KC Motorgroup Ltd., leading Hong Kong-based motorsport team, took on a challenging weekend in Super Formula’s opening event in Suzuka Circuit last April 13-14. Apart from the commencement of the highly lauded Japanese series, it also marked British driver Richard Bradley’s debut race as he competes in more powerful machinery with KCMG.
Following an encouraging pre-season test in Fuji during March, the 21 year old rookie displayed commendable tenacity during his first championship round in Super Formula last weekend. Bradley arrived at Suzuka Circuit last Saturday with the KCMG Super Formula entourage with an objective to score the team’s first championship point.
The qualifying session served the team a technical setback, resulting for the British driver to qualify 19th position for the following day’s race. Despite this hitch, Bradley returned to the circuit on Sunday armed with positivity and enthusiasm to complete 300km. and conquer 51 laps.
Determined to deliver strong results, Bradley was off to a good start and went up two positions by Lap 3. However, due to a jump start, the rookie got a drive through penalty and had a difficult time recovering his previous position. Undeterred by this hurdle, Bradley drove with a good pace throughout the race and physically endured the 300km challenge. The British driver finished 19th position in the Japanese championship’s first round.
Bradley states that his maiden race at Suzuka was a good learning curve. “Apart from the penalty I’m very happy with how the race went as I was making very good progress, but even after the penalty I used the time to learn some new things and managed to complete the 300 km successfully. It’s a shame because I think we could’ve had a good result here as the pace was good but the important thing was for me to learn and now I feel much better going to Autopolis.”
KCMG Japan General Manager Ryuji Doi and Super Formula race engineer Akinori Kasai believes that there is still lot of work to be done in Bradley’s Swift FN09. Doi-san states that the development of a very advanced car needs constant work and improvement. “The team is satisfied with Richard’s performance as he has displayed impressive endurance given that the Suzuka race was his first and was physically tough. Kasai-san and I think that Richard can challenge for positions further at the front. This will be our objective in the next race at Autopolis. With the right strategy and car set-up, I am confident that Richard can score his first championship point for the team.”
The team will proceed to the second round of Super Formula at Autopolis on June 1-2. To know more about the premier Japanese series’ event for 2013, visit http://superformula.net
For more information about KCMG, visit www.kcmg.com.hk. To keep track of latest updates, please like KCMG’s Facebook page or follow @KCMotorgroup on Twitter.
Photo by: Takashi Ogasawara of Autosport Web Japan
