It was an action-packed weekend for KC Motorgroup Ltd. (KCMG) as the Hong Kong-based outfit rounded off Super Formula’s penultimate round with Yuichi Nakayama and All-Japan Formula 3 Championship’s final event with Struan Moore at Sportsland Sugo. As both drivers made significant headway over the weekend, it was Nakayama’s blistering pace that stole the show as he challenged for the podium in the premier Japanese Formula series’ sixth round on Sunday.
Despite a trying qualifying run, the Japanese driver’s prowess on Sugo’s 3.704km configuration shone brightest as he delivered a commanding run during Sunday’s race. A superb start allowed Nakayama to move up the field and steadily climbed the leaderboard until he secured second place, a position which he maintained for a significant number of laps. Unfortunately, with only eight laps to go, an unplanned pit stop to refuel caused Nakayama to drop down the order and finish the 68-lap affair in tenth place.
Meanwhile, JF3’s season finale witnessed Moore deliver competitive lap times and rounded off the championship’s final two races with a ninth and seventh place finish, in what was his maiden outing at Sportsland Sugo. Ultimately, the Jersey born driver capped off his 2015 campaign in the highly competitive Japanese series with laudable progress. After eight thrilling events at five of Japan’s most demanding motorsport venues, Moore concludes the season in eighth place in the overall Championship class standings.
Yuichi Nakayama: “It was unfortunate that we weren’t able to finish with better results as our strategy didn’t work as planned. It was a promising outing nonetheless and we’ve proven that we have the pace to challenge for the podium. Thank you to all the fans who came to see us race at Sugo. I’m looking forward to seeing you all again during the series’ final race at Suzuka Circuit in November.”
Struan Moore: “First off, I’d would like to thank everyone who supported my JF3 campaign this year. We’ve demonstrated significant progress throughout the season and its been an enriching experience to compete in this highly competitive motorsport platform. It was also a pleasure to have worked with the entire team. I certainly had an interesting and constructive year competing in different circuits around Japan with KCMG.”
Ryuji Doi, KCMG Head of Motorsport: “Two important events took place for us at Sugo – we wrapped up our 2015 campaign in JF3 in the Top 8 with Struan and saw Yuichi deliver another encouraging result in Super Formula over the weekend. We had a radical season in JF3 and saw Struan steadily develop his skills in the F3 car, constantly showing progress as we went from race to race. Its been a pleasure working with him. More so, on behalf of the team, I’d like to thank everyone who supported our JF3 campaign this year. As for Super Formula, it’s a bit disappointing to not come away with the race result that we wanted. But overall, Yuichi delivered an outstanding drive and with that performance, we head to the series’ final race at Suzuka with confidence.”
To find out more about Super Formula and Japanese F3, visit www.superformula.net and
www.j-formula3.com.
For more information about KCMG, visit www.kcmg.com.hk. To keep track of latest updates, please like KCMG’s Facebook page or follow @KCMotorgroup on Twitter.
