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Fukuzumi breaks Suzuka lap record on second test day

Nirei Fukuzumi unofficially broke the lap record for a Super Formula car at Suzuka to top the final day of post-season rookie testing on Thursday.

Nirei Fukuzumi, Dandelion Racing

Nirei Fukuzumi, Dandelion Racing

Masahide Kamio

Two-time Super Formula champion Naoki Yamamoto was the first driver to lower Kazuki Nakajima’s record-setting time of 1m35.907s from 2017, going nearly seven tenths quicker at the 50-minute mark.

Yamamoto’s Dandelion teammate Fukuzumi went even quicker 15 minutes later, lapping the Japanese Grand Prix circuit in 1m35.190s to move atop the leaderboard.

With the afternoon session affected by light rain, no driver could breach the 1m36s barrier and Fukuzumi’s morning benchmark remained unbeaten.

Yamamoto’s previous time was also good enough to secure second, with Day 1 pacesetter and Red Bull junior Juri Vips finishing third for Mugen with the laptime he set in the morning.

Toshiki Oyu, who was sharing one of the two Nakajima cars with Hiroki Otsu, was fourth-quickest, while Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen) ended up fifth despite causing a red flag in the afternoon.

Formula 2 race winner Nobuharu Matsushita (Drago Corse) was sixth and the last of the drivers to eclipse Nakajima’s lap record.

Kondo Racing again ended up as the top Toyota team amid Honda domination, with Kenta Yamashita setting the seventh-quickest lap - a 1m35.966s.

Lucas Auer was eighth in the lead B-Max with Motopark entry, ahead of Nakajima’s Tadasuke Makino, who topped the afternoon session.

Hiroaki Ishiura was only the second Toyota runner to break inside the top 10, finishing more than a second down on Fukuzumi in 10th.

The second and final day of rookie testing featured several red flags, including a 35-minute stoppage in the morning to fix the timing system.

Morning results:

Pos No. Driver Team  Time Gap
1 5 Nirei Fukuzumi Dandelion 1’35.190  
2 1 Naoki Yamamoto Dandelion 1’35.260 0.070
3 15 Jüri Vips Mugen 1’35.342 0.082
4 064 Toshiki Oyu Nakajima 1’35.441 0.099
5 16 Tomoki Nojiri Mugen 1’35.478 0.037
6 012 Nobuharu Matsushita Drago Corse 1’35.871 0.393
7 3 Kenta Yamashita Kondo Racing 1’35.966 0.095
8 50 Lucas Auer B-Max with Motopark 1’36.062 0.096
9 38 Hiroaki Ishiura Inging 1’36.516 0.454
10 018 Yuji Kunimoto Team KCMG 1’36.552 0.036
11 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi Impul 1’36.578 0.026
12 51 Charles Milesi B-Max with Motopark 1’36.755 0.177
13 39 Sho Tsuboi Inging 1’36.874 0.119
14 20 Ryo Hirakawa Impul 1’36.906 0.032
15 37 Nick Cassidy TOM'S 1’37.209 0.303
16 65 Tadasuke Makino Nakajima Racing 1’37.229 0.020
17 4 Sacha Fenestraz Kondo 1’37.295 0.066
18 36 Ritomo Miyata TOM'S 1’37.560 0.265
19 8 Yoshiaki Katayama LeMans 1’39.180 1.620

Afternoon results:

Pos No. Driver Team Time
1 65 Tadasuke Makino Nakajima 1'36.482
2 36 Ritomo Miyata TOM'S 1'36.647
3 5 Nirei Fukuzumi Dandelion 1'36.903
4 1 Naoki Yamamoto Dandelion 1'36.905
5 15 Juri Vips Mugen 1'37.130
6 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi Impul 1'37.247
7 4 Sacha Fenestraz Kondo 1'37.843
8 18 Kamui Kobayashi KCMG 1'37.849
9 16 Tomoki Nojiri Mugen 1'37.926
10 64 Hiroki Otsu Nakajima 1'38.141
11 20 Ryo Hirakawa Impul 1'38.211
12 3 Kenta Yamashita Kondo 1'39.274
13 37 Nick Cassidy TOM'S 1'39.434
14 38 Hiroaki Ishiura Inging 1'39.488
15 39 Sho Tsuboi Inging 1'39.512
16 17 Koudai Tsukakoshi REAL RACING 1'39.895
17 8 Yoshiaki Katayama Team LeMans 1'40.673
18 12 Charles Milesi Drago Corse 1'52.223

 

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