Motegi Super Formula: Hirakawa takes lights-to-flag win

Impul driver Hirakawa made a strong getaway from pole as Yamashita vaulted into second from third on the grid ahead of rookie teammate Fenestraz.

And that was how the top three order remained throughout the 35-lap race, which featured no mandatory pitstop - although some drivers further down the order did change tyres - and very few on-track position changes after the opening lap.

Hirakawa never opened up a lead of more than 1.5s throughout the race over Yamashita, who in turn was rarely able to get closer than a second to the leader until the final laps.

Despite Yamashita's late charge, Hirakawa hung on by 0.610s for his second win in Super Formula, which came 12 months on from his maiden triumph at Motegi last year.

Fenestraz completed the podium behind Kondo Racing teammate Yamashita, resisting race-long pressure from TOM'S driver Kazuki Nakajima.

Best of the Honda-powered drivers at the finish was Nirei Fukuzumi in fifth, although the Dandelion Racing man gained the place after contact with Yuhi Sekiguchi.

Hirakawa's Impul teammate Sekiguchi settled into fifth place in the early laps but couldn't keep up the pace of the top four, and a train of cars led by Kamui Kobayashi formed behind him.

Fukuzumi finally cleared Kobayashi's KCMG car for sixth place on lap 19 and two laps later he was on the tail of Sekiguchi, but as he tried to dive up the inside heading into the long Turn 6 right-hander the two cars touched, Sekiguchi spearing off into the gravel.

Escaping damage in the incident, Fukuzumi was able to come home 11s adrift of Hirakawa.

Reigning champion Nick Cassidy (TOM'S) made up five places from his grid slot to finish sixth, helped by Kobayashi sustaining a puncture after making contact with Naoki Yamamoto (Dandelion), who had to pit to replace a damaged front wing at the end of lap 20.

Completing the points-scorers were Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen), Hiroaki Ishiura (Inging), Tadasuke Makino (Nakajima Racing) and Kazuya Oshima (Inging).

Juri Vips' replacement Ukyo Sasahara (Mugen) was the best of the drivers to change tyres in 11th place, and although he was two seconds faster on fresher rubber he couldn't find a way past Oshima in the closing laps.

Tatiana Calderon (Drago Corse) likewise changed tyres and finished 12th, fiercely defending her position from the similarly one-stopping Yamamoto on the final lap.

Toshiki Oyu (Nakajima Racing) ended up four laps down in 15th, behind Kobayashi, after slowing with mechanical trouble on the first lap exiting the hairpin and pitting.

Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	20	Ryo Hirakawa	ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	35
2	3	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo Racing	35	0.610
3	4	Sacha Fenestraz	Kondo Racing	35	3.331
4	36	Kazuki Nakajima	Vantelin Team TOM'S	35	7.556
5	6	Nirei Fukuzumi	DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	35	11.179
6	1	Nick Cassidy	Vantelin Team TOM'S	35	19.929
7	16	Tomoki Nojiri	Team Mugen	35	26.930
8	38	Hiroaki Ishiura	JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING	35	27.854
9	64	Tadasuke Makino	TCS Nakajima Racing	35	38.030
10	14	Kazuya Oshima	ROOKIE Racing	35	39.497
11	15	Ukyo Sasahara	Team Mugen	35	40.664
12	12	Tatiana Calderon	ThreeBond Drago CORSE	35	1'02.537
13	5	Naoki Yamamoto	DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	35	1'02.679
14	7	Kamui Kobayashi	carrozzeria Team KCMG	35	1'03.270
15	65	Toshiki Oyu	TCS Nakajima Racing	31	4 Laps
16	18	Yuji Kunimoto	carrozzeria Team KCMG	22	13 Laps
17	19	Yuhi Sekiguchi	ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	20	15 Laps
18	39	Sho Tsuboi	JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING	0
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