Lotterer wins in Motegi Round Six19/08/2009

Round 6 of the Formula Nippon Championship took place at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi on Saturday 8th August. The No.32 car of Takashi Kogure (NAKAJIMA RACING) snatched pole position on Saturday, though it was the superb drive of No.36 Andre Lotterer (PETRONAS TOM'S), moving from fifth on the grid to claim his first victory since August 2007, who stole the limelight.   

Motegi Qualifying

Both Nakajima Racing machines set a good pace during Friday’s qualifying. Team mates Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval both battled hard for pole position, with Kogure setting the fastest time in session 3.  Kogure was last on pole position in round 3, also at Motegi.    

Motegi Race Day 

 
Race day did not run so smoothly for Kogure as he was given a drive-through penalty for moving before the red starting lights. The penalty pushed Kogure to the back of the field, leaving Lotterer and Duval battling at the front of the grid with only 0.4 seconds separating the two. Duval pushed hard for the closing laps though not enough to stop Lotterer from crossing the finishing line first, giving the German driver his first win since 2007. Duval finished second, maintaining his championship lead and Benoit Treluyer (Lawson Team Impul) finished third.    

Andre Lotterer, Petronas Tom’s driver and race winner, said:
“I made a very good start and had the luck to win. There was set up issues with the car in qualifying so I struggled to set a good time but the race was much better and the tyres performed well. I was able to hold off Loic for the win.”  

Yasuo Teranishi, Bridgestone tire senior technical adviser, said:
“We were a little worried that there would be high temperatures at the circuit, but it was lower than expected and therefore it was not too severe for the tyres. We provided a good performance from start to finish to support the race. ”