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Suzuka Super Formula: Yamamoto wins crash-filled race

Naoki Yamamoto took a first win of the Super Formula season in an incident-strewn first leg of this weekend's Suzuka double header, as pre-race points leader Ryo Hirakawa was caught up in a major crash.

Naoki Yamamoto(DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING)

Naoki Yamamoto(DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING)

Masahide Kamio

From pole, Dandelion Honda driver Yamamoto was never seriously threatened in a race that featured three safety car periods caused by crashes, with the last of those sending the cars of Hirakawa and Ukyo Sasahara heavily into the barriers at Turn 1.

Mugen driver Sasahara was defending fourth place at the end of lap 23, following the second safety car period, from the cars of Sho Tsuboi, Kamui Kobayashi and Hirakawa, who had recovered to seventh from the back of the grid.

As Sasahara got a poor exit out of the final chicane defending from Tsuboi, he was drafted by all three of his pursuers, resulting in them all entered Turn 1 four-wide.

Hirakawa was on the very inside, with Sasahara to his left, but Sasahara jinked the other way approaching the corner and collided with Tsuboi - pitching the Red Bull-liveried car into the barriers at high-speed on its side, and also collecting Hirakawa.

Both Sasahara and Hirakawa were able to escape their cars apparently uninjured, while Tsuboi sustained a puncture and broken front wing in the collision.

Watch the Super Formula double-header live on Motorsport.tv for free HERE.

How the race unfolded

Poleman Yamamoto's task at the start was made easier by fellow front-row starter Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen) suffering an apparent electrical issue on his way to the grid, which forced him to drop from second to the rear of the field ahead of the start.

That cleared the way for an early Dandelion one-two as Yamamoto led Nirei Fukuzumi, and after a first-lap caution - caused by Tadasuke Makino suffering a puncture and crashing at Dunlop Corner - Yamamoto proceeded to build up a two-second gap out front.

On lap nine of 28 however, Fukuzumi slowed with a gearbox issue, promoting KCMG driver Kobayashi to the role of Yamamoto's nearest challenger until he stopped on lap 13.

Yamamoto meanwhile left his pitstop until lap 18, and on the next lap the safety car was out again, this time for Nobuharu Matsushita crashing heavily at 130R following a puncture.

While several cars were still to pit at this point, led by Tsuboi, Yamamoto was comfortably back in front by the time the race resumed on lap 23, aided by a slow stop for Kobayashi.

However, the newly-crowned SUPER GT champion still had to survive one more restart with two laps to go following the Turn 1 crash involving Sasahara and Hirakawa, this time with TOM'S man Kazuki Nakajima as his nearest pursuer.

Yamamoto managed to pull out a margin of 1.3s over Nakajima to secure his first win since last year's Sugo race and move four points clear of Hirakawa in the standings.

Naoki Yamamoto(DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING)

Naoki Yamamoto(DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING)

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Yuji Kunimoto profited from a good stop to score his first podium since 2018 and lead a three-four for KCMG ahead of Kobayashi, who survived the earlier melee at Turn 1 unscathed.

Nick Cassidy was fifth for TOM'S, keeping himself within nine points of the championship lead, followed by the late-stopping Inging car of Hiroaki Ishiura.

Nojiri managed to salvage four points for seventh from the back of the grid, also stopping late, while the points finishers were completed by Toshiki Oyu (Nakajima) and Kondo Racing pair Kenta Yamashita and Sacha Fenestraz.

Yuhi Sekiguchi (Impul) was a non-starter after his car stopped on the first warm-up lap, with a throttle issue, triggering an extra formation lap sequence.

Race results:

Cla # Driver Team Laps Gap
1 5 Japan Naoki Yamamoto
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 28
2 36 Japan Kazuki Nakajima
Vantelin Team TOM'S 28 1.349
3 18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto
carrozzeria Team KCMG 28 3.946
4 7 Japan Kamui Kobayashi
carrozzeria Team KCMG 28 4.404
5 1 New Zealand Nick Cassidy
Vantelin Team TOM'S 28 4.825
6 38 Japan Hiroaki Ishiura
JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING 28 5.841
7 16 Japan Tomoki Nojiri
Team Mugen 28 6.345
8 65 Japan Toshiki Oyu
TCS Nakajima Racing 28 6.788
9 3 Japan Kenta Yamashita
Kondo Racing 28 7.186
10 4 France Sacha Fenestraz
Kondo Racing 28 7.954
11 51 France Charles Milesi
Buzz Racing with B-Max 28 9.715
12 14 Japan Kazuya Oshima
ROOKIE Racing 28 9.997
13 12 Colombia Tatiana Calderon
ThreeBond Drago CORSE 28 12.211
14 39 Japan Sho Tsuboi
JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING 24 4 Laps
15 15 Japan Ukyo Sasahara
Team Mugen 23 5 Laps
16 20 Japan Ryo Hirakawa
ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL 23 5 Laps
17 50 Japan Nobuharu Matsushita
Buzz Racing with B-Max 17 11 Laps
18 6 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 10 18 Laps
19 19 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi
ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL 0
20 64 Japan Tadasuke Makino
TCS Nakajima Racing 0

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