Photo: FRJC
Tokiya Suzuki left the Formula Regional Japanese Championship season opener at Okayama as points leader.
There were two practice sessions on Friday, and Ponos Racing’s Kento Omiya was fastest. He set a 1m25.722s to lead TOM’S drivers Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki by 0.179 seconds and 0.208s.
There were two qualifying sessions on Saturday, and a wet Q1 was red flagged twice due to drivers stopping on track. Suzuki earned race one pole by 2.265s over B-MAX Racing’s Kazuhisa Urabe, Omiya was a further 0.06s behind and Umegaki was also within three seconds of the pace.
Q2 was stopped early on for the same reason, but once drivers got into their runs Suzuki was able to set a 1m43.463s for race two pole. Umegaki trailed him by 0.311s, and Omiya was 1.834s slower than Suzuki in third.
Drivers’ second-best Q1 laps set race three’s grid, and Suzuki completed the triple. He claimed pole by 2.581s over Omiya.
Rain delayed the start of race one and meant it had to start behind the safety car. After completing five laps behind it, race-ending red flags waved and the results were taken from the end of lap four. Suzuki therefore took a victory that counted for half-points.
Race two on Sunday also had a delayed start and was shortened by a lap, caused by “Akita” spinning off the damp track on the formation lap. A second formation laps was added, at the end of which Suzuki and Omiya lined up in the wrong grid spots and copped five-second penalties.
A third formation lap then occurred, before Suzuki finally led the field away. Omiya started slowly and slid at turn one, then later in the lap collided with Urabe and the safety car was summoned.
Racing resumed on lap five with Omiya in second ahead of Umegaki, Rn-sports’ Yu Oda and Hitotsuyama Racing’s Anna Inotsume.
Inotsume overtook Oda, as Suzuki pulled away up front. He built a four-second lead, but in the final three laps he was way off the pace and met the chequered flag just 0.398s ahead of Omiya. Their penalties meant Umegaki won by 2.891s, with Suzuki and Oda completing the podium.
There was a rain shower before race three, but it did not prove disruptive. Suzuki led the way from pole, as Inotsume started slowly from fourth and lost positions.
A 4.5s lead was built by Suzuki before the safety car appeared as lap 10 began due to B-MAX’s Zhanbin Jia stopping at the final corner. Omiya had also gapped himself from the battling Umegaki and Urabe, who had swapped places on lap six.
Three laps of racing remained when green flags waved again, and Suzuki held off Omiya and Umegaki to win. Oda, who had started last, passed Urabe for fourth on the restart but then threw away the result by crashing on the final lap.
Results round-up
Race 1 (4 laps)
1 Tokiya Suzuki TOM’S 11m23.010s
2 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +0.916s
3 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +1.288s
4 Kiyoshi Umegaki TOM’S +1.926s
5 Anna Inotsume Hitotsuyama Racing +2.646s
6 Yutaka Toriba Aiwin +3.160s
7 Hideaki Irie Fujita Pharmacy Racing +4.353s
8 “Akita” Abbey Racing +5.789s
9 Zhanbin Jia B-MAX Racing +6.564s
10 Yu Oda Rn-sports +7.629s
Pole: Suzuki, 1m44.057s
Fastest lap: Jia, 2m41.267s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Umegaki 30m02.239s
2 Suzuki +2.891s
3 Oda +6.974s
4 Omiya +8.289s
5 Urabe +8.430s
6 Inotsume +37.989s
7 Jia +47.602s
8 Irie +53.619s
Ret Toriba
Ret Yuki Tanaka Eagle Sports
P: Suzuki, 1m43.643s
FL: Suzuki, 1m26.810s
Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Suzuki 30m20.201s
2 Omiya +0.295s
3 Umegaki +1.186s
4 Urabe +3.717s
5 Toriba +6.361s
6 Inotsume +8.664s
7 “Akita” +11.519s
8 Irie +15.716s
9 Tanaka +16.373s
10 Oda +1 lap
P: Suzuki, 1m44.821s
FL: Suzuki, 1m26.315s
Championship standings
1 Suzuki 55.5 2 Umegaki 46 3 Omiya 37.5 4 Urabe 31 5 Inotsume 21 6 Oda 16.5 7 Toriba 14 8 Irie 11 9 “Akita” 8 10 Jia 7