FNIPPON: Mine Circuit Andre Couto race recap

Suspension betrays Andre Couto's aspiration in Mine Portuguese driver was forced to abandon while in 10th place

Andre Couto has once again been struck by bad luck during yesterday's Formula Nippon race at Mine, Japan. Upon an excellent start, which took him from the 17th position to the 14th, and a heroic performance throughout 42 laps, in which Couto fought endlessly for the 10th position, the Portuguese driver was unfortunately forced to abandon the race due to broken rear suspension if his G-Force Mugen. A disastrous ending for Andre Couto, who ran his third participation in the Formula Nippon Japanese Championship.

"I am very disappointed. After all the effort I put in during the weekend, I didn't deserve ending the race like this. The car has once again failed me with all its problems, enabling me to fight a worthy battle for a dignified position. I started from 17th place and my aim was the top ten positions. I was at a good rhythm and able to achieve my goal when the suspension broke just when I was preparing to attack the contestant in front", remarked Andre Couto, who could've suffered other "consequences" from this incident.

"All in all, I was quite lucky because the suspension broke when I was entering a slow corner. If the suspension had broken during the next corner, which was run much faster, my race could of ended in a tragic way, seeing the tyer blew up when the suspension broke". Explained the BPN Credutis sponsored driver.

Andre Couto's next race will take place between the 25th and the 27th of Mai at the Sugo track, and counts for the Japanese GT Championship. <pre> Overall Standings - Mine Grand Prix Formula Nippon: 1st Satoshi Motoyama (IMPUL); 61 laps in 1h19m34.746s 2nd Ralph Firman (PIAA NAKAJIMA), 1h19m43.597s 3rd Takeshi Tsuchiya (ARTA), 1h19m45.627s 4th Michael Krumm (5ZIGEN), 1h19m47.938s 5th Naoki Hattori (5ZIGEN), 1h20m02.691s 6th Masami Kageyama (COSMO OIL CERUMO), 1h20m23.116s 7th Alex Yoong (LEMANS), 1h20m32.517s 8th Tsugio Matsuda (PIAA NAKAJIMA), 1h20m33.104s 9th Narain Karthikeyan (IMPUL), 1h20m50.844s 10th Ryo Michigami (MOONCRAFT), 1h20m57.163s

-BPN-