Super Formula: Yamamoto wins at Suzuka, maiden podium for Vandoorne

Naoki Yamamoto wins the season-opening race of the 2016 Japanese Super Formula Championship at Suzuka Circuit. The 27-year-old driver of Team Mugen dominated at Japanese Grand Prix circuit and he took the lights-to -flag victory ahead of Yuji Kunimoto (P.MU/Cerumo-Inging) and Stoffel Vandoorne (Docomo Dandelion).

Kunimoto defended his second starting position behind the poleman and crossed the finish line with 11.710sec gap. Last year’s GP2 champion and Super Formula rookie Vandoorne started as fourth but he took third place in the opening lap. Yuhi Sekiguchi, who started third, pitted in the early phase of the race and finished 14th.

Takashi Kogure (Drago Corse) made an improvement from 6th starting position to fourth place at the end, in front of Koudai Tsukakoshi (Real Racing). James Rossiter (Kondo Racing) moved even more, from 10th to 6th. Andre Lotterer (Team TOM’s), Bertrand Baguette (Nakajima Racing), Tomoki Nojiri (Docomo Dandelion) and Joao Paulo de Oliveira (Team Impul) completed the top 10.