Liam Lawson’s debut at Mobility Resort Motegi has been compromised by a frightening Lap 1 crash that saw two cars go airborne, one doing a barrel roll and the other landing upside down.
Front-row starter Kakunoshin Ota stalled at the start of the race, allowing the Kiwi Team Mugen driver a way through from third to battle teammate Tomoki Nojiri for the lead.
Lawson ran the outside line around the corner and was run wide by the pole-sitter, leaving the racing surface and spinning in front of the field.
The trailing Tadasuke Makino, Yuhi Sekiguchi and Nobuharu Matsushita all collected the rear of the Kiwi’s car, with one doing a complete barrel roll in the air and another rolling into the barriers, ending upside down.
Lawson was able to return to the pit lane under his own power, albeit minus a rear wing and with considerable damage. Race control has cleared Nojiri of any wrongdoing, despite Lawson claiming otherwise via the race radio.
All drivers involved in the collision were uninjured.
The race was red-flagged and is set to resume shortly. Lawson has returned to the circuit at the rear of the field. Furthermore, he was also awarded a drive-through penalty for a pit lane infringement based on the work that was done under caution.
Oops 😬 not what you want Mr Lawson. We can only learn from this and move forward. Thank you.