SUZUKA -RIJ- Japanese young "Tiger" Toranosuke Takagi got the first pole position for Sunday's new Japanese top formula series the All Japan Formula Nippon Championship Rd.1 at Suzuka Circuit. Takagi drove Reynard 96D Mugen and marked fastest time 1'44.450 at Qualifying Session, then he marked fastest time 1'45.245 again in Special Stage which decide Top 6 Grids by five laps single car qualifying. (Note: Tora-no-suke's "Tora" means "Tiger" and "Nippon" means "Japan" in Japanese.)
Second grid was taken by veteran Kazuyoshi Hoshino in Lola T96 Mugen, followed by young German and 1994 All Japan F3 Champion Michael Krumm in Reynard 95D Mugen.
Japanese young driver Shinji Nakano in Dome F104i Mugen will start from fourth grid, followed by Hoshino's team mate and 1995 All Japan F3000 Champion Toshio Suzuki in Lola T96 Mugen. Hidetoshi Mitsusada in Lola T94 Judd was sixth in Special Stage.
German Ralf Schumacher, 1995 Macau Grand Prix winner, 2nd in 1995 German F3 Championship and co-winner of 1996 All Japan GT Car Championship, will start from 10th grid, followed by 1995 All Japan F3 Champion Pedro De La Rosa from Spain and 1994 All Japan F3000 Champion Marco Apicella from Italy.
1995 German F3 Champion Norberto Fontana from Argentina will start from 16th grid and British veteran Andrew-Gilbert Scott will start from 21st grid.
1996 All Japan Championship, Formula Nippon, Rd.1, Suzuka. (April 27, 1996) Weather: Fine, Course: Dry Pos No Driver Car Engine Time km/h,behind ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 1'44.450 202.11km/h 2 8 Shinji Nakano (J) Dome F104i Mugen 1'45.303 0.853 3 1 Toshio Suzuki (J) Lola T96/94 Mugen 1'45.392 0.942 4 19 Kazuyoshi Hoshino (J) Lola T96/95 Mugen 1'45.442 0.992 5 21 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 95D Mugen 1'45.517 1.067 6 6 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T94/50 Judd 1'45.818 1.368 ----[Top 6 go to Special Stage]------------------------------------- 7 2 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Dome104i Mugen 1'45.881 1.431 8 27 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 95D Mugen 1'45.914 1.464 9 24 Naoki Hattori (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 1'45.921 1.471 10 25 Ralf Schumacher (D) Reynard 96D Mugen 1'45.928 1.478 11 9 Pedoro De La Rosa (E) Lola T96/51 Mugen 1'46.023 1.573 12 5 Marco Apicella (I) Reynard 95D Judd 1'46.076 1.626 13 55 Katsutomo Kaneiishi(J) Reynard 95D Mugen 1'46.259 1.809 14 7 Masami Kageyama (J) Lola T95/50 Mugen 1'46.378 1.928 15 56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 95D Mugen 1'46.448 1.998 16 10 Norberto Fontana (ARG) Lola T95/51 Mugen 1'46.599 2.149 17 31 Hideki Okada (J) Lola T95 Mugen 1'46.804 2.354 18 65 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 1'47.773 3.323 19 30 Eiichi Tajima (J) Lola T94 Mugen 1'47.923 3.473 20 28 Masahiko Kondo (J) Reynard 94D Mugen 1'48.427 3.977 21 20 Andrew-Gilbert Scott(GB)Reynard 96D Mugen 1'48.470 4.020 22 72 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Lola T93 DFV 1'48.613 4.163 23 17 Taichiro Onishi (J) Lola T94/50 Mugen 1'49.335 4.885 24 12 Yukihiro Hane (J) Lola T94/50 Mugen 1'50.227 5.777 25 73 Tesuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T93 DFV 1'54.017 9.567 ------[DNQ: 110% (1'55.553)]---------------------------------------- 26 15 Masao Yamada (J) Lola T93 Mugen 2'01.730 17.280 Top six drivers went to the Special Stage which decide final top six grids by single car qualifying. They ran total five laps each (one warm-up, three timed laps and one cool-down lap.)
Pos No Driver Car Engine Time km/h,behind
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 1'45.245 200.58km/h
2 19 Kazuyoshi Hoshino (J) Lola T96/95 Mugen 1'45.684 0.439
3 21 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 95D Mugen 1'46.210 0.965
4 8 Shinji Nakano (J) Dome F104i Mugen 1'46.259 1.014
5 1 Toshio Suzuki (J) Lola T96/94 Mugen 1'46.507 1.262
6 6 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T94/50 Judd 1'47.480 2.235
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Penalty: No.8, Fined 50,000 Yen because of pit-road's speed limit
violation.
Data: Suzuka Circuit via NIFTY-Serve Auto Racing Forum.
RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,