Formula Nippon News - Kogure Moves Up To Third After Sugo Win
16/09/2007
The seventh round of the Formula Nippon took place at Sugo near Sendai city this weekend to watch Nakajima Racing’s Takashi Kogure take the chequered flag after a flawless run from pole position. His second win puts the Bridgestone-shod driver third in the all-Japanese championship.
Nakajima Racing drivers Kogure and Loic Duval dominated the front row in qualifying, with Kogure on pole, followed by Loic and Impul’s Satoshi Motoyama.
With a race distance of just 230km, this was the shortest race of the series. Kogure made an excellent start to maintain his pole position, followed by Impul’s Benoit Treluyer who moved up from fourth. But at the third corner of the first lap three cars collided, resulting in the safety car being called out.
The race was restarted on lap six, but on lap 50 another collision, this time involving four cars, resulted in another safety car call-out. Despite these interruptions, Kogure maintained his lead, fending off Treluyer and Duval, to take gold.
“I am really happy. The new specification Bridgestone tires were excellent. They were very consistent from start to finish and helped me retain my position throughout,” said Kogure.
“Our new tires really delivered from start to finish, with good wear rates. And tire wear was consistent too,” said Bridgestone tire engineer Yasuo Teranishi.