(May 18, 1997)
Race Report
Super Sprint Mine!
Mine Circuit, Japan -RIJ- Spanish young driver Pedro de la Rosa in Lola T97 Mugen won the second round of All Japan Formula Nippon Championship at Central Park Mine Circuit in Yamaguchi Pref., Japan Sunday. This is his second victory in 1997 Formula Nippon and led championship by total 20 points.
De la Rosa started from second position at re-start without pole winner Toranosuke Takagi who couldn't start after accident. De la Rosa led from start until 55th lap of total 62 lap race when big incident was happen at second corner by Japanese veteran Masahiko Kageyama and young Argentina Esteban Tuero. Both drivers escaped by themselves. Safety car came out on Lap 66 and de la Rosa stayed at top, followed by Argentina Norbert Fontana, Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Masami Kageyama, Takuya Kurosawa and Akira Iida.
Safety car came in after Lap 61, only one lap to go! Fontana passed de la Rosa at first corner and got away until checkered flag, followed by de la Rosa. Mitsusada was passed by Kurosawa, Iida, Toshio Suzuki, Juichi Wakisaka, 21 years old Briton Ralf Firman on final lap and lost several positions.
Fontana waved his both arms to 44,000 racing fans and enjoyed champagne shower on podium. But he lost his victory after two hours meeting of race stewards because Team Nova, de la Rosa's team, appealed the passing of Fontana under yellow flags while safety car was running. Steward decreased one lap from Fontana's result and de la Rosa's second win was decided at control tower when all fans left circuit.
Four fans injured
Four spactators were injured after start of All Japan Formula Nippon Championship series round-2 at Mine Circuit Sunday. Pole sitter Toranosuke Takagi stalled his engine and Masahiko Kondo, Japanese popular singer and driver, crashed into left rear tire of Takagi's Reynard 97D Mugen. Kondo's Reynard 97D Mugen's right front tire flew over 3 meter high catch net and hit four fans in grand stand. A 28 years old male fan broke a leg and transported to hospital, but other three women's were released from medical center.
Race was red flagged and started again. Spanish Pedro de la Rosa won again and led championship.
MINE -RIJ- Here are the Results of All Japan Formula Nippon
Round-2 at Mine Circuit, Japan.
P No. Driver------------- Car----------------Lap-Time-------Ave.(kph)-
1 9 Pedro de la Rosa (E) Lola T97/Mugen 62 1:21'52.463 147.165
2 19 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Lola T96/Mugen 62 1:21'58.012 146.998
3 10 Akira Iida (J) Lola R97/Mugen 62 1:21'58.016 146.998
4 18 Ralf Firman (GB) Reynard 97D/Mugen 62 1:21'59.588 146.951
5 33 Toshio Suzuki (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 62 1:21'59.927 146.941
6 8 Juichi Wakisaka (J) Dome F104R/Mugen 62 1:22'00.281 146.931
7 11 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T96/Mugen 62 1:22'03.344 146.839
8 1 Norberto Fontana (RA) Reynard 97D/Mugen 61 1Lap
9 27 Masami Kageyama (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 61 1Lap
10 3 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 61 1Lap
11 63 D.R.B.Malagamuwa (SRI) Reynard 96D/Mugen 58 4Laps
12 37 Masao Yamada (J) Lola T94/Mugen 57 5Laps
13 35 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 96D/Mugen 56 6Laps
------------[ DNC: ]------------------------------------------------
2 Esteban Tuero (RA) Reynard 97D/Mugen 53 9Laps
20 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 53 9Laps
65 Koji Yamanishi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen 53 9Laps
28 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Reynard 95D/Mugen 30 32Laps
55 Katsutomo Kaneishi (J) Reynard 96D/Mugen 19 43Laps
5 Marc Goossens (B) Reynard 96D/Judd 16 46Laps
36 Tetsuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T95/Mugen 13 49Laps
6 Risto Virtanen (SF) Reynard 96D/Judd 9 53Laps
12 Sarah Kavanagh (IRL) Reynard 95D/Ford 6 56Laps
64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen Did Not Start
56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen Did Not Start
17 Masahiko Kondo (J) Reynard 97D/Mugen Did Not Start
RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,
POINT STANDING:
Round
P. Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Pedro de la Rosa (E) 10 10 20
2 Takuya Kurosawa (J) 6 6 12
3 Akira Iida (J) 1 4 5
4 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) 4 0 4
5 Satoshi Motoyama (J) 3 0 3
5 Ralf Firman (GB) 0 3 3
7 Toshio Suzuki (J) 0 2 2
7 Koji Yamanishi (J) 2 0 2
9 Juichi Wakisaka (J) 0 1 1