Lawson had an accident at the start and scored no points

Liam Lawson’s challenge to win the Japanese Super Formula title has been complicated by the events that unfolded at the start of today’s race at Motegi.

The New Zealand driver, a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing, took the lead in the individual standings yesterday: a bonus point earned for 3rd result in qualifying tied him in points with Ritomo Miata, but Liam had another win.

Today, however, he was involved in a horrific incident that took place in the opening seconds of the race: Liam started from 3rd position, immediately tried to break ahead and attacked Tomoki Noiri, his Team Mugen teammate and pole holder. But on the exit of Turn 2, Lawson’s car spun, she was in the middle of the track and two other racers, Tadasuke Makino and Yuhi Sekiguchi, crashed into her at full speed.

From the outside, the accident looked very serious, but luckily no one was injured. The race was stopped by red flags, the stewards admitted that it was not Noiri’s fault in what happened, but the most surprising thing is that in the time remaining before the restart, Team Mugen’s mechanics managed to fix Lawson’s car. repair it, and he returned to the track.

Of course, for returning to the pits when the pit lane was closed, the driver was fined, served his penalty and eventually managed to finish 13th.

Miata simultaneously earned points for 4th place and regained his championship lead. Lawson remained on the second line of the personal classification, but is now 8 points behind. With today’s win, Noiri has moved up to third and is only a few points behind Liam, so he has a real shot at the title.

There are still two races to go before the end of the season. These will be held on the last weekend of October at the Suzuka circuit, which will host the final double stage of the Japanese series.