MEDIA INFORMATION
June 29, 2017 Japan Race Promotion Inc.
Round 3 : July 8 (Saturday) –July 9 (Sunday)
2017 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship: Fuji Speedway
Japan Race Promotion Inc. (President: Akira Kurashita, Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan) today announced details of Round 3 of the 2017 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship Series, scheduled to take place on July 8–9 at Fuji Speedway (length = 4.563 km) in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Round 3 will feature an official qualifying session based on a knock-out format, followed by a championship race of 55 laps (250.965 km). Fuji Speedway has Japan’s longest back straight, making it the ideal spot to enjoy head-to-head battles. To achieve the highest possible speeds, race cars need to reduce downforce and drag, but the sequence of corners in the back half of the course means drivers want more downforce to negotiate turns. Teams that set up their race cars to skillfully balance that contradiction stand a good chance of victory.
After Round 1 at Suzuka and the two races in Round 2 at Okayama, Andre Lotterer (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S), Kazuki Nakajima (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) and Yuhi Sekiguchi (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL) each have one win under their belts. Naoki Yamamoto (TEAM MUGEN) and Hiroaki Ishiura (P.MU/CERUMO · INGING) also gained points in all of the first three races. Those five drivers currently occupy the top positions in the standings. All of this year’s rookies have also grabbed points, including a podium finish at Okayama for Nick Cassidy (KONDO RACING), suggesting there is more to come from the new drivers in the second half of the SUPER FORMULA season. Can the leading group keep up their momentum and will the rookie drivers move up the standings? These are just some of the questions for Round 3 as we approach the midpoint of the competition.
No. 36 Andre Lotterer (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) currently sits at the top of the driver standings
■ OFFICIAL QUALIFYING KNOCK-OUT FORMAT Q1 (20 minutes) : Top 14 cars progress to Q2, grid positions 15-19 fixed Q2 (7 minutes) : Top 8 cars progress to Q3, grid positions 9-14 fixed Q3 (7 minutes) : Grid positions 1-8 fixed ● 10 minute intervals between each qualifying ● As the name suggests, drivers are knocked out if they do not post good enough times during the first two qualifying rounds.
■ CHAMPIONSHIP RACE 55 laps (1 lap: 4.563 km x 55 = 250.965 km)
■ Fuji Speedway Racing Course Fuji Speedway is a historic circuit in Japan, now in its 51st year of operation. The circuit is known for having one of the longest straights in motorsport. With a length of 1.475 km, the straight is an ideal spot to watch drivers use drafting to pull off exciting overtaking maneuvers. After the speed of the main straight, braking timing is crucial when trying to enter the first TGR corner ahead of other drivers. From the Advan corner through to the double-apex 300R corner, the race car set up has a major impact on speed as drivers enter the Dunlop corner. The stretch from the Dunlop corner chicane through to corner 13 and the Prius corner is different to other high-speed sections of the course, requiring skillful use of the accelerator. Exit speed from the final Panasonic corner also has a major impact on the speed of the car in the home straight, so drivers need to carefully find the shortest line through the curve.
2017 JAPANESE SUPER FORMULA Championship Round 3 : ENTRY LIST (Chassis: SF14, Tires: Yokohama) DATE OF BIRTH NO. DRIVER ENTRANT MANAGER ENGINE PLACE OF BIRTH
12 September 1990 1 Yuji Kunimoto Kanagawa, Japan TOYOTA P.MU / CERUMO・INGING Yuji Tachikawa RI4A 23 April 1981 2 Hiroaki Ishiura Tokyo, Japan
19 August 1994 3 Nick Cassidy New Zealand TOYOTA KONDO RACING Masahiko Kondo RI4A 3 August 1995 4 Kenta Yamashita Chiba, Japan
7 November 1991 7 Felix Rosenqvist Sweden TOYOTA SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS Tatsuya Kataoka 30 April 1987 RI4A 8 Kazuya Oshima Gunma, Japan
20 November 1986 HONDA 10 Koudai Tsukakoshi REAL RACING Katsutomo Kaneishi Tochigi, Japan HR-417E
7 February 1996 15 Pierre Gasly France HONDA TEAM MUGEN Nagataka Tezuka HR-417E 11 July 1988 16 Naoki Yamamoto Tochigi, Japan
13 September 1986 TOYOTA 18 Kamui Kobayashi KCMG Ryuji Doi Hyogo, Japan RI4A
29 December 1987 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi Tokyo, Japan TOYOTA ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL Kazuyoshi Hoshino RI4A 9 September 1991 20 Jann Mardenborough United Kingdom
19 November 1981 36 Andre Lotterer Germany TOYOTA VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S Nobuhide Tachi RI4A 11 January 1985 37 Kazuki Nakajima Aichi, Japan
15 September 1989 40 Tomoki Nojiri Ibaraki, Japan DOCOMO TEAM HONDA Kiyoshi Muraoka DANDELION RACING HR-417E 1 June 1984 41 Takuya Izawa Tokyo, Japan
1 August 1980 HONDA 50 Takashi Kogure B-MAX RACING TEAM Ryuji Kumita Gunma, Japan HR-417E
29 January 1989 64 Daisuke Nakajima Aichi, Japan HONDA TCS NAKAJIMA RACING Satoru Nakajima HR-417E 14 January 1977 65 Narain Karthikeyan India
2017 STANDINGS