Motegi Super Formula: Palou scores second straight pole

The ex-GP3 and European F3 racer needed only a single flying lap in Q3, but that was good enough to break the circuit’s previous lap record and move him to the top of the timesheets.

His time of 1m31.442s remained unbeaten after the remaining seven drivers completed their respective runs, making him the only driver to score two pole positions in 2019.

Friday and Q1 pacesetter Ryo Hirakawa qualified 0.199s behind Palou for Impul, with Nirei Fukuzumi of Dandelion Racing finishing another tenth adrift after topping Q2.

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Red Bull junior Lucas Auer continued his strong run of qualifying performances on his return to single-seaters, the B-Max by Motopark driver ending up 0.362s off the pace in fourth.

Two-time Super Formula champion Hiroaki Ishiura (Inging) secured his best result of the season in fifth, ahead of the lead Mugen entry of Tomoki Nojiri.

Kamui Kobayashi was unable to repeat his Q2 lap that put him second in the classification, the KCMG driver eventually qualifying seventh on the grid with a time of 1m32.040s.

Championship leader Naoki Yamamoto (Dandelion) endured a difficult session and could do no better than eighth, but he crucially qualified four places ahead of his chief title rival Nick Cassidy (TOM’S).

Cassidy’s teammate Kazuki Nakajima and Red Bull junior Patricio O’Ward were both knocked out in Q1, a session which mandates all drivers to run on medium tyres.

Nakajima was 16th fastest in Q1, while Mugen driver O’Ward will start his second Super Formula race from 18th on the grid.

Session results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	64	Alex Palou	TCS Nakajima Racing	1'31.442
2	20	Ryo Hirakawa	Team Impul	1'31.641	0.199
3	5	Nirei Fukuzumi	DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	1'31.764	0.322
4	50	Lucas Auer	B-MAX with Motopark	1'31.804	0.362
5	38	Hiroaki Ishiura	JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING	1'31.931	0.489
6	16	Tomoki Nojiri	Team Mugen	1'31.942	0.50
7	18	Kamui Kobayashi	carrozzeria Team KCMG	1'32.040	0.598
8	1	Naoki Yamamoto	DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	1'32.049	0.607
9	19	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Team Impul	1'32.399	0.957
10	39	Sho Tsuboi	JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING	1'32.793	1.351
11	51	Harrison Newey	B-MAX with Motopark	1'32.824	1.382
12	37	Nick Cassidy	Vantelin Team TOM'S	1'32.856	1.414
13	3	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo Racing	1'33.807	2.365
14	65	Tadasuke Makino	TCS Nakajima Racing	1'33.820	2.378
15	4	Yuji Kunimoto	Kondo Racing	1'34.003	2.561
16	36	Kazuki Nakajima	Vantelin Team TOM'S	1'34.036	2.594
17	8	Kazuya Oshima	UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans	1'34.086	2.644
18	15	Patricio O'Ward	Team Mugen	1'34.361	2.919
19	7	Artem Markelov	UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans	1'34.386	2.944
20	17	Koudai Tsukakoshi	Real Racing	1'34.765	3.323
View full results