Rookie driver, Atsushi Miyake, driving the No. 55 TEAM GOH car, finished 10^th in his debut race, scoring one point in Round 1 of the 2022 All Japan Super Formula which took place at Fuji Speedway on Saturday, 9 April.

Miyake made it through Q1, but was unable to replicate it in Q2 which placed him 11^th on the grid. However, as chaos ensued at the start of the race he dropped further down the order.

The team pitted Miyake to change tyres after 11 laps and whilst the race continued at a steady pace with some overtaking and a few battles, he was only able to move up one position from his grid start to finish in 10^th place overall.

Atsushi Miyake, Driver, #55

“I had to fight for position at the start and I lost a few places, but my pace after the tyre change coupled with the team’s strategy was good enough to finish in 10^th place. Looking back on the race I was not able to put the sectors together well in Q2 which had a big impact on my position. We will now review the qualifying sessions and the way we drive in the early stages of the race to give the team a chance to work out a strategy which will put us as far ahead as possible in qualifying and make us even more competitive in the race. I will do my best.”

Masashi Yamamoto, Team Director

“Miyake qualified 11^th, but had a poor race start, and, through no fault of his own, he did go off track a little, but the early pit stop strategy enabled him to run consistent lap times through the rest of the race and to finish in 10^th gaining one point in the process .  It was very significant for the team to score points on our race debut and I am looking forward to the next nine races. Please continue to support us tomorrow.”

Shintaro Okajima, Engineer, #55

“In qualifying whilst we came through Q1, our lap times in Q2 were not good enough. We encountered a problem in the set-up which caused oversteer and made the car difficult to drive; this will be corrected for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

“In the race we started from 11^th, but lost some positions as battles were fought out. The pit stop strategy, combined with Miyake’s overtaking on track, meant we were able to recover our position and eventually finish in 10^th place scoring our first point in the process and this is a good result leading us into the next round. The balance of the car was good and our race pace was faster than those around us. I also think our long-run race pace will be good tomorrow, but first of all I want to make sure we can show good speed in qualifying which we can then build on in the race.”