Shinohara wins the first race at Sugo in a foggy day

At the end of an hectic race in a foggy day, Takuro Shinohara emerged as the first winner of TCR Japan’s 2020 season at Sportsland Sugo. Shinohara started from P9 on the grid, elbowed his way through the field and eventually beat Kengo Ichijo after a close fight. 
The two Qualifying sessions had been cancelled due to thick fog, and so the grid for Race 1 was decided by a draw that placed Mineki Okura’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta on pole position, with Resshu Shioya’s Honda Civic alongside. Shinohara who had set the fastest lap in Friday’s test sessions at the wheel of his Audi RS 3 LMS was drawn to start ninth.
The fog also delayed the start of the race by one hour and when the red lights turned off Shioya led from ‘Hirobon’ and Takeshi Matsumoto who had sprinted from P7. During the first lap Shioya made a small mistake and dropped to third behind ‘Hirobon’ and Matsumoto. Behind them Shinohara and Ichijo were closing the gap.
Matsumoto stole the lead from ‘Hirobon’ in lap 2 and the latter was also passed by Shinohara in lap 4 and Ichijo in lap 6. From lap 7, Shinohara began putting the pressure on Matsumoto, but Ichijo benefited from the fight to join the battle. Shinohara overtook Matsumoto for P1 in lap 11, however in the following lap Ichijo managed to pass both his rivals and took the lead. It didn’t last for long, as he made a small mistake in lap 13, which opened the door for Shinohara to recover the first position. And so they finished, with Shinohara the winner ahead of Ichijo, while Matsumoto retained third despite a late assault from ‘Hirobon’.
Race 2 is scheduled to start tomorrow at 13:55 local time (06:55 CEST). 

Race 1
1. Takuro Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 16 laps
2. Kengo Ichijo (Birth Racing Project, CUPRA), 0.425
3. Takeshi Matsumoto (Team Wakayama, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 2.909
4. ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 3.817
5. Resshu Shioya (Team G/Motion, Honda Civic Type R), 43.555

Championship points
1. Takuro Shinohara 25 pts; 2. Kengo Ichijo 18; 3. Takeshi Matsumoto 15

Picture: TCR Japan