PETRONAS Team TOM'S
2009 Fomula Nippon Championship
Rd 4, Fuji International Speedway (日本語言語)
27 - 28 June 2009
Weather:
Qualifying: Sunny and dry | Race: Rain and wet conditions
Temperature: 29 - 32ºC (ambient) | 40 - 45ºC (track)
Race format:4.563Km×55Lap
|
Car number
|
Driver
|
Qualifying
|
Race
|
|
36
|
Andre Lotterer
|
8th
|
8th
|
|
37
|
Kazuya Oshima
|
7th
|
2nd
|
It was a weekend to celebrate for PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S Kazuya Oshima in the No. 37 car bagging his maiden podium finish at the 4th round of the 2009 Formula Nippon Championship at a wet Fuji International Speedway last Sunday. Teammate Andre Lotterer in the No. 36 car was the unfortunate victim of a bizarre situation brought about by a safety car situation in the middle of the race. The German finished the race 8th.
Qualifying
The team's weekend started off to a fairly good start with Andre Lotterer demonstrating a reasonable pace in the Saturday free practice prior to the knock out qualifying session in the afternoon. However, the German's fortunes turned when he struggled with grip levels particularly at the tight and twisty 3rd sector of Fuji track leading onto the main long straight. For teammate Oshima, qualifying saw the Japanese improve on his pace and for the first time, faster than his German teammate in all qualifying sessions to earn a 7th spot for the race. It was Oshima's best and highest starting grid position this season. After struggling all afternoon, Lotterer managed to secure 8th on the grid for Sunday's race.
Race
Despite fair conditions on Saturday, the rains returned on Sunday three hours prior to the race. It was the type of the conditions for rainmeister Andre Lotterer. Starting under safety car conditions for the first 3 laps, the race itself finally got underway on lap 4 with Lotterer and Oshima improving on their start positions. The German got ahead of his teammate and was up to 4th by lap 7 before gaining another position by the middle of the race. Oshima meanwhile produced a consistent drive to improve to 6th.
The safety car returned to interrupt proceedings when another car stopped on track on lap 33 prompting the leading two cars to pit, promoting Lotterer to the lead of the race. In a bizarre twist, confusion at race control when they declared the No. 36 car as not the leading car, which saw Lotterer drop back. In the ensuing confusion, the team could not call Lotterer in the next lap and the pit lane was closed by the time the German was about to stop and dropped off to the back of the field.
Meanwhile, Oshima who had opted for a non-stop strategy was able to gain two positions when the race resumed and maintained his second place to the end. Finishing on the podium for the first time this season, Oshima was also the first rookie driver to earn a podium finish this season. Meanwhile, despite the bizarre circumstances, Lotterer steeled his resolve to regain as much position as possible to come home in 8th place.
Andre Lotterer #36, 8th place
“I do not really have anything to say to be honest. There was a lot of confusion and the weird situation made me back off to the back of the field. I was fast on wet as usual and it was my race to win. I am really disappointed about this.”
Kazuya Oshima #37, 2nd place
“My car was actually very good today! I realised that I was able to get good result today when I clocked in third fastest during the morning practice on Sunday. Based on this, we planned for a non-stop strategy for me before the start. We found a really good set up for Fuji and I would like to maintain this momentum and further improve for the remaining races.”
Nobuhide Tachi, Team Director
“I was really angry about the confusion caused by the officials of race control. I believe they made a mistake and disrupted the race and as a result Andre lost position. I think that race control needs to look into their operations properly. On the other hand Oshima produced a great race today with his non-stop strategy. He has really improved a lot recently and I would really like to see him continue to improve further.”
日本語言語
TOM’S Co.Ltd Racing Department http://36toms.com/
For more information on the Formula Nippon championship, visit the official website at http://www.f-nippon.co.jp/fn/fnap/app/NList_h.dll