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Round1 [Fuji Speedway]
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| ‘April 5, Rd 1/18 Entries : 9 for All-Japan championship class, 7 for national class@Fine (dry) |
| Takuto Iguchi on pole to win at the first race! |
 @The 2008 All-Japan F3 championship started on April 5, at the Fuji international circuit in good weather conditions.
It was fitting what after the changes in the series that national class was opened for the first time, and an effective point system was abolished,we had new faces lined up on the winners' podium.
@Saturday morning saw the 30 minutes qualifying session.
There was a red flag just after the start, caused by Hironobu Yasuda stopping on the track with drive-train troubles.After the pause, all teams used two sets of tires to set their times, with Takuto Iguchi of Tom's getting his first PP. Carlo van Dam , Keisuke Kunimoto were next, and Kei Cozzolino, Naoki Yamamoto , Yuki Nakayama completed the top 6.
The 15 laps of the first round started at 4:00 p.m.
Yasuda was heartbroken to have a repeat of his troubles, and was not able to start. Then, 15 machines started in the 14 degrees ambient and track surface was at 24 degrees.
Van Dam and Kunimo closed in on Iguchi who had a good start, but it was not possible to overtake, Iguchi defending his lead into the 1st corner.
 @Nakayama also started well behind the top 3 but Cozzolino jumped into fourth place immediately, and Yamamoto, Koki Saga behind him.
@At the end of the first lap Iguchi had a 0.8 second margin, and gradually opened up a gap to his followers.@"My engineer told to enjoy my F3 debut race." Iguchi said, and went on to a landslide victory, being the sole driver to lap under 1 minute 35 seconds.
Van dam held on to the second position, and behind him, Cozzolino quickened his pace and attacked Kunimoto, with an intense fight for third position from the 8th lap.
On the ninth lap,Cozzolino overtook Kunimoto at the Dunlop corner and advanced to 3rd place.
Behind them, Yamamoto, Saga, Nakayama were in a three-cornered fight.
Finally, Iguchi who continued push to the end had a lead of about 7 seconds to 2nd placed Van dam , and keep had an admirable win from pole.
Following him, Van dam was 2nd, 3rd Cozzolino , 4th Kunimoto ,5th Yamamoto ,and 6th Saga .
 @He couldn't get the first best in qualifying, however, it was tied with a good result that fine lap time was recorded constantly.
Starting of the finals, he started late, and it was gone ahead of Zahir Ali, but passed it immediately at Coca-Cola corner, and placed on the top.
He slowed down when the dashboard display failed, but did not let Ali overtake again.
The third place was Alexandre Imperatori.@It was a good performance despite his lack of practice, and rewarded with a podium.
@Masaki Matsushita who qualified in 4th position had to start from the pit-lane after starter-motor trouble.He had a hard charge, but could not do better than 5th.
Hideto Yasuoka retired after only 4 laps with a timing belt failure, without being able to show his potential.
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Round1/2uFujivResult |
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