【# 40 Tomoki Nojiri Course Record For Pole Position】
#40 Tomoki Nojiri
The qualifying for the 5th race of the Super Formula series in 2017 was held on 9th (Saturday) at AUTOPOLIS in Hita City Oita prefecture. Three weeks have passed since the previous race at Motegi, marking the 2017 seas of Super Formula is now in its second half.
Last year it was not possible to hold it in AUTOPOLIS due to the influence of the Kyushu Kumamoto earthquake. It will be the first time a Super Formula race will be held here in two years this time. During free practice, # 36 Andre Lotterer is the top, 2nd place # 37 Kazuki Nakajima got in.
This race will also be done with the tire 2 spec system, following the 4th round. Tires that can be used on Saturdays and Sundays are limited to 2 new medium tires, 2 new soft tires, 2 carry-over tires. In Q1, the use of medium tires was mandatory.
#16 Pierre Gasly
13: 45, Q1 for 20 minutes begun. Immediately after the start, nine cars selected the used tires. After running around several cars, confirmed tires and pitted in. Then, they went back into the course for the remaining 6 minutes.
# 7 Felix Rosenqvist was bad at the timing of the reentry onto the track and caught on another car. #1 Kunimoto recorded the top (1,27.968) in the remaining minutes of Q1. The Red flag was out during the remaining 45 seconds.
# 10 Tsukagoshi crashed at the roller coaster end, damaging the front. Q1 resumed in the remaining 3 minutes due to the influence of the red flag. #8 Kazuya Oshima, #3 Nick Cassidy, #64 Daisuke Nakajima, #50 Takashi Kogure and #10 Hiroshi Tsukagoshi lost in Q1.
#18 Kamui Kobayashi
Q2 for 7 minutes started at 14: 28. Kamui Kobayashi recorded a course record (1, 26.317) at the remaining 1 minute. # 4 Kenta Yamashita, # 7 Felix Rosenqvist, # 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi, # 41 Takuya Izawa, # 65 Narain Karthik and # 20 Jann Mardenborough lost in Q2.
Q 3 of 7 minutes started at 14:45. First course in was Kamui Kobayashi. Was it the same strategy as Q2? # 40 Tomoni Nojiri updated the course record (1,26.196) and gained pole position as it was. 2rd place was # 1 Yuji Kunimoto, 3rd was # 18 Kamui Kobayashi, 4th was # 36 Andre Lotterer.
#40 Tomoki Nojiri
Result of Qualifying
1st #40 Tomonori Nojiri DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING 1,26. 196
2nd #1 Yuji Kunimoto P.MU/CERUMO・INGING 1,26.387
3rd #18 Kamui Kobayashi KCMG 1,26.414
4th #36 Andre Lotterer VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 1,26.637
5th #16 Pierre Gasly TEAM MUGEN 1,26.738
Air 30 degrees, Track 44 degrees, Weather: sunny, Track condition: dry