Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
NISMO athletes Jann Mardenborough and Katsumasa Chiyo have dominated the latest round of the Japanese Formula 3 by taking a win each at Fuji International Speedway. Mardenborough was dominant in the lead up to race day, topping the times in both practice sessions and scoring pole for both races.
The former GT Academy winner was a massive 1.902 seconds faster than the chasing pack in qualifying in damp conditions for the first race. Mardenborough and Chiyo were 1-2 in both sessions. Mardenborough scored his second win of the season in the opening race with Chiyo in fourth. In Sunday’s race, the Japanese GT500 ace and former Bathurst 12-Hour winner Chiyo pounced on a late race restart to pass his teammate Mardenborough to score his first Formula 3 win of the season.
Chiyo also scored the fastest lap in both races. Mardenborough now leads the championship by five points with seven races still remaining in the championship.
“It was probably my strongest race weekend ever,” said Mardenborough. “Now I’m leading the championship which is great. It would have been cool to win today and I was leading until the last three laps when the safety car came out. Chiyo got a good slip-steam and got by me. I’m really pleased with the whole weekend. We’ve been very strong and pulling a gap to the TOMS car which is our main rivals who are now second and third in the championship.”
Mardenborough switches back into Super GT GT300 mode this weekend alongside Kazuki Hoshino, while Chiyo returns to his GT500 role alongside veteran Satoshi Motoyama.
“I was on the inside of grid on the start and the track was still a little damp,” said Chiyo. “I had wheelspin at the start and dropped back to third but worked my way up to second. My pace was pretty good and I tied to push every lap to try to catch up to Jann. The gap was quite big but finally a safety car came out and gave me a big chance. My restart timing was just perfect and I am very happy to get my first win of the season.”
NISMO Calendar
July 23-24
FIA WEC, Nuburgring, Germany
Super GT, Sugo, Japan
Australian Supercars, Queensland Raceway, Queensland, Australia
Micra Cup, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
July 30-31
Spa 24 Hours, Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Pirelli World Challenge, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Ohio, USA
August 6-7
Super GT, Fuji Speedway, Japan
August 13-14
Micra Cup, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada