Super Formula: Narain Karthikeyan goes through fighting Okayama round

TCS Nakajima Racing's Narain Karthikeyan started the double-header Round 2 of Super Formula weekend at Okayama with a 18th place finish, but within a second of the fastest runner Felix Rosenqvist (Team LeMans).

The first qualifying had the veteran Indian in 16th in the Honda-powered car, a mere 0.307s behind Docomo Dandelion's Takuya Izawa in the order.

Up ahead, Team Impul's Yuki Sekiguchi claimed pole from TOM's Andre Lotterer and Kondo's Nick Cassidy on Saturday.

In the second qualifying on Sunday for Race 2, Karthikeyan was 14th as he missed on a Q2 spot by 0.178s, with the Top 18 covered within a second of each other.

At the front, the 2015 champion Hiroaki Ishiura (Inging) took pole ahead of Kondo's Kenta Yamashita and Sekiguchi.

Race 1

The first race saw Lotterer starting off on a sound note to leapfrog Sekiguchi to put himself in control of the race.

After few laps of Sekiguchi staying close to Lotterer's rear, the Japanese driver was unable to catch up and overtake the German in the 30-lap race.

Lotterer, eventually, crossed the flag 1.948s ahead of Sekiguchi taking his first win of the season, while Cassidy completed the rostrum claiming his maiden podium.

Behind, Karthikeyan had a largely steady race to end up 17th in the classification, tucked behind teammate Daisuke Nakajima.

The Indian commented: "The car was quite strong in Suzuka, but the same set-up did not work here on this track surface.

"In Okayama, they have a new surface where our doesn't seem to be working well and we qualified very poorly in the race.

"Also with this track, it is impossible to overtake. Even though we found something in the set-up and the car was performing much better in the race conditions, the position was very bad."

Meanwhile, Mahindra Formula E driver Rosenqvist in the Toyota-powered car finished 12th in the race, closely behind Real's Koudai Tsukakoshi.

Race 2

Tyre strategy played a key role in the second race under sunny conditions, as some drivers opted to pit early to get over the mandatory stop.

In the group of early stoppers was Sekiguchi and Lotterer, while Ishiura, Yamashita and Rosenqvist stayed out for a longer first stint.

The move eventually played out in Sekiguchi's hands with him having the track position on a difficult circuit to overtake. It allowed the Impul driver to fend off Ishiura in the end by a mere 0.408s.

Behind, Lotterer continued his fine run to eke out another podium, but had his task cut-out defending from Rosenqvist, who benefited from a safety car period to notch up his best Super Formula result in fourth, having started the race in 15th.

Meanwhile, Karthikeyan was involved in a huge battle for ninth which had as many as 10 drivers in the frame - all finishing within a second of each other after 51 laps.

The Indian ended up 13th in the order, 0.490s behind Team LeMans' Kazuya Oshima, while teammate Nakajima was just 0.830s at the rear of Karthikeyan's #65 car.

After the completion of two rounds, the championship now heads to Fuji Speedway during the July 8-9 weekend for Round 3 of the 2017 season.

[Image courtesy: Nakajima Racing]