Having qualified on pole for the latest Super Formula Series race in Japan, Nick Cassidy had a slow start at Sportsland SUGO giving Yuhi Sekiguchi the opportunity to move into the lead. Pierre Gasly jumped up from his P3 start into second, followed by Andre Lotterer in third and Kazuki Nakajima in fourth. Meanwhile Cassidy fell back to fifth place.
“Electronic dramas all day led to an unfortunate sequence of events,” commented Cassidy. “Not what you want when starting from pole. We had a great car this weekend, I leave with a lap record and my head held high but I’m gutted.”
Then before the half race distance, race officials deemed Cassidy hadn’t followed the proper starting grid procedure and was subsequently given a drive through penalty, dropping him to 12th.
He was eventually to pit with 13 laps remaining returning to the track in 17th place only to then retire with a mechanical failure.
The race was won by Sekiguchi with Gasly second and Kamui Kobayashi in third.
Comments