First of all, we wish to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the friends and family of those lost during the heavy rain in the Kyushu district.
【#2 Hiroaki Ishiura, won the incandescent Fuji and became the point Leader.】
Hiroaki Ishiura
P.MU/CERUMO·INGING #2 Hiroaki Ishiura won the Super Formula Round 3. He left all the other drivers far behind and finished maintaining steady pace throughout the race.
At the start
On July 9th, Super Formula Round 3 qualify race was held at Fuji Speedway. The air temperatures were around 32°C and track temperatures 44°C. Race was held under dry conditions and heatwaves shimmered from the pavement.
This heat was a heavy burden on the tires. The final race went on for 55 laps. Although there was no obligation to change tires, refueling was necessary to complete the total mileage of 250km. Each team's strategy, such as whether to refuel only when pitting in, whether to change the tires at the same time, and at what timing to pit in, would be crucial to winning.
At the start of race, #1 Yuji Kunimoto of pole position was in the lead to the first corner. #19 Yuhi Sekiguchi of the 3rd position qualifying round and #37 Kazuki Nakajima of the 4th position qualifying round also showed an excellent start and chased #1 Kunimoto.
#2 Hiroaki Ishiura, who was in 2nd position in the qualifying session, failed to start and went down to 4th position. #3 Nick Cassidy went out for the 2nd lap and damaged the front wing, causing him to retire early.
Point leader #36 Andre Lotterer in qualifying 12th position pitted on lap 10 and refueled only. During the middle of the race, #16 Naoki Yamamoto, #4 Kenta Yamashita punctured their rear tire, #16 Yamamoto regrettably retiring from the race.
Hiroaki Ishiura
#1 Kunimoto, who was comfortably in the lead, after refueling and tire change on lap 32, experienced abnormality with his front brakes, causing him to enter the pit lane again. After repeating the pit stop several times, he unfortunately had to put the machine in the garage and became retired from the race.
On lap 42, #18 Kamui Kobayashi tried to pit out with refueling only, but the engine stalled. He had to take time to restart the engine but lost hope for podium finish.
Yuhi Sekiguchi and Pierre Gasly
After the pit stop of all cars, #2 Ishiura stood at the top, followed by #7 Felix Rosenqvist. #2 Hiroaki Ishiura won the race as it was and became a point leader at 20.5 points. Ishiura, 2nd position in the qualifying session, failed at the start and went down to 4th position, but then caught the first win of the season after repeated laps with a high pace. It was point leader because he won the good prize in the round 1, the round 2-R1 and the round 2-R2 as well.
It was the first podium finish for Japan in #7 Felix Rosenqvist, who ranked 2nd position. #36 Andre Lotterer who showed up the threat from yesterday's unfortunate qualifying 12th position became 3rd position. #19 Yuhi Sekiguchi in the 4th position and #15 Pierre Gasly in the 5th position boosted the side-by-side until the end of race.
From left, Felix Rosenqvist, Director Yuji Tachikawa, Hiroaki Ishiura and Andre Lotterer
In this way, the Super Formula round 3 final race was heated both with racing and temperature.