carrozzeria Team KCMG took a second consecutive points finish at the third round of the 2020 Super Formula Championship at Sportsland Sugo with 2016 series champion Yuji Kunimoto after a strong recovery drive.
It was a difficult start to the weekend for Kunimoto as an incident during Saturday’s free practice session left the team with a heavy repair job. A stellar effort from the crew meant he was ready for qualifying, but encountering traffic during his Q2 lap limited the double race winner to 14th on the grid.
As he did at Okayama, Kunimoto immediately began making up places, overtaking several cars and, with a good strategy from the team, worked his way up to fifth.
Kamui Kobayashi similarly rose through the order in the early stages of the race, coming from the back row of the grid after an error left him in the wrong engine map, limiting his turbo boost. Unfortunately, the strategy Kobayashi was on did not pay off, compounded by a late safety car, and ultimately finished 14th.
Kobayashi will miss the following round at Autopolis due to a clash with the World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain, meaning Yuichi Nakayama will be back in the #7 car.
Yuji Kunimoto: “It was a pity we couldn’t show our full potential in qualifying as I had traffic on my Q2 lap, but the race was much stronger. Once again I had a good start, the pace was there and the strategy worked well. The car balance was comfortable so I could push hard throughout the race and I was able to pass several cars. I’d like to thank the mechanics who did a fantastic job repairing my car after practice, the effort was well worth it as we’ve scored points two races in a row now. Hopefully this means we’re on the right path with the set-up and we can have a good weekend at Autopolis.”
Kamui Kobayashi: “Overall it was a disappointing weekend. I was confident in the car’s performance, it felt really good in practice but the team made a mistake with my engine map in qualifying so I didn’t have full power and was on the back row of the grid. We came through the field well, up to seventh at one point, but we didn’t time our pit stop well and the safety car at the end killed our race. We didn’t convert our performance into a good result but if we work hard we can get the points we deserve next time.”
Ryuji Doi, KCMG Head of Motorsport: “It was a good race on Yuji’s side as we recovered well after we didn’t maximise our performance in qualifying, the team did a great job with his strategy and to repair the car after practice. Kamui had good speed as well but unfortunately we had some operational errors, the big one being the wrong engine map in qualifying. The strategy was not perfect as he struggled to get through the pack after his pit stop with cold tyres, and then had more traffic thanks to the safety car, so a string of unfortunate events. I’d like to extend my apologies to Kamui, our team founder Paul Ip and the sponsors for these errors. We had two cars performing well but we need to focus on providing better strategies and support for the drivers, and eliminate these mistakes so they are not repeated. The objective, as always, is to be fighting at the front. For the next round at Autopolis we welcome back Yuichi Nakayama to the #7 car, as Kamui will be in Bahrain at the World Endurance Championship finale, for which we wish him the best.”
For more information about KCMG please visit www.kcmg.com.hk. To keep track of all the latest updates, please like KCMG’s Facebook page or follow on Twitter and Instagram.
Who is KCMG?
KC Motorgroup Ltd (KCMG) is an international motorsport services group established in 2007 by Paul Ip. The group, with its headquarters located in Hong Kong, has operations reaching across the Asia Pacific region. KCMG operates closely with many partner companies and racing organisations around the world to provide unrivalled motorsport services, equipment, team management and quality distribution in the automotive industry. For more information on all of the team’s activities please visit www.kcmg.com.hk or email info@kcmg.com.hk.
