SUZUKA -RIJ- Japanese young driver Toranosuke Takagi won the fifth round of All Japan Championship, Formula Nippon at Suzuka Circuit on Sunday. Takagi started from pole position and led full 35 laps with Reynard 96D Mugen, followed by his team mate Takuya Kurosawa.
Before start, light rain had come and all teams set rain tires. But rain was not heavy and many teams changed tires and set-ups for dry condition. Takagi and Kurosawa chose dry tires and full dry settings (low height,) but Naoki Hattori on 2nd grid and his team mate Ralf Schumacher (8th grid) chose dry tire and middle-height setting for semi-wet condition. Those differences of set-ups decided the race after start.
At start, Takagi missed shift-up and passed by Hattori and veteran Kazuyoshi Hoshino (from 4th grid,) but Takagi passed them and got lead until exit of First Corner. Then Takagi got away until checkered flag.
Takuya Kurosawa passed Hoshino at entrance of First Corner and got 3rd position on 4th lap. Hoshino was passed by Ralf Schumacher on 5th lap and Hoshino's team mate Toshio Suzuki on 7th lap. Hoshino chose larger and heavier front wing for wet condition, but rain stopped on early stage in race.
Kurosawa passed Hattori on 26th lap and got 2nd at checker flag, followed by Hattori and Schumacher.
All Japan Championship, Formula Nippon Rd.5, at Suzuka Circuit:
July 7, 1996. Weather: Overcast, Course: Semi-Wet/Dry
Po No Driver Car Engine Lap Time Ave./Behind
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1 64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 35 1:03'28.642 193.99Km/h
2 65 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 35 1:03'39.375 10.733
3 24 Naoki Hattori (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 35 1:03'43.792 15.150
4 25 Ralf Schumacher (D) Reynard 96D Mugen 35 1:03'44.422 15.780
5 19 Kazuyoshi Hoshino (J) Lola T96/52 Mugen 35 1:03'45.105 16.463
6 8 Shinji Nakano (J) Dome F104i Mugen 35 1:03'50.961 22.319
7 55 Katsutomo Kaneiishi(J) Reynard 95D Mugen 35 1:04'03.600 34.958
8 10 Norberto Fontana (RA) Lola T95/51 Mugen 35 1:04'04.310 35.668
9 1 Toshio Suzuki (J) Lola T96/94 Mugen 35 1:04'24.852 56.210
10 6 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T94/50 Judd 35 1:04'38.061 1'09.419
11 21 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 95D Mugen 35 1:04'38.991 1'10.349
12 56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 95D Mugen 35 1:04'42.403 1'13.761
13 12 Yukihiro Hane (J) Lola T94/50 Mugen 34 1:03'57.104 1 Lap
14 5 Marco Apicella (I) Reynard 95D Judd 34 1:04'24.133 1 Lap
15 17 Taichiro Onishi (J) Lola T94/50 Mugen 34 1:04'47.470 1 Lap
16 27 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 95D Mugen 34 1:04'47.572 1 Lap
17 7 Masami Kageyama (J) Lola T95/50 Mugen 34 1:05'19.217 1 Lap
18 30 Eiichi Tajima (J) Lola T94 Mugen 33 1:03'36.323 2 Laps
19 72 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Lola T93 DFV 33 1:04'18.434 2 Laps
20 31 Hideki Okada (J) Lola T95 Mugen 31 57'14.795 4 Laps
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28 Masahiko Kondo (J) Reynard 94D Mugen 29 56'49.444 6 Laps
9 Pedoro De La Rosa (E) Lola T96/51 Mugen 27 49'20.161 8 Laps
73 Tesuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T93 DFV 11 25'34.806 24 Laps
20 Andrew G.Scott (GB) Reynard 96D Mugen 9 19'13.320 26 Laps
2 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Dome104i Mugen 6 11'30.276 29 Laps
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Championship Standing: (10-6-4-3-2-1)
1, Ralf Schumacher, 27 (4-10-0-10-3)
2, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, 19 (10-0-4-3-2)
3, Norberto Fontana, 16 (0-6-10-0-0)
4, Toranosuke Takagi, 14 (0-4-0-0-10)
5, Naoki Hattori, 14 (0-0-6-4-4)
6, Masami Kageyama, 8 (0-2-0-6-0)
7, Shinji Nakano, 7 (6-0-0-0-1)
8, Takuya Kurosawa, 6 (0-0-0-0-6)
9, Katsutomo Kaneishi, 6 (1-0-3-2-0)
10, Michael Krumm, 4 (3-1-0-0-0)
11, Pedro De La Rosa, 4 (2-0-1-1-0)
12, Marco Apicella, 3 (0-3-0-0-0)
13, Satoshi Motoyama, 2 (0-0-2-0-0)
Data: Suzuka Circuit via NIFTY-Serve Auto Racing Forum.
RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,