The last round of the 2009 Formula Nippon championship was held in Sugo and delivered a good show with changing weather conditions!

Starting form the middle of the field in P7, I managed to gain a few spot right form the start and was already 5th.

About 10 laps into the race it started to drizzle and it became to be fun but also difficult to control our cars.

Form that point on, competitors did good choices and bad choices of either changing to wet tires to early, to late or not change at all. We didn’t have the best timing but also not the worst, we changed a bit to late compare to Loic that hit the perfect timing to pit after he went of the track and lost the lead. At that moment, I was in P3 with the leading pack ( Tsukakoshi, Treluyer & me) being tight together. I then decided to pit because rain was getting worse but it was not much rain so it could have stopped raining any time and staying on slicks like Ben did would have been the better choice. Gamble gamble…

After a quick pit-stop, I’m back on track with my rain tires and Loic is already 14 sec in front with all the ground he made up while I was still on slicks. I tried to come back and catch him but his pace was similar to mine and I couldn’t challenge him. So P2 was what was meant to be…

Finally I ended up 1 point behind Benoit Treluyer in the final championship ranks. Shame that the beginning of the season was filled with to much bad luck. Specially the race in Fuji that messed me up by the officials mistake with the safety car. That was a win or a p2 in the pocket for sure.

PHOTOS OF THE WEEKEND BY Toshikazu MORIYAMA 森山俊一

RACE RESULTS:

FINAL POINT RANKING:

Back in town and prety happy with what I can see from my balcony!  This is by far the niciest period in Tokyo, the weather is still warm but not as humid as the crazy summer, the air is fresh and clear with the beautifull sunset comming down on the city with nice colors creating a nostaligic atmosphere.

Today I had my trip back to Tokyo, from Brussels via Munich. On the first flight , while I was reading magazines, relaxing, music… at one moment I felt like looking thru the window, I saw those green hills, thought like, hmmm… that looks familiar, could be arround the Nurburgring maybe… and a few seconds later,  I could see the racetrack! Great timing! I was so happy like a kid to see the hole track and rushed to find my camera, I could  even see the hole Nordschleife. Since I had the chance to drive the 24h race back in mai, Im so fascinated by it’s magic now and wanted to share this! I guess only the familiar ones can recognize it.

Let me introduce you to my 2 great little monster friends, Tiola (3) and Miilo (7), probably the most cutest kids in this world! They came to the race in Fuji and cheered me up so much with their presence! I love them!

this is my favortie race car of all times, the Toyota TS 020! It was built in 1998 to win the Le mans 24h and it almost won it in 99.

I never had the luck of driving it but I think shes so beautifull, elegant and fast looking! Those simple but perfect lines and proportions makes it for me the best looking mashine! Nicer then F1 cars for sure! Its over 10 years old now and it would still not look ridiculous on todays race events.

I diged it out from some storage. I build this car myself with lots of love back in 2002 from a Tamiya model kit. At the time I was racing in europe and had no idea that I would be a Toyota driver one day, funny.  I wish I was already a Toyota driver back then to race with this car! Maybe one day I can try it…

I have to admit that I was not the happiest guy o the podium today… I really  fought so hard in my stint and wanted to win this home race so much! Specially after a good start and taking the lead. It was really important to be at the top for the championship points. Our car was not the fastest out there but we made the most out of it, we managed to lead a lot of laps but then eventually lost out on the much faster ARTA #8 Honda ( Firman/Izawa) forcing their way to the top from way back of the grid. The second spot loocked safe towards then end but then unfortunately 2 laps to the end we lost it to, my team mate Juichi, caught traffic in a bad moment and got surprised by Benoit Treluyer’s quick overtaking move in his Nismo Nissan GT-R #1 at the last corner.

Now the Nismo Nissan GT-R #1 crew increased their lead in the ranks and  the title fight is getting tight for us with only 2 more races to go. But like I say, its not over until its over!

Youtube links to the race videos: #1 #2 #3

WEEKEND PHOTOS BY TOSHIKAZU MORIYAMA

Results:

Point Ranking:

Lots friends came to see the race, was a great day! Thanks for the support!

Photo by: Toshikazu MORIYAMA 　　森山俊一

what began to look like a difficult day for us in todays rainy conditions turned out to be a good day…

It was raining all day, sometimes more, sometimes less but the track was wet all day and we had lots of problems to simply make the intermediate tires work and catch some descent grip, was very difficult to drive for me, the grip was just not there, had to be real smooth and patient.

After barely making it into the important ”top 8” in order to qualify for the afternoon super lap, we had to think of some solution for improvement. Even though the track was just a little wet , we chose full soft wet tires to catch the grip for at least one lap, which is what counts for the super lap.

I was the first one out on track and set my time, at first, I thought it was not very good but then in the end it was not so bad and we got a bit lucky to, so we are starting from p3 which is great, it was crucial to be up front for our title fight.

Big race tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

RESULTS:

Special Guest today, Miss Universe Japan 2008. I went to a stage talk-show she hosted and after we invited her to feel what its like to sit in our precious machines. No worries, the ignition was off…

On this weekends program they also have these guys racing. I thought this Gokart looks wicked, full on carbon fiber body , its all almost in one piece, nice job. They look fast down the straight! I wanna try it…

Check this out!!

Im on Ferrari’s Formula 1 waiting list for a potential replacement of the recent injured Filipe Massa!

I dont know where it comes from, and who put me  up there but I think its super cool! Being somehow linked to Ferrari at least once in my racing career… Sweet! True or not no idea, probably not but hey! who cares… its on their official website…

Im sleeping with my phone under the pillow, don’t want to miss any call cause Im really up for the chalenge…. haha!

A as in Fernando Alonso 
B as in Jules Bianchi, Mirko Bortolotti and Sebastien Bourdais 
C as in David Coulthard 
D as in Anthony Davidson 
F as in Giancarlo Fisichella and Luca Filippi 
G as in Marc Gené 
H as in Nico Hulkenberg 
K as in Robert Kubica 
L as in André Lotterer and Vitantonio Liuzzi 
P as in Nelson Piquet (Jr.) and Giorgio Pantano 
R as in Valentino Rossi and Davide Rigon 
S as in Takuma Sato and Bruno Senna 
T as in Jarno Trulli 
V as in Jos Verstappen

HERE THE OFFICIAL LINK TO THE ARTICLE ON FERRARI’S WEBSITE

The link to the japanese news

Dear Mr. di Montezemolo, if you read this…for the archive… im quick in Monza… haha

Monza, day four, 6th july 2001 (unofficial times)
Pos Driver Car Tyres Time Laps

1 Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber-Petronas B, 1m23.58s, 66 laps
2 Andre Lotterer, Jaguar M, 1m24.70s, 76 laps
3 Alex Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m24.73s, 28 laps
4 Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda B, 1m24.90s, 41 laps
5 Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m25.06s, 31 laps
6 Ricardo Zonta, Jordan-Honda B, 1m25.09s, 83 laps
7 Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar M, 1m25.16s, 48 laps
8 Darren Manning, BAR-Honda B, 1m25.50s, 50 laps