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Photo: FRJC
Kazuhisa Urabe and Kiyoshi Umegaki were the winners in round three of the Formula Regional Japanese Championship season at Suzuka.
Umegaki topped both qualifying sessions, setting a 1m57.47s in Q1 to lead Urabe by 0.232 seconds and Kento Omiya by 0.628s. Points leader Tokiya Suzuki was also within a second of pole, 0.825s back.
In Q2 the pace was lowered to 1m57.009s, and Umegaki had a sizeable 0.541s advantage over Suzuki. Urabe and Omiya were split by 0.024s in third and fourth.
Race one began with Urabe and Umegaki going side-by-side into the opening corner. Umegaki conceded the lead and went off exiting turn two, dropping to fourth, then dived down the inside of Omiya into the chicane to gain back one spot.
The top three stayed close together, with Umegaki looking to make a move into the chicane on lap six. The safety car then came out, and on the lap nine restart a spinner led to racing being neutralised again.
There were two laps remaining when the next restart took place, and Suzuki attacked the leader into turn one. There was drama at the hairpin as Anna Inotsume was spun around while running in fifth, and Yuyaka Toriba began the final lap by crashing out.
Umegaki did a switchback move on Suzuki to get ahead through Spoon Curve, but Suzuki got past by staying committed on the outside through turn 15 despite almost going off.
In desperation, Umegaki lunged at the chicane and rode over the top of Suzuki’s car. While he finished third on-the-road behind Omiya, a 40s penalty dropped him to seventh. Suzuki was even less lucky, being classified eighth after failing to see the chequred flag. Yu Oda was a surprise beneficiary as they were promoted to the podium.
Race two was far blander. Umegaki covered the inside line at the start then had Suzuki and Urabe in his mirrors for a few laps. In the race’s second half he pulled away from both, winning by 3.81s to end the weekend half a point behind Suzuki. Omiya was a lonely fourth.
Results round-up oran
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing 31m22.380s
2 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +2.517s
3 Yu Oda Rn-sports +7.003s
4 Chenghua Lin Ragno Motor Sport +11.357s
5 “Yuki” Nilzz Racing +19.485s
6 Anna Initsume Hitotsuyama Racing +21.050s
7 Kiyoshi Umegaki TOM’S +44.671s
8 Tokiya Suzuki TOM’S +1 lap
9 Yutaka Toriba Aiwin +1 lap
Ret Zhabin Jia B-MAX Racing
Pole: Umegaki, 1m57.470s
Fastest lap: Umegaki, 1m58.551s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Umegaki 25m51.885s
2 Suzuki +3.810s
3 Urabe +9.872s
4 Omiya +15.940s
5 Lin +23.758s
6 Oda +24.755s
7 Toriba +32.113s
8 Hideaki Irie Fujita Pharmacy Racing +38.753s
9 Jia +40.118s
10 Inotsume +1m08.945s
P: Umegaki, 1m57.009s
FL: Umegaki, 1m58.869s
Championship standings
1 Suzuki 120.5 2 Umegaki 120 3 Omiya 94.5 4 Urabe 86 5 Lin 44 6 Toriba 40 7 Oda 39.5 8 Inotsume 31 9 Jia 21 10 Irie 21
AloJapan.com