"I'm still sleepy due to jet lag from Monaco Grand Prix," said Takagi. He finished 11th position in Porsche Cup Race at Montecarlo to learn European Grand Prix cources for next year's Formula One Grand Prix. "My car's feeling is good. I'll be able to win if I won't do mistake as like as Round-1 at Suzuka."
Young Spanish Rosa was third in Qualifying Session, but he got second grid from Japanese Hidetoshi Mitsusada.
"It is important to get front row at Mine. So I'm very pleased to get second grid. Race will be long 62 laps race. I couldn't finish twice last year. So I hope to pass Takagi on first lap and win," said young Spanish.
Masami Kageyama will start from fourth grid, followed by Argentina Norberto Fontana and Takuya Kurosawa. Irish woman driver Sarah Kavanagh could not qualify because of lack of time, but she was allowed to start the race.
Mine Circuit is located in mountain area of Yamaguchi Pref., the most west part of Japan's main island. Its up-down and twisty layout is similar to European circuits and European drivers had been strong since F2, F3000 period. Ralf Schumacher won twice on this circuit and got first Formula Nippon Champion.
Starting Grids for Formula Nippon Rd.2 MINE:
MINE -RIJ- Here are the Starting Grids for All Japan Formula Nippon Round-2 at Mine Circuit, Japan. Starting Grid: P No. Driver------------- Car--------------BestLapT/Pos.-kph/Beh.SS Time- 1 64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'12.614/1 160.580 1'12.869 2 9 Pedro de la Rosa (E) Lola T97/Mugen 1'12.984/3 0.039 1'13.413 3 11 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T96/Mugen 1'12.653/2 0.370 1'13.655 4 27 Masami Kageyama (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'13.060/4 0.446 1'13.920 5 1 Norberto Fontana (RA) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'13.064/5 0.450 1'14.175 6 19 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Lola T96/Mugen 1'13.137/6 0.523 1'14.691 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 10 Akira Iida (J) Lola R97/Mugen 1'13.341 0.727 8 5 Marc Goossens (B) Reynard 96D/Judd 1'13.395 0.781 9 2 Esteban Tuero (RA) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'13.523 0.909 10 18 Ralf Firman (GB) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'13.527 0.913 11 28 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Reynard 95D/Mugen 1'13.631 1.017 12 65 Koji Yamanishi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'13.637 1.023 13 35 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'13.743 1.129 14 20 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'13.930 1.316 15 55 Katsutomo Kaneishi (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'13.939 1.325 16 8 Juichi Wakisaka (J) Dome F104R/Mugen 1'14.448 1.834 17 3 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'14.681 2.067 18 6 Risto Virtanen (SF) Reynard 96D/Judd 1'14.849 2.235 19 56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'14.862 2.248 20 33 Toshio Suzuki (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'15.242 2.628 21 17 Masahiko Kondo (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 1'15.789 3.175 22 36 Tetsuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T95/Mugen 1'16.418 3.804 23 63 D.R.B.Malagamuwa (SRI) Reynard 96D/Mugen 1'18.516 5.902 24 37 Masao Yamada (J) Lola T94/Mugen 1'19.280 6.666 ---------------------- DNQ (110%:1'20.025)-------------------------------- 25 12 Sarah Kavanagh (IRL) Reynard 95D/Ford 1'21.487 8.873 Note: Top 6 grids were decided after the Special Stage, total 5 laps (1 warm-up lap, 3 timed laps and 1 cool-down lap) single car qualifying session by top 6 qualifiers. No.12, Sarak Kavanagh was allowed to start the race from tail of grid. Track Length: 3.239 km Weather: unknown (cloudy?), Course: unknown (dry?)