【#19 ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL Yuhi Sekiguchi 1st victory of this season and redeemed from yesterday`s frustration!】
#19 Yuhi Sekiguchi
On May 28th, Super Formula Round 2 Race 2 session was held at Okayama International circuit. It's hot like a summer day, the air temperatures were around 27°C and track temperatures was 41°C.
The final race of Round2 Race2 started from 14:25 is contested in 51 laps (188.853km) with obligated one pit stop and tire change. The Okayama International circuit is a technical course with many tight corners. The hairpin corner is very important, a few overtaking point for the race and driver should use slipstream from back straight. That's key point of overtaking.
Start
After formation lap, cars took their positions on the grid.Green lights, #15 Pierre Gasly started wonderful from 5th position of the grid. But pole position owner #2 Hiroaki Ishimura kept 1st position. #37 Kazuki Nakajima went off the course in the 1st lap after some position fights. About half of the teams including #19 Yuhi Sekiguchi decided to pit in on 1st lap to change 4 tires.
On 6 laps, #36 Andre Lotterer pitted in and completed tire change in 8.6seconds. #2 Hiroaki Ishiura selected pit in after halfway of his race and kept top position. After all, #2 Ishiura pitted on the 34 laps and retuned back to course with 9.5seconds of pit work. As a result, he falls back, lost 2nd position and came out behind #19 Sekiguchi.
On 38 laps, at 2nd corner #41 Izawa crashed his machine and he could not come back to race. We got a yellow flag waved and the Safety car diploid (38-42laps). During this time, #7 Felix Rosenqvist pitted in and all machines completed their duty to pit in. This safety car running had been given a big advantaged to #7 Rosenqvist. After safety car run, it became more like a sprint race.
Checker
#2 Ishiura strong chased #19 Sekiguchi. However, #19 Sekiguchi saw the checker flag first. This is his 1st victory of this season and satisfaction yesterday’s frustration!
On 2nd position was #2 Ishiura and 3rd position was #36 Andre Lotterer.
Director Kazuyoshi Hoshino and #19 Yuhi Sekiguchi
On July 8th and 9th, Next Round will be held at Fuji speed way, and wait for more exciting racing.