Qualifying is focus after tough Super Formula start

Zak O’Sullivan says his focus is on improving his qualifying performances after a tougher-than-expected start to his Super Formula campaign with Kondo Racing.

The former Williams Formula 1 junior driver made the remarks on Wednesday during a visit to the UK Embassy in Tokyo, where he met with Ambassador Julia Longbottom.

It follows a challenging start to the season in the Japanese series, with O’Sullivan having only scored three points so far for an eighth-place finish in the very first race of the campaign at Suzuka in March.

O’Sullivan has only made it through to Q2 once in four attempts, failing to do so in both legs of the Motegi double-header earlier this month while Kondo team-mate Kenta Yamashita took a dominant pole in the Sunday race.

Reviewing his season so far, O’Sullivan highlighted a lack of one-lap pace as the biggest challenge he faces in his bid to climb the competitive order.

“I would have hoped for a bit more, I would have liked some more points on the board,” he told Autosport.

“Suzuka wasn’t bad, but at Motegi I struggled a lot. I went in circles trying to find a solution and couldn’t get there, unfortunately. 

“The race pace wasn’t terrible, but it’s a qualifying championship, so it almost doesn’t matter how fast you are in the race. If you don’t qualify well, your race is pretty much over.

“There’s no reason we can’t be consistently in the lower part of Q2, which has been where Kenta has been for the last few years – between sixth and eighth. 

“I think that’s a reasonable goal. We are just outside that bubble, [so] even if you have a good first lap or there’s some chaos ahead, you are still only scoring a few points. 

“The focus is to be fast over one lap. That’s something I need to work on, and the rest should follow.”

O’Sullivan’s Super Formula campaign resumes on 18 May with the fifth round of the season at Autopolis, after which comes the in-season test at Fuji Speedway.

The 20-year-old has already gained experience of Fuji thanks to his programme in SUPER GT’s lower GT300 class with CarGuy MKS Racing. He will race at the circuit again this weekend, sharing the team’s Ferrari 296 GT3 with Toyota youngster Rikuto Kobayashi.

“I really want to make the most of it,” said O’Sullivan of the Fuji test. “The tests at Suzuka were all about either getting used to the car or getting back used to it after the winter. But now I know the car so I am happier to experiment with the setup.

“I am looking forward to seeing if I can find something I am more confident with, that will help me extract a bit more performance from the car. 

“It’s essentially a one-shot qualifying, so if you are not 100% confident to push, you will always be a step behind.”

O’Sullivan, who is only the second Briton to race in Super Formula full-time this decade after Raoul Hyman, added he is enjoying being the flag-bearer for the UK in the championship this year.

“It seems there is a big interest in motorsport in Japan and what I’m doing here,” he said of his visit to the UK Embassy in Tokyo.

“Chatting with the staff here, they were very interested to learn about the competitiveness of Japanese motorsport and what kind of infrastructure they have in their home-grown series. 

“I did invite the ambassador to Fuji [for Rounds 6 and 7 in July] and she said she is away, but hopefully she can come to a race later in the year, which would be great.”