Sasahara sure he should have been part of title fight

Sasahara rejoined Mugen this season in a second Honda-powered car alongside reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri as part of a last-minute deal, having spent most of the 2021 season on the sidelines after his rookie campaign in 2020.

The season started perfectly for the 26-year-old with pole position for the opening round at Fuji, but stalling on the grid at the start of both races of the curtain-raising double header marked the start of a series of misfortunes that have cost him dearly in the championship standings.

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Besides a victory in July's Fuji race, Sasahara's next-best results are a pair of seventh-place finishes, leaving him seventh in the standings with only next month's Suzuka double-header to go.

"Honestly, I think if I didn’t have any bad luck this season, I would be fighting for the championship with Nojiri-san, because the performance has been really good," Sasahara told Motorsport.com. "It’s just a shame that all of the points we’ve lost have been related to mechanical failures or just bad luck.

"I have mixed emotions [about the season so far], it’s been like a roller coaster. At Suzuka I just want to aim for pole-to-win, twice, and show how fast we are."

 

After the opening round, Sasahara found himself starting towards the back of the grid for Round 3 at Suzuka after being baulked by Yuji Kunimoto in qualifying, while a strategy error cost him dearly in the next race at Autopolis.

Last month's Motegi double-header saw the Mugen driver hit more trouble, as he was released from the pits too late in Q2 to challenge for pole position in Saturday qualifying, and then was hit by a throttle issue on Sunday that led to him getting stuck in the gravel at Turn 10 in Q1.

He still managed to salvage seventh in a wet first race which featured very little overtaking, and then eighth the following day from the back of the grid despite almost not making the start due to a driveshaft issue.

"The driveshaft was completely broken, so I couldn’t do a push lap in warm-up," reflected Sasahara. "It was really strange. The team did a mega job to get me on the grid, and the car was really quick, like a spaceship!

"Honestly the car was absolutely flying, especially in qualifying. Without the issues I had so much confidence to be on pole position."