TCR World and life

18 JAPAN RACE 2 – A PENALTY STRIPS MAEJIMA OF THE WIN At the start, Kanamaru and Howson pipped pole sitter Matsumoto and led the field into T1. During the first lap, Maejima overtook ‘Hirobon’ for P4, then Mitsuyama spun, Yukinori Taniguchi spun behind him and ‘Yoshiki’ crashed into Taniguchi’s car. The safety car was deployed on lap 2. When the race restarted, Maejima overtook Matsumoto for P3 into T2, but Jun Sato spun off, his car remained stranded in the gravel and so the safety car was deployed again. When racing resumed for the three final laps, Maejima overtook Howson for P2 at the end of the straight and after a couple of laps tried to pass Kanamaru for the lead; they made contact, Kanamaru spun off and rejoined. There were no further changes and Maejima crossed the line in first position, but was given a 30-second penalty for the incident and dropped to 11th. Howson inherited the victory, while Matsumoto and ‘Hirobon’ were promoted to second and third. Round 9 – Saturday 26 October, Suzuka Grand Prix Circuit 1. Y. Kanamaru (Team Goh Models, Honda Civic FK8); 2. M. Howson (KCMG, Honda Civic FK8); 3. S. Maejima (Go& Fun Squadra Corse, Alfa Romeo Giulietta) Round 10 – Saturday 26 October, Suzuka Grand Prix Circuit 1. M. Howson (KCMG, Honda Civic FK8); 2. T. Matsumoto (Wakayama Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI); 3. ‘Hirobon’ (Birth Racing Project, Volkswagen Golf GTI)