2021 SUPER FORMULA Round 6 Report

【SUPER FORMULA Round 6 / Twinring MOTEGI】

Coolness In Eventful Race Gives Otsu His First Win
Nojiri Secures Maiden Title At Motegi As Declared By Himself

SUPER FORMULA Round 6

Date 2021/10/16-17
Venue Twinring MOTEGI
Weather Cloudy – Fine
Surface Wet – Dry
Race Lap 35Laps
(1Lap = 4,801m)
2021 SUPER FORMULA Round 6

The sixth round of the 2021 Super Formula Championship was held at Twin Ring Motegi.

The weather worsened from early morning on Saturday, October 16th, and the free practice before noon was hit by rain during the session. Although it still drizzled when the supporting events were run, the qualifying session got underway on the dry track at 1:35 p.m.

The competitors were divided into two groups again this time. Firstly, Nirei Fukuzumi (Docomo Team Dandelion Racing) led Group A in Q1, followed by Toshiki Oyu (TCS Nakajima Racing) and Hiroki Otsu (Red Bull Mugen Team Goh). In Group B, Tomoki Nojiri (Team Mugen) drew the most attention, as many thought he was the pole position favorite. Sure enough, he answered the expectations by setting 1’29″757, breaking his own course record set in August. There was no other driver who went around the track faster than the 1’30” barrier.

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Photo]

Unfortunately, Q1 was the last opportunity to make an all-out attempt with the slick tires as the light rain came, and most of the drivers picked the wet tires for Q2. From Group A, Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing), Oyu, Sena Sakaguchi (P.Mu/Cerumo Inging), and Otsu survived the session, but Ryo Hirakawa (Carenex Team Impul) dropped out. Hirakawa started the session with the slicks but switched to the wets to make his qualifying attempts. On the other hand, Otsu stayed out for the whole session with the slicks and narrowly managed to bump Hirakawa out by clocking the fourth-fastest time in the group.

Hirakawa’s mathematical chance of the championship title terminated here, as he failed to get three additional points for the pole position, which he needed to win it.

Yuhi Sekiguchi (Carenex Team Impul) beat Nojiri in Q2 and was the fastest in Group B. Nojiri, Naoki Yamamoto (TCS Nakajima Racing), and Tadasuke Makino (Docomo Team Dandelion Racing) also went on to Q3.

Then, the fight for the pole position by the top eight drivers began. The rain had already stopped, and the track conditions should have been improving slowly, so it was difficult to know the best tires for the conditions, the slicks or the wets. When Q3 started, only Otsu went out on the track with the slicks, while other drivers relied on the wets.

“Considering what I felt in Q2, when I drove around with the slicks under those tricky conditions, I thought the slicks would work in Q3, ” later Otsu said. So he carefully warmed up his tires for a few laps and clocked 1’33″463 on his third timed lap. It was by far the fastest of all, as other drivers only set the lap times of 1’36” or 1’37” level. Otsu then improved his time to 1’32″317 to take the pole position. The reigning champion, Yamamoto, secured the front row grid alongside Otsu, and Nojiri took the third grid.

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Photo]

While it was raining on Sunday morning, October 17th, the weather was getting better when the race was about to start. Actually, there were small parts of blue sky in the direction of Turn 1 when the cars arrived at their grids. But the air temperature dropped to 14 degrees centigrade, which was much lower than Saturday’s, and all drivers picked the wet tires for the start of the 35-lap race.

Yamamoto had a perfect getaway and tried to pass Otsu from inside at Turn 1, but the pole sitter denied Yamamoto’s move. On the other hand, Nojiri fell back to seventh when he completed the opening lap, probably because of a mismatch between his car setup and the track conditions at the start. Giving way to Makino on the next lap, he came down to eighth, but his pace became stable after the first few laps, and it looked like he was watching for opportunities to recover.

As a result of Nojiri’s setback, Yamashita took over the position behind Otsu and Yamamoto. However, Sakaguchi passed Yamashita on Lap 8 at Turn 3 to move up to third. And Nobuharu Matsushita (B-Max Racing Team) and Sekiguchi followed Sakaguchi’s path on the next lap, as Yamashita’s pace suddenly dropped. Then, Yamashita made a pit stop to change to the slicks since the track conditions continued to improve and the racing lines on the track were drying.

Kondo Racing made the same decision on Sacha Fenestraz and told him to come in to switch to the slick on the same lap with Yamashita. The Frenchman finally made his first appearance of the season because he had had difficulty entering Japan for the quarantine rules. But Fenestraz spun at Turn 5 on his out lap with the slick tires and stopped the car on the run-off area, which caused the Safety Car to come out.

This triggered a rush to the tire change pit stops. Most notably, Team Mugen’s crew did a perfect job with Otsu’s tire change, and he went back to the track as the effective race leader. Since Yamamoto, Fukuzumi, and Hirakawa opted to stay out, Otsu led the pack of Sakaguchi, Sekiguchi, and Makino.

The racing resumed on Lap 14. The three drivers running with the wets immediately started to push to build a gap for their upcoming pit stops. However, Otsu managed to warm up his slicks properly during the SC run, and, as a result, he set the faster lap time than Yamamoto’s on Lap 15.

Knowing Otsu’s lap time, Yamamoto and Hirakawa had no choice but to switch to the slicks. And their mistimed pit stops meant falling back to almost the bottom of the field. Fukuzumi also made his stop one lap before them, but he had a problem with one of his car’s wheel nuts during the tire change and lost much time at the pit box.

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Photo]

On Lap 17, Tatiana Calderon (ThreeBond Drago Corse) crashed on her own at Turn 2, and the race saw its second Safety Car period. When SC came in on Lap 21, the battles in the compressed field heated up, which resulted in more accidents. Sho Tsuboi (P.Mu/Cerumo Inging), involved in the close fight with Kamui Kobayashi (KCMG), locked up under braking and went off at Turn 3. At the same time, Yamamoto and Hirakawa hit each other on the run down to the same corner and crashed.

The incident required the Safety Car deployment for the third time in this race. After removing the three halted cars, the race restarted on Lap 25. Obviously, the focus of the remaining ten laps was the top six’s battle for the win, led by Otsu.

 

By this time, the weather was very much improved, so were the track conditions. The leading drivers fought hard with each other, renewing the fastest lap one after another. On Lap 27, Makino used the OverTake System to get close to Sakaguchi at the 90 Degree Corner. But the latter reacted to the former’s move by using OTS, too, and both quickly closed the gap with Otsu.

Now Otsu’s lead reduced to just 0.4 seconds at the control line, and Sakaguchi tried to overtake Otsu from the outside of Turn 3. However, Otsu blocked the attack by choosing a clever driving line on the track.

Behind them, Makino became vulnerable to Sekiguchi’s charge because he used up his OTS time now. Consequently, Sekiguchi managed to pass Makino at Turn 3, and he had a good reason to give a chase to the top two. He still had a slim chance of winning the title, and the minimum requirement was to win this race. But Sekiguchi made a slight mistake and ran wide at the exit of Victory Corner, allowing Makino to regain the position. At that moment, the odds of Nojiri’s maiden championship win went up to the next level.

In the closing stage, Otsu had the upper hand over Sakaguchi and consecutively renewed the fastest lap. Then, he used the remaining OTS time almost for a whole lap on the final lap and built a 1.7-second gap with Sakaguchi before crossing the finish line. This was his maiden victory in Super Formula in his first full season, except for a spot appearance in the last year’s final round.

Nojiri secured his first Super Formula championship title in this penultimate round by his recovery from the eighth to fifth.

DRIVER VOICE

Hiroki Otsu [Red Bull Mugen Team Goh]

—Result : Winner–
“I was the only driver who went for the qualifying with the slicks, so it was a bit lucky to win the pole position, I would say. But I fought it out to the end in the race and finished first. I am over the moon with today’s result. I couldn’t hide my joy because this was the first race win since my F3 days. Every time I passed through the pit straight, the team told me what was happening to other drivers around me, and encouraged me like, ‘Keep your head down. Come on!’ Thanks to such a help, I could keep my cool and drive calmly to the end.”

Tomoki Nojiri [Team Mugen]

—Result : 5th. (Series Champion)–
“Looking back my career from my karting days, I haven’t shown splendid drives so often and I had a kind of inferiority complex, to be honest. But everybody in my team encouraged me, and helped me a lot, and that is the main reason why I am here today. I got nervous this weekend and couldn’t sleep well at all. From these experiences, I really came to appreciate the championship contenders in the past. I hope I could use what I learned this season to become a faster and stronger driver.”

ENGINEER VOICE

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

“The characteristics of Twin Ring Motegi are very tough to the car’s brakes but not so hard on the tires. In addition to the usual Motegi round in summer, we had another round in autumn on this racetrack. Although it depends on the conditions, we thought the lower temperatures might help renew the course record. And Nojiri did break his own track record in style in Q1, which was run on dry surfaces and suitable for the slick tires.

“As for Q2 and Q3, we saw two different tire choices. We think that no one could tell which was the right choice between the slicks and the wets. I mean, the tires we supply for Super Formula have a kind of severe warm-up characteristics, even if they have softer compounds. So, therefore, you need to have a certain setup direction on the car to warm up the tires properly under those conditions. I guess such a difference in the car setup led to different tire choices between the teams in the qualifying session.

“Nojiri secured the championship title in this race. I suppose he thought the wet tires which all drivers had at the start wouldn’t last long under those track conditions, and he tried to manage them to extend the first stint as long as possible. Probably, that was the reason why he dropped his position down in the beginning. In fact, he has done a great job in terms of tire management throughout the season.

“Now there is only one round left in this year’s Super Formula series. The championship battle has ended but every driver must be determined to conclude the season with a good result by making every possible effort. So we will support them to the end by supplying the best products which can create an exciting and attractive racing.”