The 9th and 10th races of the Japan Formula 3 Championship were held at Twin Ring Motegi. In the middle of summer, the heat at Motegi is intense and the temperature on the days of the races was consistently above 30 degrees Celsius.

Kimiya Sato placed 5th in the practice session held on August 6th. His setup prepared for Motegi was not a good match. ''The 2nd session was pretty good, but I failed to attack.'' However, since he had gotten used to the feel of his machine, his expression was bright.

Daiki Sasaki placed 3rd on the day. ''Although it was the same for the other racers, my time didn't improve much with new tyres. That is the only thing I'm worrying about right now.'' In the first half of the session, where almost all drivers were using used tyres, the class top time was also recorded.

Finally, August 7th rolled around. During qualifying which began just before noon, the temperature was 36 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was measured at over 50 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest session of race week. On the previous day, Sasaki had been worried about his attack time on new tyres, but in the first qualifying session he tied for 3rd place, a personal best.

On the other hand, Sato was continuing to adjust the set-up of his machine from the previous day. Although the first lap was his best, he remained in 6th place. However after a 10-minute interval, in his 2nd attempt, he changed his strategy and moved in to attack. He ended up finishing in 3rd place.

Round 9 began in the evening. The temperature was still hot at 33 degrees Celsius. Sasaki had a favorable start and went into the 1st corner lined up with the 2nd place car. Unfortunately, he was unable to pass and stayed in 3rd place. At the end of the 1st lap, Sato had ''passed two cars in turn 5'', and was behind Sasaki.

In the opening stages, the two cars stuck to the 2nd place machine, but the gap gradually began to increase. Also, another car began to trail Sato, expanding the battle for 3rd place.

However, as the race went on, Sato's tyres were beginning to show significant wear and he made an error during the 9th lap. A gap opened up between Sato and Sasaki, which eased the pressure on the latter, who held 3rd place until the end. Sasaki mounted the winners' podium for the first time in F3.

''I'm finally on the podium, but I can't say that I'm relieved,'' said Sasaki. At a press conference the top 2 finishers had said ''this is a track where you can't pass,'' but Sasaki swore a consecutive podium finish saying ''rather than being a track where you can't pass, depending on your maneuvering there have to be chances.''

Sato's mistakes let Sasaki slip away, and the gap between he and 5th place began to shrink. He got in the worst trouble with only 2 laps left in the race. At the 90-degree corner his challenger tried to pull level, but he blocked with everything he had. He protected his 4th place finish. ''My tyres were terrible and I had a really rough race,'' he said looking back.

The next day had fine weather, though there was a bit of cloud cover. Round 10 began in the morning. Starting from 3rd, Sato moved up to 2nd in the opening lap. However at the start he had jumped the gun and was given a drive-through penalty.

''At the previous FCJ round, I did a simulation after looking at the start signal's timing. But here I released the clutch just a little too early, and my tyres started turning just at the moment the red signal was going - but hadn't yet gone yet...'' Sato dropped back almost to last place, but fought hard and finished 7th in class.

''Yesterday in the second half of the race my pace dropped, so I changed my set-up a great deal. My overall pace got a lot better today.'' As good as his pace was the penalty was equally regretful, but saying ''Next time I'll do my best,'' he appeared to have already recovered.

Starting from 5th, Sasaki moved up to 4th in the early stages, and was chasing down the 3rd place machine. However, he was unable to create a good chance to pass, and at the same time the 5th place machine was coming up behind him. On lap 13, though the challenger pulled level at the 90-degree turn, Sasaki blocked him with superior braking. He would not be passed.

He had escaped trouble once, but on the 18th lap of the race, Sasaki drew too close to the machine in front and messed up his car's balance, allowing the 5th place car to close on him. ''I made a dangerous situation for myself. I was feeling good, but I couldn't get away from the group,'' Sasaki said regretfully after the race. He ultimately finished 4th.