PETRONAS TEAM TOM'S
2009 Formula Nippon Championship, Rd 8
Sportsland SUGO (日本語)
26 - 27 September 2009

Weather: Sunny and dry for qualifying; cloudy and wet, variable track conditions on raceday.
Temperature: 19 - 27°C (ambient) | 28 - 38°C (track)
Race Format:3.704Km×62Lap

It was another podium outing for PETRONAS Team Tom's German driver Andre Lotterer in the No. 36 car finishing 2nd at the 8th round of the 2009 Formula Nippon Championship last weekend. A 6th place finish for the team's rookie driver Kazuya Oshima also capped off what was on the whole a strong finish for the season finale at the Sportsland Sugo circuit.

Qualifying
The variable weather conditions that constantly switched from cloudy to rainy conditions throughout the weekend did little to dampen the team's preparations for the final race of the season. With Andre Lotterer setting the 4th fastest time in Saturday's free practice session suggested the potential for another strong performance in qualifying. Oshima's 8th place in the session also hinted at the Japanese driver's potential.

In the first qualifying session, both Andre and Oshima qualified in 5th and 10th, respectively enabling them to progress to the second qualifying session. With little to choose between Lotterer and Oshima with the 7th and 8th fastest times, respectively in the second session, the young Japanese went on to improve on his time in the shootout to clock in with the 6th fastest time. His German teammate however, struggled with his tyres and only managed to get a 7th place grid slot for the race.

Raceday
Despite the overcast conditions, the start of the race was held in the dry. Getting off to a great start, Lotterer was able to gain two positions to move up to fifth in the first lap, with his younger teammate behind him. However, it did not take long before the weather took a turn for the worse as it started to rain on lap 10. Although the track gradually became damp, it did not necessitate the team to change to rain tyres. The conditions proved ideal for the rainmaster Lotterer who was able to immediately set the pace. Gaining several positions to move to 3rd after several cars ahead of him pitted.

Pitting in for a tyre change on lap 29, the team's quick work allowed Lotterer to rejoin in second, a position he held on to through to the chequered flag. Scoring his third consecutive podium finish this season, the German also finished the season 3rd Overall.

Meanwhile, the difficult conditions produced a valiant drive from Lotterer's younger Japanese teammate who was able to bring the car home in 6th, bagging another points-scoring finish.

Andre Lotterer, Car #36 (DEU):
"Despite struggling in the third qualifying session, I was really happy with the car as a whole in the race. After a great start, I really thought I could get another win here! Well, the poor weather conditions did play a huge part as it suited me quite well. I stayed out longer knowing that I could gain quite a lot of ground in these conditions on slicks and that strategy paid off. The pit crew once again did a great job during the stop as I was able to jump to second after the round of stops. As usual, the Nakajima team's is so much faster and I am happy with this result as I know I did all that I could!

"Overall, I am happy that we managed to recover in the latter stages of the season. For sure it has not been the easiest season for us, but we made the most of it, learned from every round and we were able to pool all our resources together. This allowed us to make steady improvements throughout the course of the season certainly contributed towards my finishing third overall and second overall in the team standings."

Kazuya Oshima, Car #37 (JPN):
"As this was the final Formula Nippon Championship race, I knew I had to give my all. Overall, I am happy to have ended the season with a points-finish but of course I would have liked to have finished in a higher position, which was my original target. Overall, the experience I have managed to gain from this season has only motivated me for the future. It has not been an easy start for my first season in the Formula Nippon Championship, but I have learned a lot this year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team management, the race engineers and the crew for the support and encouragement they have given me this year."

Nobuhide Tachi, Team Director:
“The PETRONAS Team Tom’s was once again able to produce another good race here at Sportsland Sugo with Andre scoring another 2nd place finish. However, the Nakajima Team's car was faster than ours, which is what has been the case throughout the entire season. Kazuya also had a strong run under the difficult situation this weekend. Although the 2009 championship season has come to the end, we are happy that we managed to come back with strong performances in the final few races, which is definitely a motivation in our preparing for next season. Thank you to everyone on the team for a great job this season, our partners and our fans for the incredible support throughout!”

日本語

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/