I feel extremely happy to be back at my home track Suzuka, and to be able to take a win in front of a lot of my supporters.
I really appreciate this precious opportunity, although I still have mixed emotions about the results.
We kept good pace since the previous round, and expected to compete against my teammate again for a victory.
Qualifying went well and I got pole position for round 7.
Although our strategy didn’t work really well on the improving track condition and ended up being qualified 2nd for round 9, I did my job and was happy with that.
At the start of round 7, somehow my car didn’t accelerate enough and I couldn’t defend my position against my teammate.
After the long period of SC, I didn’t have any chance to overtake him only in 5 laps left and finished 2nd.
Also I couldn’t record the fastest lap, which means that I got 2nd grid for round 8.
I made a perfect start in round 8 and took a lead at the 1st corner, however the gear got stuck and couldn’t keep the position.
I had the pace to compete against my teammate, but he had to pull over due to an issue under the SC period and I took a win as a result.
Round 9 was quite eventful.
A contact with the top driver in the opening lap, tire burst, drive-through penalty and ended up with P9.
The entire weekend was totally a wonderful experience for me, even though the results were not what exactly I expected.
I still keep the top of the points table and really hope to be able to announce good news for the coming rounds.
I look forward to seeing you again!

Ukyo Sasahara