Poleman Matsushita hails B-Max's "superb" step forward
Nobuharu Matsushita has hailed his B-Max Racing team for a "superb step forward" after scoring a first Super Formula pole position at Suzuka.
Nobuharu Matsushita, B-Max Racing Team
Masahide Kamio
Matsushita beat Nakajima Racing's Toshiki Oyu to the top spot in the Q3 pole shootout by 0.182s to give one-car Honda outfit B-Max only its second series pole, and its first since splitting from previous partner squad Motopark.
It followed a troubled morning for Matsushita, who was only 14th-fastest in free practice after using a set-up carried over from the previous round at Motegi.
But changes made in time for the start of qualifying transformed the #51 B-Max machine, and Matsushita was eager to praise team boss Satoshi Motoyama - a four-time champion in Formula Nippon (pictured top with Matsushita) - and engineer Yasuhiro Tasaka.
"We were not in good shape in free practice, so as a team I thought things were not looking good heading into qualifying," said Matsushita.
"In Q1 in the dry at Motegi we were quick, but so I thought we should use an evolution of that set-up, but [in free practice] it wasn’t good at all. We tried various things and none of them worked.
"After practice, we decided ‘this must be it!’ and luckily everything started to click. The moment I left the pits and hit the track [in qualifying], I could tell the car felt different.
"We are a one-car team, so unlike the other teams we cannot compare data from two cars, so we are at a bit of a disadvantage. But we made a superb step forward, so I want to thank the team."
Nobuharu Matsushita, B-Max Racing Team
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Pole at Suzuka puts Matsushita and B-Max in a strong position to claim a first Super Formula race win, as his season so far has been characterised by strong races from generally mediocre grid positions.
The ex-Formula 2 racer's only previous Q3 appearance this season was in the August Motegi round, where he qualified and finished third in a processional race.
"Starting from pole, it’s about keeping the lead into the first two corners, and then the rest is race pace," said Matsushita. "Suzuka is a tough track to overtake and if everything goes normally I don’t think we will be overtaken, but without letting my guard down I’ll confidently do the best I can."
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Related video
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments