carrozzeria Team KCMG scored a strong fourth-place finish with Yuji Kunimoto after a brilliant drive through the field, marking his and the team’s best result of the season so far.
Starting the race in 11th after an interrupted qualifying session, Kunimoto quickly gained positions with a good getaway as he did in previous rounds at Okayama and Sugo. He steadily made his way up the order and was pressuring the car ahead for a podium place in the final laps. While a top-three result evaded him, the 2016 Super Formula champion was the leading Toyota-powered car in the race, and his performance moved him up to eighth in the standings.
Meanwhile, Kamui Kobayashi’s replacement Yuichi Nakayama had a less straightforward weekend, with an incident in qualifying putting him 20th on the grid. He was making good ground in the race, but an early pit stop meant he had to come in for a second stop, costing him a chance at the points.
carrozzeria Team KCMG wishes to congratulate Kamui Kobayashi on securing the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship with victory in the 8 Hours of Bahrain for Toyota Gazoo Racing and looks forward to welcoming him back for the next Super Formula round at Suzuka.
Yuji Kunimoto: “I got a good start and gained three positions on the first lap, moving up to eighth. After that I was able to pit under the safety car and picked up another place thanks to the great work of the pit crew and finally finished fourth, just one step away from the podium. I was pushing for the rostrum but it’s very difficult to overtake on this circuit, especially as you lose downforce when following another car. I was disappointed to miss out on the top three but coming from 11th on the grid to finish fourth is a good day, and hopefully the podium will come in the next race.”
Yuichi Nakayama: “In qualifying I pushed hard but unfortunately I went over the limit and spun, hitting the barriers. The mechanics did a great job to repair the car in time for the race so I’m very thankful for their hard work. The pace was good from the start and I was able to overtake other drivers. I pitted under the safety car, but I came in one lap too early according to the regulations, so I had to pit again and dropped positions. However, we had good speed and I feel we could’ve been in the points.”
Tsugio Matsuda, Team Manager: “Kunimoto secured a very good result, moving from 11th on the grid to fourth in the race. The drivers did a great job and the mechanics executed the pit stop perfectly. I’m sorry for Nakayama having to change the tyres twice due to a mistake on the operations side. However, he showed great pace and it’s good that we were able to collect valuable data for the next race. Now we look ahead to improving again at Suzuka.”
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.
