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F-Nippon / Super GT News
F.Nippon - Matsuda Claims Victory No.3
28/05/2008
The third round of the Japanese Formula Nippon championship took place at the Twin Ring Motegi last Sunday with 14,000 spectators turning up to watch on race day.
Tsugio Matsuda, in the Kazuyoshi Hoshino run car, took a pole to lights victory. It was his third consecutive victory from pole of the season, drawing even with Toranosuke Takagi who also achieved the same feat in 2000.
Despite weather forecasts to the contrary, qualifying took place in dry conditions with Matsuda setting the pace ahead of Motegi master Takashi Kogure who was second and Andre Lotterer third. Race day morning was a different story though with rain providing the drivers with challenging wet conditions in the morning free practice before the weather cleared, enabling a dry race.
Making a good start from the grid, Matsuda led from the off, his fast pace soon opening up a gap to the chasing pack. Kogure, who was running in second place, collided with Ronnie Quintarelli and retired, leaving Lotterer to inherit the runner up spot ahead of Loic Duval in third place.
Race Winner Tsugio Matsuda said: “I made good start and concentrated on pushing all the time. The car and tactics were perfect and our tyre performance fantastic. Just as Mr Takagi did in 2000, I have now recorded three consecutive wins from pole position and I look forward to trying to extend it further at the next round!”
Yasuo Teranishi, Bridgestone Motorsport senior technical adviser said: “Bridgestone provided rain and slick tyres for the morning free practice session and the race. We were proud of the very consistent performance in both conditions. Matsuda drove perfectly to win and achieve his record and we are looking forward to helping him extend it.”
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