Shinohara dominates TCR Japan’s Race 1 at Autopolis

Takuro Shinohara and his Hitotsuyama Racing Audi RS 3 LMS claimed another dominant win in TCR Japan’s Race 1 at Autopolis. This was Shinohara’s fourth victory from the four races of the Saturday series held so far.
‘Hirobon’ tried to chase the leader, but his CUPRA ran by Birth Racing Project lost ground lap after lap and had to settle for second, while Shinohara’s traditional rival Takeshi Matsumoto couldn’t stay with the two leaders as he had to defend the third position from the Honda Civic cars of Resshu Shioya and Ryo Shimono.
These results meant that Shinohara’s leading margin in the Saturday series’ standings raised to 37 points over Matsumoto, while ‘Hirobon’ moved into P3 ahead of Shimono.
At the start, Shinohara made good use of the pole position to take the lead from ‘Hirobon’, while Matsumoto and Shimono moved up one place – into third and fourth – as they passed Shioya in Turn 1.
Shinohara pulled away, increasing his margin on ‘Hirobon’ by one second per lap; behind the leading duo, Shimono and Shioya began to put the pressure on Matsumoto.
At the beginning of lap 5, Shimono tried to overtake Matsumoto as they negotiated Turn 1, but she went wide and opened the door for Shioya who passed her for P4.
There wero no further changes in the top positions, while ‘Mototino’ passed Masayoshi Oyama during the tenth lap moving into P10 than became P9 when Kenji Suzuki spun during the last lap. Shinohara won with a comfortable margin of 11 seconds from ‘Hirobon’; Matsumoto retained the third place, rejecting all the assaults from Shioya and Shimono, with the Alfa Romeo of Mineki Okura finishing in sixth position.
The Sunday series’ race is scheduled to start tomorrow at 09:35 local time (01:35 CET), Shinohara will start from the pole position again, with Matsumoto alongside. Live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.  

Race 1
1. Takuro Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 12 laps
2. ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, CUPRA), 11.022
3. Takeshi Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 19.302
4. Resshu Shiota (Team G/Motion, Honda Civic Type R), 19.603
5. Ryo Shimono (Drago Racing, Honda Civic Type R), 20.302

Championship points – Saturday series
1. Takuro Shinohara 114 pts; 2. Takeshi Matsumoto 77; 3. ‘Hirobon’ 41

Picture: TCR Japan