Otsu hadn’t even deliberate to be at Autopolis till a sudden name at round 4pm on Friday afternoon. With Tomoki Nojiri out of motion after being recognized with a collapsed lung earlier that day, Crew Mugen was in want of a substitute.
With minutes to spare, Otsu caught the final accessible flight to Kumamoto, town that sits to the west of Autopolis, simply over an hour away by automobile. His seat was supplied by Dandelion Racing, the crew he drove for in 2022, and his earlier stint in a Pink Bull-liveried Mugen automobile in 2021 meant the title-winning outfit was in a position to present his previous overalls for the event.
Issues began promisingly with fourth in follow on Saturday morning, with Otsu lapping respectably in comparison with pacesetter and team-mate Liam Lawson. However in Q1 later that day, all of it went pear-shaped – Otsu pushed only a tiny bit too arduous by Turns 8 and 9, the lengthy left-hander and right-hand flick within the second sector, and spun into the limitations.
The crimson flags flew and Otsu needed to begin from the again of the grid – and that meant, barring a miracle, there was no approach he was going to realistically problem for an eye catching consequence. In the long run, from twenty second and final, he might solely make his approach so far as 14th by the chequered flag.
Provided that his alternative at Dandelion this season, rookie Kakunoshin Ota, has didn’t impress within the first a part of the season, being dropped into Nojiri’s #1 machine was the perfect likelihood for Otsu to show to his Honda bosses that he deserves one other look.
An analogous factor occurred with Ukyo Sasahara when he was known as up by Dandelion to interchange the unwell Tadasuke Makino in early 2021. It’s most likely not a stretch to say that the rostrum end Sasahara scored at Suzuka was what allowed him to land a drive at Mugen final 12 months and rating two wins, even when he finally left Honda on the finish of the 12 months.
In contrast, Otsu will discover himself trying again on an enormous alternative missed, with the race providing no actual likelihood to get well from his qualifying mistake.
“Qualifying was every thing,” admitted Otsu talking post-race to Motorsport.com. “I had been finding out Nojiri’s on-boards from final 12 months and his set-up, however the automobile behaved in another way to final 12 months and I wasn’t in a position to react to the temperature altering.
“If I didn’t make the error in qualifying, and if I had made it to Q2 and began excessive up, I feel there was a giant likelihood to be on the rostrum, so I’ve massive regrets. I used to be on the restrict, however I believed, ‘possibly I can go a bit quicker’, as I used to be hungry to set a great time. Perhaps there was some strain driving the #1 automobile, however I simply went past my limits.”
Otsu really made pretty much as good a begin as he might have hoped for from final, gaining six locations on the opening lap after which grabbing one other place on the second lap to run fifteenth. However that’s so far as he would progress till the beginning of the pitstop section, and his option to go lengthy didn’t find yourself paying dividends both as he pitted behind the late security automobile. He even let by his early-stopping team-mate Liam Lawson, who went on to win the race.
“After letting Lawson go, [Sena] Sakaguchi, who was on newer tyres, got here up behind me,” mentioned Otsu. “However in the long run I used to be about as quick as him, so contemplating the distinction in tyre mileage, the tempo was robust, so it was all about not with the ability to qualify nicely.”
It’s not clear whether or not Otsu will get one other shot in Tremendous Formulation this 12 months. Regardless of his sickness, Nojiri was nicely sufficient to be on the observe just about all weekend and assist the Mugen squad, so it appears probably he will likely be match to drive within the subsequent spherical at Sugo subsequent month.
Because the Honda reserve driver, Otsu would theoretically be first in line ought to any of the opposite groups within the model’s steady want a stand-in this 12 months. However to get one other likelihood with the title-winning Mugen crew, which supplied the perfect platform to launch a comeback bid, appears uncertain.
“Having the ability to drive this weekend stirred a variety of feelings in me, and it simply made my willpower to compete on this sequence even stronger,” mentioned Otsu. “So as to have the ability to do this, I wish to do every thing I can in the meanwhile and make use of it for subsequent time.”
