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.

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:

PosNo.DriverTeam TimeGap
15Nirei FukuzumiDandelion1’35.190 
21Naoki YamamotoDandelion1’35.2600.070
315Jüri VipsMugen1’35.3420.082
4064Toshiki OyuNakajima1’35.4410.099
516Tomoki NojiriMugen1’35.4780.037
6012Nobuharu MatsushitaDrago Corse1’35.8710.393
73Kenta YamashitaKondo Racing1’35.9660.095
850Lucas AuerB-Max with Motopark1’36.0620.096
938Hiroaki IshiuraInging1’36.5160.454
10018Yuji KunimotoTeam KCMG1’36.5520.036
1119Yuhi SekiguchiImpul1’36.5780.026
1251Charles MilesiB-Max with Motopark1’36.7550.177
1339Sho TsuboiInging1’36.8740.119
1420Ryo HirakawaImpul1’36.9060.032
1537Nick CassidyTOM’S1’37.2090.303
1665Tadasuke MakinoNakajima Racing1’37.2290.020
174Sacha FenestrazKondo1’37.2950.066
1836Ritomo MiyataTOM’S1’37.5600.265
198Yoshiaki KatayamaLeMans1’39.1801.620

Afternoon results:

PosNo.DriverTeamTime
165Tadasuke MakinoNakajima1’36.482
236Ritomo MiyataTOM’S1’36.647
35Nirei FukuzumiDandelion1’36.903
41Naoki YamamotoDandelion1’36.905
515Juri VipsMugen1’37.130
619Yuhi SekiguchiImpul1’37.247
74Sacha FenestrazKondo1’37.843
818Kamui KobayashiKCMG1’37.849
916Tomoki NojiriMugen1’37.926
1064Hiroki OtsuNakajima1’38.141
1120Ryo HirakawaImpul1’38.211
123Kenta YamashitaKondo1’39.274
1337Nick CassidyTOM’S1’39.434
1438Hiroaki IshiuraInging1’39.488
1539Sho TsuboiInging1’39.512
1617Koudai TsukakoshiREAL RACING1’39.895
178Yoshiaki KatayamaTeam LeMans1’40.673
1812Charles MilesiDrago Corse1’52.223

 

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