, 1m52.564s
Championship standings
1 Sano 32 2 Nomura 21 3 Kobayashi 10 4 Frederick 7 5 David 6 6 Furutani 3 7 Mitsui 3 8 Urabe 3 9 Ito 1 10 Moriyama 0