Motoyama beats earthquake and lightning
Satoshi Motoyama ignored an earthquake, an electrical storm and the advances of German rookie Andre Lotterer to win his fourth Formula Nippon race of the year at Sugo
Driving his Team Impul Lola B3/51, Motoyama hounded pole sitter Lotterer in the early stages and leapt ahead of the Nakajima Planning car at the all-important pitstop, after which he controlled the race to win by 12-seconds.
Lotterer had taken pole earlier in the morning after qualifying was washed out on Saturday when storms hit the remote track, which is situated in the mountains north of Sendai City. The storms came after a substantial earthquake hit the region on Friday evening, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale and tremors of 4.3 were felt at the circuit, some 270 miles from the epicentre of the quake at Miyagi on the Eastern coast.
Third placed finished Juichi Wakisaka was some 40secs behind them by the finish. Motoyama's Impul team-mate Benoit Treluyer finished fourth after a race long scrap with Ulster's Richard Lyons in the Dandelion Lola, while Tsugio Matsuda who scored his best result of the year with sixth place in the Cerumo car.
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