WFP 2013: Naota Yanagi wins 4th leg at BRC

Six Winds Formula drivers participated in the 4^th leg of the 2013 series on September 21- 22, 2013 at the 3.7-km Batangas Racing Circuit. The six participants of the series were Sung Joon Park and Jeremy San Diego of Zebra Racing Team, Yuuta Kobayashi, Naoto Yanagi, Yousuke Yabushita, and Masamichi Kawai.

The drivers were subjected to a wet track throughout the duration of the 4^th leg. This posed a challenge to drivers in both the qualifying laps and the race itself. The drivers were given 30 minutes to set their best lap around the track for qualifying.

The qualifying round placed Naota Yanagi at the pole position with the best time of 1:58.106 followed by Jeremy San Diego with 1:59.076. Sung Joon Park was placed in fourth clocking in at 2:00.958. However, Kobayashi suffered from a damage to the rear left wheel, placing him in the 6^th position.

Due to the rains, the cars had to switch to their rain tires until the race proper. As early as the start of the race, San Diego already stalled. Contrary to San Diego’s fate, Park was able to have a great start and launched himself to second place going into the first corner. Kobayashi caught up and became third with Yabushita and Kawai tailing behind.

Park tried to maintain his position but was overtaken by Kobayashi on the third lap. However, by the fifth corner, Kobayashi lost control and had Park regain the position. San Diego caught up to Yabushita who was running in fifth. Kobayashi’s collision with the tire barriers on the fourth lap left debris scattered on the track. Following this, Kobayashi retired from the race with a minor injury. Another incident involved San Diego spun out after an attempt to avoid Kawai who spun out himself. San Diego eventually crashed into a side wall and retired from the race but Kawai was able to restart.

There were no other incidents that followed the former two. The race ended with Yanagi securing the 1^st with a total time of 20:02.232 followed by Yousuke Yabushita (2^nd) with +17.756, Sung Joon Park (3^rd) with +33.823, and Masamichi Kawai (4^th) with +38.716.