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Photo: FRJC
Tokiya Suzuki and Kiyoshi Umegaki shared the Formula Regional Japanese Championship wins in round two at Fuji Speedway.
Umegaki started the weekend on top, setting a 1m37.2s in practice to lead Kento Omiya by 0.036 seconds and Suzuki by 0.091s.
In qualifying one, Umegaki he posted a 1m37.811s to pip Suzuki to pole by 0.067s, as Omiya trailed by 0.561s. Kazuhisa Urabe was 0.805s behind in fourth.
A 1m37.421s earned Umegaki another pole in Q2, edging Suzuki by 0.094s. There was a gap of 0.462s to Omiya and 0.767s to Urabe.
Umegaki made a very slow start to race one and was quickly down to fourth. Suzuki led Urabe into the opening corner, and Umegaki gained back one place on lap one.
He went around the outside of Urabe down the pit straight on lap two, but went too deep into turn one and was back behind. Umegaki attacked Urabe there again on lap three, before the safety car appeared due to Anna Inotsume and Zhongwei Wang crashing at the Dunlop chicane.
Racing resumed on lap seven and Umegaki immediately attacked. He had nosed ahead on the outside by turn one but locked up so was in third once he turned in.
The inside line was chosen on lap eight, but his lunge sent him too deep and Urabe got back past by cutting the inside of turn two. When they fought again at turn three, Urabe went off to stay ahead and now Omiya was involved.
Umegaki had to defend for the rest of the lap, but the slipstream effect as they began lap nine helped him overtake Urabe before the braking zone for turn one.
Omiya pressured Urabe on lap 10, and attempt a diving move at the Dunlop chicane. That failed, and for the remainder of the race he sat behind while Umegaki halved Suzuki’s lead from 2.9s to 1.3s.
Umegaki made a better start in race two, while Omiya was slow off the line. The poleman swept to the inside to defend, as Urabe ran alongside Omiya.
There was drama at turn three and Suzuki took the lead, with Umegaki reclaiming second through a diving move at the Dunlop chicane. Urabe went off at turn 14 and fell down the order, with Chenghua Lin now fourth.
The gap between the top two was down to 0.5s on lap 15 when something went wrong for Umegaki and he dropped to 1.8s back. He responded by setting the fastest lap, and when Suzuki encountered taffic on lap 12 the double slipstream brought Umegaki back into play.
Suzuki defended on the run to turn one on lap 14, and on the final lap went deep into turn 14 and and Umegaki drove past. But Suzuki’s superior exit speed meant he led out of turn 15.
Umegaki took a deeper line into the final corner to set him up for better speed down the pit straight, and although Suzuki defended the inside there was enough space for Umegaki to get alongside and win by 0.038s.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Tokiya Suzuki TOM’S 29m14.085s
2 Kiyoshi Umegaki TOM’S +1.308s
3 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +8.006s
4 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +8.530s
5 Chenghua Lin Ragno Motor Sport +14.578s
6 Yutaka Toriba Aiwin +18.774s
7 Zhanbin Jia B-MAX Racing +27.543s
8 Hideaki Irie Fujita Pharmacy Racing +27.963s
9 “Akita” Abbey Racing +28.758s
10 Shoichiro Akamatsu Eagle Sports +31.923s
Pole: Umegaki, 1m37.811s
Fastest lap: Umegaki, 1m37.256s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Umegaki 24m29.133s
2 Suzuki +0.038s
3 Omiya +13.431s
4 Lin +22.424s
5 Toriba +25.866s
6 “Akita” +26.636s
7 Jia +41.115s
8 Akamatsu +41.975s
9 Irie +42.439s
10 Anna Inotsume Hitotsuyama Racing +43.143s
P: Umegaki, 1m37.421s
FL: Umegaki, 1m37.385s
Championship standings
1 Suzuki 98.5 2 Umegaki 89 3 Omiya 64.5 4 Urabe 46 5 Toriba 32 6 Lin 22 7 Inotsume 22 8 Jia 19 9 “Akita” 18 10 Irie 17
AloJapan.com