Nyck de Vries believes the penalty that cost him his first Super Formula points finish at Fuji is a result of a “domestic-specific” interpretation of the rules governing contact.
In his third and final stand-in appearance of the season for Team Impul, ex-Formula 1 racer de Vries finished eighth on the road, making up nine places from his grid position.
However, a five-second time penalty awarded for making contact with Kenta Yamashita exiting Turn 1 as they battled over ninth place on lap 32 of 41 meant that de Vries dropped down to 11th in the final results.
That matched his result from Saturday’s opening race, when he fell two tenths of a second shy of overhauling Kondo Racing’s Yamashita for the final point in 10th.
While satisfied with his performance, de Vries pointed out the difference between his version of events in his battle with Yamashita and those of the stewards, and feels the move would have been deemed legal in categories outside of Japan.
“I would call the [penalty] decision very domestic-specific, made by people who are watching 100 metres away from the corner, which is different from my view,” said de Vries.
“If you watch the footage, it’s clear that at the apex I am almost half a car length in front of [Yamashita]. I am on the normal line, so I am accelerating at the optimum point, so I have no chance to back out because I need to use all the track.
Nyck de Vries, ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
“He accelerates to try and recover the missed ground, but he is going for a gap that isn’t there. I am at maximum lock, and he is coming from the outside and hits me.
“I just feel bad for the team because they’ve had a tough season and they deserve it.”
De Vries added that hopes Super Formula will adopt a more international approach to the rules that govern wheel-to-wheel combat in future.
“People have asked me what I think about Super Formula and how it can become even more relevant to Formula 2 and Formula 1, and I praise the series, because the cars are great and the racing is great,” he said.
“But this kind of rule that has nothing to do with international racing doesn’t make sense to me.”
De Vries’ recovery into the points was all the more remarkable as he was caught up in a second-lap incident involving Iori Kimura and Atsushi Miyake at Turn 10.
That forced the Dutch driver into the pits to replace his front wing, although the resulting safety car meant he was able to restart at the tail of the field.
Nyck de Vries, ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
A further safety car period was called when Yuji Kunimoto tapped Kazuya Oshima into a spin at Turn 1 then allowed de Vries to pit under caution and make up further places.
“Our pace was very good in that first stint,” reflected de Vries. “[After the contact] we were overtaking a car almost every lap, so we were making ground anyway, and then the second safety car played into our hands.
“Actually on the first lap, I was already ahead of [Ayumu] Iwasa. Most of the ground I lost with the front wing change, I already made up before the second pitstop, because I came out behind Kamui [Kobayashi] and Iwasa was just ahead of him.”
Toyota junior Hibiki Taira will take over the #19 Impul car, which was driven earlier in the year by Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire and Lexus IMSA regular Ben Barnicoat, for next month’s season finale at Suzuka.
Taira took the car’s only points finish of the year so far on Super Formula’s previous visit to Fuji in July, when he finished ninth.
