Nakajima takes victory in second Formula Nippon race of the season05/06/2011
Autopolis International Racing Course, Oita Pref, Japan
2011 Formula Nippon Round 2
Round two of the Japanese championship Formula Nippon was held at the Autopolis International Racing Course in Oita last weekend (on 5 June). More than 13,000 spectators watched the race on Sunday, as Kazuki Nakajima lined up to start from 13th on the grid. Nakajima anticipated the track would dry and made a pit stop straight after the first lap to change his wet tyres for slicks, this proving to be a successful tactic. Nakajima jumped up to second position, then leading with just 12 laps to go. He managed his tyres well to win. Kazuya Oshima finished in second place and Koudai Tsukakoshi was third.
Qualifying
Tsukakoshi set the pace during the free practice session on Saturday. He also set the fastest time in every session of the knock out qualifying system. He was almost 0.5 seconds faster than his closest competitors in the Q3 session. Oshima qualified second and Takashi Kogure took the third grid position.
Race
It was raining during the morning on Sunday, although the weather improved towards the start of the race. All cars started on the wet specification tyre and Oshima and Nakajima went to pit at the end of first lap to change to slicks. They were in first and second place after all cars had pitted to change tyres, with Nakajima overtaking the leader on lap 42 at the first corner, which enabled him to claim victory.
Winning driver
Kazuki Nakajima: “It was a disappointing qualifying again but our race strategy with no fuel pit stop was completely right. The fuel consumption of the Toyota engine was good. I was grateful for the consistent performance of Bridgestone’s tyres which provided me with good grip from the second lap to the finish.”
Bridgestone senior technical advisor: Yasuo Teranishi
“That was an excellent job. We are not able to express Nakajima’s victory using any other words. Congratulations to Kazuki Nakajima on his first win since coming back to Japanese racing. It was the team’s strategy, his driving, and his impressive tyre management that resulted in victory. Nakajima’s performance here demonstrates the skills of the former Formula One driver.”
