SUZUKA -RIJ- Toranosuke Takagi, official test driver for Formula One PIAA
Tyrrell team got Pole Position after he dominated all sessions on Saturday for
the first round of 1997 All Japan Formula Nippon Championship at Suzuka
Circuit. Takagi marked fastest times on morning Free Practice (1'45.187)
and Qualify Session (1'44.383,) then marked fastest time (1'44.498) again
in Special Stage session, total 5 laps single car qualifying session for Top
6 qualifiers. Takagi drove new Reynard 97D Mugen and marked his fastest time
in qualifying session after he once went thru gravel bed.
Takuya Kurosawa, last year's Takagi's team mate in PIAA Nakajima
Racing, lost the seat of Formula Nippon this year, but he suddenly replaced
veteran Kazuyoshi Hoshino after Hoshino announced his retirement from Formula
Nippon on Thursday. Kurosawa drove Hoshino Racing's Lola T96/50 Mugen and
marked 1'44.537, followed by Spanish Pedro de la Rosa in Lola T97/51 Mugen.
Shionogi Team Nova driver de la Rosa marked 1'44.694.
Masami Kageyama, younger brother of Masahiko Kageyama, drove Navi
Connection Racing Team's Reynard 96D Mugen and set 1'45.061, followed by
Hidetoshi Mitsusada's Lola T96/52 Mugen in Cosmo Team Cerumo. His time was
1'45.323, just 0.21 seconds faster than another Hoshino Racing's driver
Masahiko Kageyama's Reynard 96D Mugen.
Argentina duo Norberto Fontana and Esteban Tuero will start from
11th and 12th grids. Both drivers drove Reynard 96D Mugen for 1996 Formula
Nippon Champion team the Team Le Mans. Current F1 Jordan Grand Prix driver
Ralf Schumacher and Team Kool's Indy Lights driver Naoki Hattori were 1-2
in 1996 Championship with Team Le Mans.
Former International F3000 driver Belgian Marc Goossens will start
from 13th grid in Team 5 Zigen's Reynard 96D Mugen, followed by another
ex-Internatioal F3000 driver Akira Iida of Japan. Iida drove Lola T97/51 Mugen.
1996 British F3 Champion Ralf Firman marked 17th fastest time with
Team TMS's Reynard 97D Mugen. Firman's team mate Masahiko Kondo, Japanese
popular singer/actor, was faster than Firman and will start from 16th grid.
Finlander Risto Virtanen, competed in All Japan F3 in 1996, set 19th
fastet time 1'52.948, followed by first Sri Lanka's top Formula driver
Dilantha Ranjula Bandara Malagamuwa will start from 20th grid. He graduated
Japanese F3 and drives Reynard 96D Mugen this year in Japan. Sri Lanka
government supports his team Sri Lanka with Team Leyjun.
Sarah Kavanagh, first woman driver in Japanese top Formula racing
history (F2000, F2, F3000 and Formula Nippon,) couldn't qualify the 110%
time, but she was allowed to start Sunday's race with other non-qualifiers.
Kavanagh will compete in the Boss Formula series in UK and Ireland, too.
Starting Grids for Formula Nippon Rd.1 SUZUKA:
SUZUKA -RIJ- Here are the Starting Grids for All Japan Formula Nippon Round-1 at Suzuka Circuit, Japan. Starting Grid: P No. Driver------------- Car------------------- BestLapT-kph/Beh.SS Time- 1 64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'44.383 202.240 1'44.498 2 19 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Lola T96/Mugen 1'44.537 0.154 1'44.685 3 9 Pedro de la Rosa (E) Lola T97/Mugen 1'44.694 0.311 1'44.784 4 27 Masami Kageyama (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'45.061 0.678 1'45.673 5 11 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T96/Mugen 1'45.323 0.940 1'45.710 6 20 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'45.344 0.961 1'46.060 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 94D/Mugen 1'45.350 0.967 8 33 Toshio Suzuki (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'45.501 1.118 9 65 Koji Yamanishi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'45.983 1.600 10 28 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Reynard 95D/Mugen 1'45.994 1.611 11 1 Norberto Fontana (RA) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'46.017 1.634 12 2 Esteban Tuero (RA) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'46.875 2.492 13 5 Marc Goossens (B) Reynard 96D/Judd 1'47.099 2.716 14 10 Akira Iida (J) Lola R97/Mugen 1'47.157 2.774 15 3 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'47.235 2.852 16 17 Masahiko Kondo (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'49.313 4.930 17 18 Ralf Firman (GB) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'49.845 5.462 18 8 Juichi Wakisaka (J) Dome F104R/Mugen 1'51.146 6.763 19 6 Risto Virtanen (SF) Reynard 96D/Judd 1'52.948 8.565 20 63 D.R.B.Malagamuwa (SRI) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'53.845 9.462 --------------------- DNQ (110%:1'54.992)------------------------ 37 Masao Yamada (J) Lola T94/Mugen 1'58.536 14.153 12 Sarah Kavanagh (IRL) Reynard 95D/Ford AC 1'58.725 14.342 35 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 96D/Mugen 2'00.116 15.733 21 Tetsuya Tanaka (J) Lola T96/Mugen 2'01.913 17.530 36 Tetsuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T95/Mugen 2'09.046 24.663 55 Katsutomo Kaneishi (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen DNS ** Note(1): Top 6 grids were decided after the Special Stage, 5 laps (3 timed-laps) single car qualifying session by top 6 qualifiers. ** Note(2): DNQ drivers were allowed to start the race. Track Length: 5.864km Weather: Fine, Course: Dry