About a month after the season-opener, Rounds 3 and 4 of the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship were held on May 22nd and 23rd at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi prefecture. A test day was held on the 21st, when summer weather returned with a blast that sent temperatures soaring up to 30 degrees Celsius.

There were two free practice sessions held on the 21st for F3. Vowing to get revenge for Suzuka, Sato set times in the top 3 in his class in both sessions.

The sun continued to shine through on the 22nd. The first qualifying session ended with Sato taking 5th place in his class. After doing some fine-tuning to his machine he faced the 2nd session, taking 3rd place in his class.

Meanwhile Sasaki took 8th place in his class in the first session. During the interval he made some adjustments, including to the wing, and took 7th place in the 2nd session.

The Round 3 championship race. The temperature had dropped from the qualifying session, but the heat was still over 25 degrees Celsius. The sun was shining as strong as ever, which forecast the tough race that was in store for the drivers.

At 5th place in his class Sato got off to a decent start, but at the 3rd corner he made contact with a car that had gotten off to a late start and spun far off track. Somehow he managed to make his way back onto the track, but not without his car suffering some damage. Once he made it back to the pit he left exited the machine and retired.

Meanwhile, Sasaki skillfully avoided the accident at turn 3 to take 3rd place, a significant jump from his starting position. For the first time, he was speeding his way toward the F3 winners' platform.

However, the car in 4th place gradually closed the gap. Sasaki desperately tried to hold off the car behind him without increasing his pace, but in the end he was still being closely tailed on the last lap.

With just a short distance from the chequered flag he desperately tried to defend 3rd place, but went off the track in order to avoid colliding with the 4th place car as it tried to pass him at the 90 degree corner. He ended the race by crossing the finish line in 5th place.

''Hitting his car would have been the worst thing that could have happened. In that situation I had no choice but to go off track. Being tailed like that right before that corner was the reason I lost my position,'' commented Sasaki after the race.

On the day Round 4 was contested, the clouds overhead were a complete change of pace from the preceding days. Even the track surface was cold to the touch. After scoring 7th in qualifying, Sasaki made contact with another car on the third lap of the race resulting in a tyre bursting. He was unable to control his car at the hairpin following that incident, and speared straight off track and into retirement.

Sato got off to a solid start from his 3rd place qualifying spot, gaining one position. Directly following that he traded places with another car, but held on to the 3rd place spot. However, the 4th place car was close on his tail.

Sato went all out to defend his position in a fierce battle for the 3rd place he had earned on lap 2. On the 3rd lap there was an accident where some cars made contact behind Sato, and the car in 4th place fell quite a large distance behind. Following that Sato didn�ft have any pressure coming from behind him to worry about, so he was able to keep up his own pace.

Sato defended his position all the way to the chequered flag. It was his first time to make it to the winners' podium this season. However, with a serious look on his face he said, ''I still haven't made up the difference with the top group.'' He hopes to shorten the gap by the next race in Fuji and compete for the top spot.