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Suzuka Super Formula: Lawson keeps title hopes alive with pole

Team Mugen driver Lawson set a best lap of 1m36.442s to take the top spot in qualifying for the first time this year, beating nearest rival Kakunoshin Ota by a little under two tenths of a second.

The three bonus points mean that Lawson closes to within 12 points of championship leader Ritomo Miyata, who failed to score by qualifying fourth, ahead of Sunday afternoon's race.

Lawson's Mugen team-mate Tomoki Nojiri qualified third, falling short of pole by a little under three tenths, but the sole bonus point he picks up means he and Miyata are now split by 4.5 points with 20 left on the table.

 

Nojiri faced the disadvantage of coming through Q1 Group A, which he topped narrowly from Dandelion driver Ota, while Lawson laid down a marker by topping Group B ahead of Miyata.

TOM'S driver Miyata made a crucial error on his hot lap in Q2, suffering a major oversteer moment exiting Spoon Curve, as he ended up almost four tenths slower than poleman Lawson.

Sho Tsuboi was fifth-fastest for Inging ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita, who picked up his best grid slot of the year in sixth as he aims to score B-Max Racing's first points of a miserable season.

Yuji Kunimoto likewise registered a season-best qualifying result of seventh for KCMG ahead of the two Impul cars, Yuhi Sekiguchi qualifying ahead of Ryo Hirakawa.

Completing the order in Q2 were Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion), Nirei Fukuzumi (ThreeBond) and Ren Sato in the sole Nakajima Racing car.

Kamui Kobayashi dropped out of Q1 in what could well be his final Super Formula appearance for KCMG, and will start 13th on the grid.

TGM Grand Prix substitute Riki Okusa could only manage 18th on the grid and will start one place behind team-mate Cem Bolukbasi.

Suzuka Super Formula - Q2 results (Round 9):

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h
1 New Zealand L. Lawson Team Mugen 15 3

1'36.442

  216.764
2 Japan K. Ohta Dandelion Racing 6 3

+0.171

1'36.613

0.171 216.380
3 Japan T. Nojiri Team Mugen 1 3

+0.262

1'36.704

0.091 216.177
4 Japan R. Miyata Vantelin Team TOM'S 37 4

+0.375

1'36.817

0.113 215.924
5 Japan S. Tsuboi P.MU/CERUMO・INGING 38 3

+0.535

1'36.977

0.160 215.568
6 Japan N. Matsushita B-Max Racing Team 50 3

+0.546

1'36.988

0.011 215.544
7 Japan Y. Kunimoto Team KCMG 18 3

+0.631

1'37.073

0.085 215.355
8 Japan Y. Sekiguchi ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL 19 4

+1.061

1'37.503

0.430 214.405
9 Japan R. Hirakawa ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL 20 3

+1.089

1'37.531

0.028 214.344
10 Japan T. Makino Dandelion Racing 5 3

+1.319

1'37.761

0.230 213.839
11 Japan N. Fukuzumi ThreeBond Racing 12 3

+1.326

1'37.768

0.007 213.824
12 Japan R. Sato TCS Nakajima Racing 65 3

+1.392

1'37.834

0.066 213.680

 

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