Ayumu Iwasa fears he is not going to give you the option to fight for this yr's Super Formula title unless his Team Mugen crew make an enormous effort to enhance their performance at the beginning.
The Red Bull Iwasa junior finished second in qualifying for the fourth round of the season at Fuji last weekend and looked to have a superb likelihood of closing the gap on Mugen team-mate Tomoki Nojiri, who leads the drivers’ championship.
However, a disastrous breakaway dropped Iwasa to eleventh on the primary lap, and after losing two positions on the second lap, he did not make significant progress and ultimately finished the race in eleventh place, outside the points.
Meanwhile, Nojiri recovered from seventh on the grid to take third and extend his points lead, now 9.5 points ahead of Fuji winner Sho Tsuboi [TOM’S].
After the race, Iwasa made it clear that he felt his Mugen team had a responsibility to enhance their situation after falling 15.5 points behind Nojiri.
“In terms of team strength, in terms of starts and approach, I think we are the worst in the field,” Iwasa said.
“Overall, we’ve got good results when it comes to qualifying speed and race pace, but in terms of starts, the team's results are very poor.
“There is not any one person chargeable for this, so everyone within the team has to work together to enhance the situation. In the present situation, nobody thinks we are going to give you the option to begin well in the long run.
“If we don’t come together as a team on the starts, we won’t give you the option to win a race, let alone fight for the championship.
“The Mugen team is seen as a strong team, but I and the engineers believe that starts are a major weak point. It's something fundamental.”
Ayumu Iwasa, TEAM MUGEN
Photo: Masahide Kamio
Iwasa also had a poor start from pole position within the second round of the season at Autopolis, but this time he managed to make up ground and take second place behind Tadasuke Makino.
His race engineer, Tomohiko Koike, made it clear he didn’t consider the poor start that ruined Iwasa's race at Fuji was a driver error.
“The key to a launch is when you squeeze the clutch, but how hard you press the throttle is determined by the throttle map,” Koike said.
“It is difficult for the driving force to properly control the automobile using only their feet, so we’ve got introduced a throttle map in launch mode, which suggests the automobile doesn’t move as easily.
“The throttle and clutch basically do what they are supposed to do, so it almost never happens that a driver ruins a start by making an operational error.”
Watch: Round 4: Fuji Highlights
