Lola-Dome heads Motegi test.
The all new Lola-Dome F106 set the pace in the first head-to-head test with Italian rival Dallara at Motegi late last week, with Team Tigre driver Shinya Hosokawa beating 2002 British F3 Championship runner-up and former Jaguar test driver James Courtney into second place.
Hosokawa, a former team-mate of Courtney's at Carlin Motorsport in the UK, recorded a best time of 1min 46.386secs around the Motegi road course, with the Australian's TOM's team-mate Hiroki Kataoka ending the first of two sessions in second spot behind the new Lola-Dome.
The all new Lola-Dome F106 set the pace in the first head-to-head test with Italian rival Dallara at Motegi late last week, with Team Tigre driver Shinya Hosokawa beating 2002 British F3 Championship runner-up and former Jaguar test driver James Courtney into second place.
Hosokawa, a former team-mate of Courtney's at Carlin Motorsport in the UK, recorded a best time of 1min 46.386secs around the Motegi road course, with the Australian's TOM's team-mate Hiroki Kataoka ending the first of two sessions in second spot behind the new Lola-Dome.
The Dallara runners had their work cut out to prevent a clean sweep of the leading positions by the Anglo-Japanese collaboration, with Shibata and Yoshimoto also getting the better of the day to end up in third and fourth places for Yellow Hat and NOW Motorsports respectively. Italian kart ace Ronnie Quintarelli was the third best of the Dallara runners, behind Courtney and Kataoka, but could only place sixth overall on combined times.
Without exception, each of the 13 drivers present improved their times in the second session of the day.
Leading performances - Motegi:
Hosokawa Tigre Lola-Dome F106 1min 48.219secs 1min 46.384secsCourtney TOM's Dallara F302 1min 48.750secs 1min 46.406secsShibata FD Yellow Hat Lola-Dome F106 1min 48.961secs 1min 46.690secsYoshimoto NOW Motorsports Lola-Dome F106 1min 49.437secs 1min 46.863secsKataoka TOM's Dallara F302 1min 48.241secs 1min 46.965secsQuintarelli Inging Dallara F302 1min 49.538secs 1min 47.199secsYokomizo Inging Dallara F303 1min 49.587secs 1min 47.314secsYanagida Three Bond Dallara F303 1min 49.541secs 1min 47.655secsKobayakawa Esso TOM's Dallara F302 1min 49.858secs 1min 47.765secsShibata DTM Dallara F302 1min 50.858secs 1min 48.395secsSato Toda Dallara F302 1min 50.093secs 1min 48.536secsBanba NOW Motorsports Dallara F302 1min 50.586secs 1min 49.073secsOgawa Aim Sports Dallara F302 1min 52.174secs 1min 49.468secs
[Times listed according to session; best time in bold]
