2018 SUPER FORMULA Round 1 Report

【SUPER FORMULA Round 1 / Suzuka】

Yamamoto wins 2018 season opener.
Two specs of tires create exciting race.

SUPER FORMULA Round 1

Date 2018/04/20-22
Venue Suzuka Circuit
Weather Fine
Surface Dry
Race Lap 51Laps
(1Lap = 5,807m)
2018 SUPER FORMULA Round 1

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The 2018 Super Formula season raised its curtain at Suzuka Circuit. New for this year was the introduction of the two specifications tire rule in every round, rather than in selected rounds as was the case last year. The medium tires remain the same with the one used in 2017 season, while the soft tires are a new improved version which is based on the experience and data from last year’s trial.

The qualifying session was held on Saturday, April 21st. The fastest driver in Q1, in which every driver was obliged to run with the medium tires, was Nobuharu Matsushita, one of the rookie drivers for this new season. With another new comer, Nirei Fukuzumi, setting the third fastest time in Q1, those rookies matched a bunch of experienced Super Formula veterans in sheer speed.

Then Q2, when the drivers were allowed to use the soft tires, was interrupted with the red flag due to a car going off the track, many drivers were doing their qualifying attempt. Because of this, some of them had to use another set of the soft tires which were supposed to have been kept for Q3 just to make their way to the final section. Q2 ended with Tomoki Nojiri at the top of the time sheet.

Q3 was a tough time for those who didn’t have a fresh set of the soft tires. So, the pole position was effectively fought by four drivers who had managed to get through Q2 without using up the allocated sets, namely Naoki Yamamoto, Nojiri, Fukuzumi, and Takuya Izawa.

After a breathtaking battle of the drivers’ one shot qualifying attempts, Yamamoto secured the pole position. This was his first in two years since the opening round at Suzuka in 2016. He was followed by his team mate Fukuzumi and the top five drivers were powered by Honda engine. The reigning champion Hiroaki Ishiura qualified in sixth, as the leading Toyota powered driver.

On Sunday, April 22nd, and in front of more than 30,000 spectators, the 300km race got under way. When all cars took their grids, the air temperature was 26 degrees Celsius, with the track temperature at 40.

The drivers at the front chose the medium tires for the start, while those in mid-field opted for the soft, aiming for better early pace. Yamamoto and Fukuzumi made a good start and, behind them, Yuji Kunimoto and Kenta Yamashita leaped from the ninth and 13th grid respectively, making the most of better initial grip of the soft tires they chose.

Starting from the fifth grid, Kodai Tsukagoshi also moved up to third before the whole field completed the opening lap. He was running on the medium tires but opted for a two-stop strategy which meant his car had less fuel – thus was lighter – than one stoppers at the start. Keeping up the momentum, Tsukagoshi soon overtook Fukuzumi and was catching up Yamamoto.

With less than a one second gap between them, Tsukagoshi put heavy pressure on Yamamoto but the latter fended it off to remain in the lead for the first half of the race. Yamamoto made the pit stop at the end of Lap 32 and found himself still being the effective leader when he resumed racing. And after Tsukagoshi’s second pit stop on Lap 35, there was no one ahead of Yamamoto with 16 laps to go.

As Yamashita who was in second at that time also had to make his second stop soon after that, now Yuhi Sekiguchi was running in second, despite he had started the race from the lowly 14th grid. He managed to do a 24-lap stint, which was the longest of all drivers, with the soft tires with which he had started. And his team did a great job at the stop to send him in the leading pack.

When Sekiguchi moved up to second, there was a more than ten second gap between him and Yamamoto. But, as the race came to the closing stage, Yamamoto’s pace was getting worse because his soft tires were gradually going off. By contrast, Sekiguchi with the medium tires was still able to better his pace, so the gap between them shrunk quickly, by more than a second per lap from time to time.

Thanks to the lead he built earlier, however, Yamamoto was still 2.6 seconds ahead of Sekiguchi when they entered the final lap. Sekiguchi gave everything until they crossed the finish line, but Yamamoto won the first race of the season by 1.7 seconds. This came after his two year victory drought, since the curtain raiser of 2016 season here at Suzuka. And Sekiguchi also received a lot of applause from the spectators for his spirited drive.

Nojiri finished in third as a result of a steady drive, despite losing a few positions at the start. The reigning champion Ishiura’s solid race gave him the fourth place at the end of the day.

DRIVER VOICE

Naoki Yamamoto [TEAM MUGEN]

—Result : Winner–
“Together with the team, I did everything I could, and we actually had the best possible race for us. It was really close at the end, but I am just happy to win the race and that’s all I can say. During the race, several different drivers came close to me from behind and we even allowed Tsukagoshi to lead the race because he took a different strategy. I knew we were in good shape, but I have to admit I was almost losing confidence in what we were doing at some point in the race because it was so unpredictable. But we could win the race after all, so I’d like to thank my team.”

ENGINEER VOICE

Noritaka Koguchi [THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.]

“The development target for the soft tires this year was the faster race lap times than the last year’s ones and the shorter life in terms of tread wear. Prior to the race, we had heard that it was quite difficult to achieve the expected lap time. But I believe they actually worked well when it mattered.

“What we didn’t expect was the higher air and track temperatures than usual in this time of year. Last year, the new course record was set with the medium tires, but we couldn’t renew it even with the soft tires, which we regretted. But it is a combination of a car, tires and conditions that effects a lap time, so the whole package might not be suitable to renew the record in this particular time.

“As for the race, we expected a slower wear rate under the higher track temperature conditions. But, from the observation on the teams which did a long run in the warm up session, it looked that the soft tires would go sooner than expected and I guessed that the maximum laps with the soft would be somewhere around 20. However, the actual pace during the race was a little bit slower than that in the warm up session and I think this fact allowed Sekiguchi to do a 24-lap stint.

“Looking back, we saw not a few overtaking by a car with the medium tires against those with the soft. And there were a variety of options in terms of how the teams and drivers used the two specs of tires. So, I feel we, as the tire supplier, could help create an exciting race in this season opener.”