Photo: FIA F4 Japanese Championship
Tadasuke Makino became the first winner in FIA F4 Japanese Championship’s history, triumphing at Okayama.
Makino was sixth in the mixed conditions qualifying session, but was up to the front early in the race and eventually beat poleman Shou Tsuboi to victory.
The first period of green flag race running in Japanese F4’s history was over just after a lap when a mid-pack crash took out several drivers, including KCMG’s James Munro, who couldn’t avoid the wreckage.
The clean-up took several laps and Makino, having made it up to second before the safety car, then came close to assuming the lead after the restart, albeit Tsuboi held on.
But, after several laps of fighting, with Shinnosuke Yamada and Shintaro Kawabata also getting involved, Makino finally pulled off the move for good and brought the car home to claim a historic win.
Tsuboi finished as runner-up, two seconds adrift, while Yamada and Kawabata collided, leaving the former out the race. Kawabata crossed the line in third, but was penalized post-race.
As such, Yuya Hiraki inherited the podium spot, right ahead of former Formula Abarth champion Nicolas Costa and Yuichi Mikasa.
Formula Challenge Japan veteran Tsubasa Mekaru took sixth, ahead of 2011 Asian Formula Renault runner-up Yuki Shiraishi.
Amidst mass penalties, Ryo Yamada, Hiroki Ohtsu and Shunsuke Kouno completed the top ten.
Race results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Tadasuke Makino | RN-S | 15 laps in 30:48.782 |
| 2 | Shou Tsuboi | TOM’S Spirit | +2.188 |
| 3 | Yuya Hiraki | RS Fine | +7.106 |
| 4 | Nicolas Costa | VSR Lamborghini | +7.591 |
| 5 | Yuichi Mikasa | B-MAX Racing | +8.016 |
| 6 | Tsubasa Mekaru | Media Do Kageyama | +11.481 |
| 7 | Yuki Shiraishi | Team A-One | +13.155 |
| 8 | Ryo Yamada | Garage Chabatake | +14.182 |
| 9 | Hiroki Ohtsu | Honda FDP | +21.828 |
| 10 | Shunsuke Kouno | RS Fine | +22.888 |
| 11 | Riku Hashimoto | Skill Speed | +24.350 |
| 12 | Masanori Yonekura | Yonekura | +27.601 |
| 13 | Junpei Kato | ma with SARD | +29.554 |
| 14 | Katsuaki Kubota | Hanashima Racing | +31.819 |
| 15 | Shintaro Kawabata | Succeed Sports | +51.089* |
| 16 | Yugo Tabe | N Speed / S2R | +54.219 |
| 17 | Takuro Shinohara | VSR Lamborghini | +1:06.705** |
| 18 | Takahiro Ban | Sutekina Racing Team | +1:07.496* |
| 19 | Katsuhide Kaneishi | Honda FDP | +1:08.790** |
| 20 | Noa Satomi | Le Beausset Motorsports | +1:10.427** |
| 21 | Yoshiaki Katayama | ma with SARD | +1:11.057** |
| 22 | Yuya Tezuka | Field Motorsport | +1:21.437** |
| Not classified | |||
| Shinnosuke Yamada | B-MAX Racing | +4 laps | |
| Takashi Hata | Field Motorsport | +7 laps | |
| James Munro | KCMG | +10 laps | |
| Yuta Kamimura | Honda FDP | +14 laps | |
| Yuki Nemoto | KCMG | +14 laps | |
| DNS | Mizuki Ishizaka | Honda FDP | |
* 45-second penalty for on-track incidents
** 55-second penalty for overtaking under safety car