Home Formula 4 Tsuboi gets one over on Makino at Fuji

Tsuboi gets one over on Makino at Fuji

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
Photo: FIA F4 Japanese Championship

Photo: FIA F4 Japanese Championship

After twice finishing second to Tadasuke Makino at Okayama, Sho Tsuboi rebounded with a win of his own in the first Japanese F4 race at Fuji.

Such an outcome seemed unlikely when Tsuboi slipped to fifth at the start, yet he fought through the field to get himself into a position to win the race.

Makino started from pole but let Yuichi Mikasa through into the lead, only to retake first a lap later.

Mikasa then dropped down to fifth and was subsequently passed by Tsuboi, before eventually retiring from the race.

Tsuboi, meanwhile, passed both Hiroki Ohtsu and Shinnosuke Yamada before stealing the lead from Makino.

Despite Makino’s best efforts, Tsuboi narrowly held on to claim his first win, while Yamada completed the podium, finishing within the same second.

Ohtsu took fourth ahead of Shintaro Kawabata and Yuya Hiraki. Tsubasa Mekaru beat Yuki Nemoto to seventh, while newcomers Taku Bamba and Kazuto Kotaka rounded out the top ten.

Race results
Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Shou Tsuboi TOM’S Spirit 15 laps in 26:43.002
2 Tadasuke Makino RN-S +0.090
3 Shinnosuke Yamada B-MAX Racing +0.335
4 Hiroki Ohtsu Honda FDP +7.451
5 Shintaro Kawabata Succeed Sports +8.530
6 Yuya Hiraki RS Fine +11.346
7 Tsubasa Mekaru Media Do Kageyama +12.831
8 Yuki Nemoto KCMG +13.050
9 Taku Bamba Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave +18.436
10 Kazuto Kotaka TOM’S Spirit +18.722
11 Yuta Kamimura Honda FDP +19.374
12 Nicolas Costa VSR Lamborghini +19.627
13 Mizuki Ishizaka Honda FDP +20.023
14 Junpei Kato ma with SARD +22.070
15 Ryo Yamada Garage Chabatake +22.142
16 James Munro KCMG +22.964
17 Shunsuke Kouno RS Fine +23.156
18 Yuki Shiraishi Team A-One +23.307
19 Riku Hashimoto Skill Speed +23.845
20 View Yamauchi Buzz International +23.985
21 Katsuhide Kaneishi Honda FDP +28.256
22 Tsubasa Amano Media Do Kageyama +28.277
23 Yuya Tezuka Leprix Sport +33.347
24 Satoshi Kosugi NRS +34.705
25 Doyun Hwang ZAP Speed +36.836
26 Katsuaki Kubota Hanashima Racing +37.254
27 Kotoka Goibuchi ma with SARD +38.884
28 Takashi Hata Field Motorsport +46.266
29 ?Motor Mouse? Challenge Racing +54.271
30 ?Flying Rat? Challenge Racing +57.476
31 Tomoki Takahashi Field Motorsport +1:14.354
32 Yugo Tanabe S2R +1:39.435
33 Musashi Nakanishi NRS +2 laps
Not classified
Yuichi Mikasa B-MAX Racing +6 laps
Takuro Shinohara VSR Lamborghini +8 laps
Noa Satomi Le Beausset Motorsports +8 laps
Miku Ikejima Sutekina Racing Team +15 laps
DNS Yoshiaki Katayama ma with SARD