Battle of Champions in the first rounds of Porsche Carrera Cup Japan
2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan had kicked off on 16th and 17th April at Okayama International Circuit. There are three champions participated on 22th season of PCCJ. Two of them are in Pro-class, one is Tsubasa Kondo, who had won 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021, and the other was Ryo Ogawa in 2013 and 2014. Shinji Takei, the first ever won overall tittle from Gentleman class in 2017, is in Pro-am class. He came back to the series after absence of two seasons.
Two rounds were held in Okayama. In season opener at Okayama on 16th, Kondo started from pole position but Ogawa overtook Kondo and got a lead before 1st corner. They fought tale-to nose race until the final lap but there was no chance for Kondo to get back his position. Ogawa became first winner of PCCJ with type-992 GT3 Cup.
On round 2, Kondo, again, started from pole position. He slightly missed start but could defend an attack of Ogawa to keep his position. Unlike the race on Saturday, Kondo made gap between Ogawa bigger every lap. At the checkered flag, the gap was 2.785 seconds. The winner of 2nd round was Kondo and Ogawa finished 2nd.
In Pro-am class, Takei won 1st round but his engine stalled at start of 2nd round and finished 3rd in the class.
Round 3 and 4 took place in Fuji International Speedway. At qualifying session, Kondo, again was the fastest with course record, 1'39"806, about one second faster than previous record, and got pole position for both rounds. Ogawa also broke the record but failed catching Kondo. He sat on 2nd grid for the races at Fuji.
When signals turned into green, Kondo had smooth start and could keep his top position. Ogawa got passed by Ryunosuke Sawa, Porsche Japan junior driver, and back to third place. There was no position changing between them. Kondo won his second race. Sawa finished at second place and Ogawa was at third.
The race on next day, 04 May, Ogawa passed pole sitter Kondo on 5th lap. Unlike previous race, Kondo could not much his pace with Ogawa. Ogawa won fourth round and Kondo finished on 2nd place.
In Pro-am Class, Takei had huge class at practice session before qualifying. As a result of the clash, he had to miss both races.
Third event of 2022 PCCJ was held at Suzuka Circuit, famous Formula-1 race track in Mie Prefecture. Just like Okayama and Fuji, Kondo again took top of time sheet for qualifying and got pole position for round 5 and 6 with new course record. Ogawa was on third grid for both races at Grand Prix circuit. Ryo Yamada would start races on Saturday and Sunday between them.
At the race on Saturday 28 May, the weather was almost like Summer and temperature rose up to 28℃. Kondo, pole sitter, and Ogawa, on second grid, swapped their position at start. The gap between champions was within a second whole through the race of 10 laps. The winner of round 5 was Ogawa but Kondo was behind of Ogawa with only 0.233 second at checkered flag.
The weather on Sunday was even hotter than a day before, highest temperature reached above 30℃. Round 6 got started 11:45AM. Pole sitter, Kondo, again, missed starting. He tried blocking Ogawa, who started from right behind of Kondo. While these two cars went to right side, Yamada could get hole shot at first corner. Ogawa overtook Kondo and followed Yamada. For Yamada, this was very first season to racing in PCCJ and also first time to lead PCCJ. Yamada, Ogawa and Kondo lineup with very close gap. However, Kondo could not much the pace and became late while Ogawa closing the gap to Yamada. At seventh lap of 10 laps race, two cars went off to barrier. On the same lap, Takei collided with IKARI, who was a point leader in Pro-am class at Chicane. IKARI went off to sponge barrier and stopped. Aa s result of two accidents, safety car came in and the red flag was shown at the end of 9th lap. Yamada recorded his first PCCJ victory. Ogawa was second and Kondo was third.
At the end of round 6, Ogawa was leading the series with 132 points with a gap of five points to Kondo.
In gentleman class, IKARI has got 129 points and still leading the class. In Am class, wining streak of PCCJ rookie, Motoki Takami, ended on round 5 but he got back on round 6. He scored 145 points and leading the class.
Next rounds, round 7 and 8, of PCCJ will take a place at Fuji in 06 and 07 August followed by two rounds at Suzuka in 27 and 28 August.