FIA F4 Japan: Horachi and Shimizu take maiden wins at Fuji
Fuji Speedway hosted the third round of the 2024 Japanese Formula 4 season and the racing didn't disappoint, with the Oyama track seeing many on-track battles in both races along with a new driver on top of the standings once both races were complete.
Horachi becomes new points leader heading into Suzuka
Horachi held off Tosei Moriyama to take his first F4 win on Saturday |Credit: B-Max Racing Team
Honda-backed driver Ryota Horachi scored both pole positions, taking a win in race one and finishing second in race two on his way to take the points lead from teammate and fellow Honda junior, Yuto Nomura.
Horachi leads by four points over Nomura and Hironobu Shimizu heading into the second Suzuka round but has taken a podium in every race he started along with four fastest laps in the five races he started.
Nomura had a good start to the weekend, taking third place in the first race, but his fortunes took a turn in the second race, as after a safety car restart he found himself being spun by Tokiya Suzuki at the Dunlop Corner, but managed to bounce back and take ninth place at the end of the race, later being promoted to eighth after Suzuki was penalized for the aforementioned incident.
Shimizu achieves maiden Japanese F4 win as Drago Corse jumps to second in the teams' championship
Hironobu Shimizu achieved his long-awaited maiden win in race two ahead of Ryota Horachi and Kento Omiya, elevating him to third in the standings, tied with Yuto Nomura.
Shimizu had been showing strong pace throughout every session and found himself battling for podium positions in both races, but his race two efforts proved to be more successful as, after many tries, he passed Yuto Nomura for the lead and held off Horachi in the closing stages to take a hard-fought win.
His teammate, Itsuki Sato, scored two equally hard-fought top tens, battling and beating TGR-DC drivers Yuki Sano and Kazuhisa Urabe in race one and keeping himself out of trouble in race two to take a valuable result home.
Moriyama and Shimbara show impressive pace
Success for the non-aligned drivers didn't stop there as HELM Motorsports' Tosei Moriyama and Kageyama Racing's Kotaro Shimbara showed impressive pace throughout both races, with Moriyama taking second place in race one and almost bringing another podium home in race two before spinning on the last lap while battling with Ryota Horachi, sending him out of the points.
Shimbara's weekend was more quiet, finding himself at the lower end of the top ten in race one, but bouncing back in race two to take fourth place home, adding to his tally of four top five finishes this season, increasing the gap to Yuki Sano in the standings.
TGR-DC Racing School still yet to repeat opening round success
As Honda's drivers lead the championship, Toyota's juniors have only one podium between them, being Yuki Sano's win in the opening race of the season, but the second visit to Fuji Speedway wasn't so kind to them.
Across the two races, Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki proved to be the fastest of the four.
Umegaki achieved sixth and fifth in the two races, as Suzuki took fifth in race one, with the results of both drivers maintaining the team in fourth place in the standings.
Sano, meanwhile, had a trickier weekend, finding himself in a 3-way battle for most of race one, ending up in tenth once the flag fell and keeping himself clean throughout race two to take seventh position home.
Urabe was the only TGR-DC driver to not score points throughout the weekend, not finishing either race following incidents with other drivers, most notably in race two where he was spun out by Rio Shimono, an incident that took out both drivers and brought out the safety car.
"Kentaro" becomes new points leader in the Independent's Class
In the class composed of gentleman drivers, Yutaka Toriba held off Kentaro to win race one as the latter won race two, remaining unchallenged from lights to flag.
"Kentaro" takes the points lead away from "Dragon", who struggled more than usual, only achieving a best result of fourth in race two, as teammate Nobuhiro Imada scored a top five and a podium, inching closer to the championship battle.
In the team's championship, Field Motorsports leads B-Max Racing Team by one point following a flawless performance from "Kentaro".
The championship will head to its second Suzuka round at the end of the month, racing on the 31st of August and the 1st of September.
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