SUZUKA -RIJ- Spanish young driver Pedro de la Rosa got his first victory in Formula Nippon with new Lola T97/51 Mugen by 1 hour 03 minutes 21.391 seconds for total 35 lap race on 5.864 km length Suzuka International Circuit on Sunday. He started from third grid and climbed to second on lap 12 after second runner Toranosuke Takagi spun out at entrance of S-Curve, then chased leader Takuya Kurosawa. On Lap 18, Spanish driver passed Kurosawa from out side of First Corner and got away until checkered flag. "I'm very happy to my first win in Formula Nippon," said former All Japan F3 Champion on podium. "I got good start, but I couldn't follow top two drivers (Kurosawa and Takagi.) But car was good and tires' grip were great. So finally I could pass Kurosawa. I'm very very happy!" Takuya Kurosawa, repalaced veteran Kazuyoshi Hoshino, stood on second podium. He drove Lola T96/52 Mugen, followed by Hidetoshi Mitsusada in same car. All Formula Nippon cars wore Bridgestone tires this year.
Result of Formula Nippon Rd.1 SUZUKA:
SUZUKA -RIJ- Here are Results of All Japan Formula NipponRound-1 at
Suzuka Circuit, Japan.
P No. Driver------------- Car------------------Lap-Time-------Ave/Behin.
1 9 Pedro de la Rosa (E) Lola T97/Mugen 35 1:03'21.391 194.36Km
2 19 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Lola T96/Mugen 35 1:03'27.366 5.975
3 11 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T96/Mugen 35 1:03'30.837 9.446
4 56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 94D/Mugen 35 1:03'44.660 23.269
5 65 Koji Yamanishi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 35 1:03'53.756 32.365
6 10 Akira Iida (J) Lola R97/Mugen 35 1:03'54.286 32.895
7 55 Katsutomo Kaneishi (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 35 1:03'54.527 33.136
8 33 Toshio Suzuki (J) REynard 96D/Mugen 35 1:04'12.533 51.142
9 1 Norberto Fontana (RA) Reynard 96D/Mugen 35 1:04'39.442 1'18.051
10 28 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Reynard 95D/Mugen 35 1:04'40.559 1'19.168
11 27 Masami Kageyama (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 35 1:04'46.932 1'25.541
12 8 Juichi Wakisaka (J) Dome F104R/Mugen 34 1:04'15.166 1 Lap
13 36 Tetsuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T95/Mugen 33 1:04'07.163 2 Laps
14 12 Sarah Kavanagh (IRL) Reynard 95D/Ford AC 32 1:05'00.624 3 Laps
15 17 Masahiko Kondo (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 31 1:03'34.359 4 Laps
------------[ DNC: 70%]-------------------------------------------------
6 Risto Virtanen (SF) Reynard 96D/Judd 26 48'55.937 9 Laps
2 Esteban Tuero (RA) Reynard 96D/Mugen 24 44'34.745 11 Laps
63 D.R.B.Malagamuwa (SRI) Reynard 96D/Mugen 23 46'59.757 12 Laps
20 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 22 45'21.348 13 Laps
21 Tetsuya Tanaka (J) Lola T96/Mugen 16 30'05.735 19 Laps
18 Ralf Firman (GB) Reynard 97D/Mugen 14 26'34.988 21 Laps
35 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 96D/Mugen 13 24'14.037 22 Laps
64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 11 20'02.868 24 Laps
5 Marc Goossens (B) Reynard 96D/Judd 11 20'49.651 24 Laps
37 Masao Yamada (J) Lola T94/Mugen 6 12'26.704 29 Laps
3 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 4 7'36.076 31 Laps
Fastest Lap: #55 Katsutomo Kaneishi, 1'46.738 On Lap 30/35, 197.77Km/h.
Penalty: #27 Masami Kageyama, 10 second pit stop (jump-start.)
#20 Masahiko Kageyama, 10 second pit stop (pit lane speed limit.)
Track Length: 5.864 km
Data: Suzuka Circuit via NIFTY-Serve Auto Racing Forum
RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,