Shimono takes her maiden TCR Japan win in Suzuka Race 2

Drago Racing’s lady driver Rio Shimono took her maiden TCR Japan victory in the second race at Suzuka. This was also the first win of the season for Honda and was completed by the Civic Type R cars of Resshu Shioya and Takuya Shirasaka who were classified second and third.
The race was decided by a pile-up after the start that eliminated the top three drivers in the standings of the Saturday series: Takuro Shinohara (Team Hitotsuyama, Audi RS 3 LMS), Takeshi Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI) and ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, CUPRA). As a consequence, Shimono moved into second place, one point ahead of Matsumoto, but Shinohara has reached the mathematical certainty of being the Saturday series champion.
Shimono made a better start than pole sitter Shinohara and led into Turn 1, Matsumoto tried to pass Shinohara on the outside line, but their cars clashed and spun collecting the CUPRA of ‘Hirobon’. Both Shinohara and ‘Hirobon’ retired, while Matsumoto pitted for repairs and rejoined having lost one lap. 
Shimono benefited from the commotion and found herself in the lead with a big gap ahead of Shirasaka and Shioya,
In lap 2, Shioya passed Shirasaka for P2, while Kenji Suzuki and Mineki Okura who had been delayed by the incident moved into P4 and P5 as they overtook Junichi Umemoto and ‘Mototino’.
At the end of lap 3, Matsumoto returned to the pits and retired; one lap later ‘Mototino’ passed Umemoto for P6.
In the second part of the race, with Shimono firmly in the lead, there were two close battles between Shioya and Shirasaka for the second position and between Suzuki and Okura for the fourth. In lap 7, Okura took the inside line in the chicane, but Suzuki closed the door, they made contact and Okura spun and dropped to seventh. He tried to pass Umemoto for P6 during the penultimate lap but went wide in the chicane; his second attempt during the last lap was successful and Okura advanced into P6.
Shimono won, while Shioya managed to keep Shirasaka at bay to retain the second place; Suzuki and ‘Mototino’ finished fourth and fifth.
Race 3, the rescheduling of the Sunday series race of the season opener at Motegi, will start tomorrow at 10:55 local time (02:55 CET), with live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. The starting grid was determined by the second fastest laps posted in the first Qualifying; Shinohara will start from the pole position for the third time in the weekend with Matsumoto alongside.

Race 2
1. Rio Shimono (Drago Racing, Honda Civic Type R), 10 laps
2. Resshu Shioya (Team G/Motion, Honda Civic Type R), 13.302
3. Takuya Shirasaka (Team DreamDrive/KCMG, Honda Civic Type R), 13.924
4. Kenji Suzuki (Birth Racing Project, Audi RS 3 LMS), 51.081
5. ‘Mototino’ (55 Moto/J’S Racing, Alfa Romeo Giulietta), 52.588 

Championship points – Saturday series
1. Takuro Shinohara 119 pts; 2. Rio Shimono 81; 3. Takeshi Matsumoto 80

Picture: TCR Japan