Kakunoshin Ohta’s hopes of an early Tremendous System title went up in smoke in Sunday’s second Fuji race amid contact with Igor Fraga, whereas Ayumu Iwasa ended his win drought.
Dandelion Racing’s Ohta went into the race with an opportunity of sealing the title with two races to go, however realistically wanted to complete forward of Saturday winner Fraga for that to occur.
It appeared like within the opening phases of what descended right into a chaotic 41-lap contest that Ohta would get the job finished, as Iwasa handed polesitter Fraga for the lead on the opening lap, after which Ohta cleared the Nakajima Racing driver for second on lap 4.
The lead order didn’t change after an early security automobile interval, brought on by Yuto Nomura stopping after contact with Toshiki Oyu, however the race turned within the necessary pitstops as Ohta pitted on lap 17 and was undercut by an early-stopping Oyu.
Ohta and Oyu got here to blows at Flip 3, sending the Cerumo/Inging driver right into a spin from which he continued, and whereas Ohta survived with out injury, the time loss allowed Fraga to get the overcut on the championship chief after he pitted on the finish of the next lap.
Realizing that he needed to get again forward of Fraga to seal the title, Ohta tried an formidable lunge on the downhill Flip 10 right-hander, operating broad within the course of.
Corners later, he made one other bid to go on the unorthodox location of Flip 15, however within the course of he clattered into the facet of Fraga, eliminating Ohta on the spot and leaving the Brazilian with important left-side injury.
Kakunoshin Ohta, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING
Picture by: Masahide Kamio
The following security automobile interval noticed a rush to pitlane for the remaining vehicles that had not but accomplished their stops, resulting in a blockage as Luke Browning was turned sideways.
Rookie Racing’s Nirei Fukuzumi was despatched out into the trail of Williams System 1 reserve driver Browning, who appeared to decelerate in avoidance earlier than being rear-ended by Syun Koide, which spun the Kondo Racing automobile and lodged it between Fukuzumi and Koide.
Rikuto Kobayashi additionally piled into the again of Koide within the mayhem, which resulted in an prolonged security automobile interval to clear up the mess.
When the race resumed on lap 25, Iwasa led from Nobuharu Matsushita – up from sixth earlier than the stops – and Zak O’Sullivan, who began third however slipped to fifth within the early laps.
Nearly instantly the security automobile was known as once more as Sho Tsuboi ploughed into the again of fourth-placed Kenta Yamashita, his brakes seemingly not working.
Iwasa acquired an ideal launch when the race resumed for the ultimate time on lap 32, the Group Mugen driver occurring to take a primary win of a troublesome title defence, however the battle for the remaining podium spots when right down to the ultimate laps.
Zak O’Sullivan, TEAM IMPUL
Picture by: Masahide Kamio
O’Sullivan discovered himself demoted to fifth behind a resurgent Oyu and Tadasuke Makino on the restart, however inside 5 laps, the Briton had managed to repass each Makino and Oyu, after which set about difficult Matsushita for second.
Group Impul’s O’Sullivan seized the place with an aggressive transfer on the final lap on the Flip 13 right-hander, nudging Matsushita broad within the course of however escaping any penalty.
O’Sullivan revealed post-race that the race was his final one in Tremendous System as he strikes on to System E, with pre-season testing commitments within the all-electric collection successfully stopping him from contesting the Suzuka finale.
Matsushita scored Delightworks Racing’s second podium of its maiden season in third, whereas Oyu ending fourth, and Sacha Fenestraz (TOM’S) demoted Makino (Dandelion) late on for fifth.
Finishing the highest 10 had been Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen), Charlie Wurz (Group Goh), Giuliano Alesi (KCMG) – scoring his first factors of the 12 months – and Fukuzumi.
Iwasa takes over from Fraga as the closest challenger to Ohta within the championship, however faces a 33.5-point deficit with 46 left to play for at Suzuka subsequent month.
Tremendous System Fuji – Race 2 outcomes
We would like your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
– The Motorsport.com Group