Before this week’s race at Road Atlanta, we take a look back on the race in Suzuka.
After two races, STAX Racing was fourth in the Teams’ Standings. Chris’ DNF in the last race meant that he dropped to 10th in the Drivers’ Championship, while Nico was in P4. The third race of the season was held in Suzuka, Japan on April 19th, 2018.
Chris Shepherd started the race from third position, behind Risto Kappet and Arne Schoonvliet and directly in front of his teammate Nico Barclay. The first few laps of the 90 minute race were rather quiet for the Top 3, who were able to build a small gap to Nico in P4. Behind Nico, there was a small gap to Epic Racing’s Borja Millan and Matteo Caruso. On Lap 20, Chris had a very good exit out of the Spoon corner and used Schoonvliet’s slipstream to overtake the Edonis driver on the outside going into the final chicane. In the following laps, Chris was able to defend P2 and, after a small mistake from Kappet in T1, put the Estonian driver under pressure. After Nico pitted on Lap 27 and rejoined the race in P8, his teammate headed for the pits one lap later and rejoined the race in P6. Kappet and Schoonvliet pitted one lap later. While Kappet gained some time on Chris during the pits, Schoonvliet had a rather lengthy pit stop, changing tyres. After Kumar and Millan pitted on lap 30, Chris was running in second position, about seven seconds behind race leader Kappet. However, on Lap 34, he had a half spin in Spoon corner, loosing positions to Nico and Millan. One lap later, Schoonvliet, who was able to drive very fast laps compared to the cars around him and fought his way back from P7, passed Chris in the same corner. He also closed the gap to Nico and passed him for P2 in the first turn on lap 39. In the following laps, Chris was able to close the gap to Millan and passed him on Lap 41 to finish the race in P4, behind his teammate Nico Barclay. Risto Kappet won the race ahead of Schoonvliet. However, after the race he received a 5 seconds time penalty for running over the , handing the win to Schoonvliet.
After the third race of the season, STAX Racing is third in the Team’s Standings, just one point behind SimTech Motorsport. Nico defended P4 in the Drivers’ Championship while Chris gained a couple of positions and is now in sixth position. The next race of the season will be held tomorrow at Road Atlanta.
Below you can find the broadcast and the results of the Japanese round.
Broadcast
Results
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Italics indicate Fastest Laps
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