Tsuzuki wins red-flagged Race 2 | Ferrari Challenge Japan Suzuka
Race 2 of the opening Ferrari Challenge Japan weekend in Suzuka didn't disappoint, with plenty of drama to keep the crowd entertained.
SUZUKA, Japan — Akihiro Tsuzuki will be leaving Suzuka with a smile on his face after winning Race 2 at Suzuka, which is the final race of the opening weekend of Ferrari Challenge Japan. Motohiro Kotani took the second spot on the podium, with Falcon following behind in third-place. The next time these drivers meet will be in late April, meaning Kotani doesn’t have to wait too long until he can have another chance of beating Tsuzuki in his Ferrari 296 Challenge after missing out on the opportunity to battle with his fellow gentleman driver in Race 2.
Ferrari Challenge Japan Suzuka Race 2 Results
- 1st: Akihiro Tsuzuki
- 2nd: Motohiro Kotani
- 3rd: Falcon
- 4th: Yamatatsu
- 5th: Yasutaka Shirasaki
- 6th: Yu Liang Chen
- 7th: Cold Max
- 8th: Kentaro
- 9th: Katsuya Hirata
- 10th: Phil Kim
- 11th: Motohiko Isozaki
- 12th: Kenbow
- 13th: Alex Fox
- 14th: Kento Inami
- 15th: Koji Yamamoto
- 16th: J
- 17th: Yoshifumi Komatsu
- 18th: Tetsuo Matsumoto
- 19th: Tak Shaw
- 20th: Yi Hang Tan
- 21st: Lawrence Lau
- 22nd: Naoryu
- 23th: Leong Hing Loong
- 24th: Bamboo Maeda
- 25th: Michael NG
- 26th: John Leo
- 27th: Hirotaka Nishida
- 28th: Satoru Kako
- 29th: Asuki Ozaki
- 30th: Yasuhito Fukui
- 31st: Michito Hirota
- 32nd: Kid
As It Happened: Suzuka Race 2
Once again, Akihiro Tsuzuki didn’t get a great start, with Motohiro Kotani beating him to the first corner. However, Tsuzuki didn’t give up his lead easily, with the Auto Speciale driver fighting back instantly and regaining his pole position within the first couple of corners. But this was the only battling that happened in the opening 10 minutes, with a safety car being required after Michito Hirota sent his Gran Testa Nagano-branded Ferrari 296 Challenge into a barrier at high-speed. The long safety car period played into Tsuzuki’s favour, who not only had to defend for fewer laps, but the Auto Speciale driver also dictated the race restart, allowing him to gain over a one-second advantage over Kotani.
But just as Motohiro Kotani was back within a second of the leader, Yasuhito Fukui brought out another safety car after causing major damage to his Ferrari 296 Challenge in another high-speed meeting with the barriers. Sadly, with just eight minutes left in Race 2, the Suzuka stewards red-flagged the race bringing an end to what would have been an interesting battle between Kotani and Tsuzuki.
Driver of the Race: Nobody
For the first time ever, I don’t think I can give a driver of the race award to anybody for this one. We barely saw any green-flag running, but I’ll give an honourable mention to Falcon, who got his first podium of the 2026 season in this race.
