carrozzeria Team KCMG took a maiden podium finish for the 2020 Super Formula Championship in the first of two races at Suzuka with Yuji Kunimoto after a perfectly executed strategy launched him up the order.
Having successfully got both cars into the top 10 during qualifying, Kunimoto and team-mate Kamui Kobayashi made progress after good launches at the start of the race with the pair running sixth and third respectively. Over the chaotic 28 laps, both drivers crucially kept their noses clean, with Kobayashi avoiding a large incident unfolding at Turn 1 as part of a group of cars battling for position.
A well-timed and perfectly executed pit stop for Kunimoto later in the race brought him up to third to secure his first podium in the series since 2018, leading Kobayashi in fourth to claim the team’s first double points finish since its two-car effort began this season.
Unfortunately, Sunday’s race yielded no additional points for the team. Once again both cars started inside the top 10 but Kobayashi received a puncture after making contact with another car, limiting him to 15th, while Kunimoto was forced to retire due to a slow puncture.
Yuji Kunimoto: “My first podium in quite a while is a great feeling. The car performance was there from the beginning so I was confident for qualifying, though a little disappointed to only be ninth, just 0.007s away from making it into Q3 but I still felt competitive. After I was able to make up some positions on the first lap, we timed the pit stop perfectly and I came out third. Unfortunately I didn’t get the same good start on Sunday. I was still able to fight back but then we received a penalty for an unsafe release during the pit stop while I was running fourth before the slow puncture. We have one race left in Fuji, the car performance is improving every weekend so I feel we can have a strong end to the season.”
Kamui Kobayashi: “Saturday’s result was great for the team, having Yuji on the podium and both cars in the points for the first time. We need to keep working hard to improve and reach higher goals, as we saw in Sunday’s race where things did not go our way. I didn’t get off the line well and on the second lap I had contact which gave me a puncture and dropped me to last. So with the season finale at Fuji coming up, we’re now concentrating on preparations for the weekend and end the year on a high.”
Tsugio Matsuda, Team Manager: “Our base set-up was good as we had strong pace straight out of the box. Kamui was into Q3 for both races, Yuji was not but by very fine margins. Both drivers had excellent starts on Saturday and were making up places, then we had the right strategy and put Yuji on the podium. We’re sorry for Kamui as we cost him some time with an issue on the left-front tyre, but third and fourth was still a great result and our first double points finish. A second podium was possible on Sunday but we got a penalty for an unsafe release. Our team is improving every race, there are areas we need to improve on but we built on the pace we have had all season and the car is getting faster.”
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.
