Rio Shimono scores another top-10 in Japanese F4 season finale

Rio Shimono drove smartly and stayed out of trouble in an incident-packed last round of the 2024 F4 Japanese Championship at Suzuka International Racing Course, to end the season on a high note with another top-10 result.

Photo credits: Dr.Dry — Photo Credits: Dr.Dry

Rio Shimono ended her third season of Japanese F4 on a high after scoring another top-10 finish at the season finale at the Suzuka International Racing Course.

Shimono had scored her first top-ten result of the season at Mobility Resort Motegi last time out, with a with a ninth place finish in the second race.

A TCR Japan champion in the Bronze category, she joined the F4 Japanese championship full-time in 2022 and has since then combined campaigns in F4 as well as the all-female Kyojo Cup.

Race one at Suzuka was held on a sunny Saturday and saw Honda junior Ryota Horachi start from pole, but he lost the lead at lights out to teammate Yuto Nomura, who lead the pack going into the first few corners.

With Nomura leading the pack, Rio Shimono, who started P14, had moved up to P11 in the opening laps, and would keep the position as the race was neutralized after a few laps following "Dragon" (Ryuji Kumita)'s off-track excursion that saw him beached in the gravel at the 130R corner.

The safety car was deployed at the end of lap 7, but it would soon come out again as Isao Nakashima and "Kentaro" collided at the hairpin, putting both drivers out of the race.

Green flag racing resumed on the last lap, and Kento Omiya locked up the brakes into the final chicane, losing many positions and dropping out of the points, promoting Rio Shimono to tenth position as she took the chequered flag - in a clean and smart drive for the Dr.Dry racer.

At the front, Yuto Nomura won the race ahead of Yuki Sano and Ryota Horachi and clinched the championship with a race to spare.

The second race, held on Sunday, proved to be even more chaotic than Race 1. Ryota Horachi one again started on pole and managed to hold the lead at the start, but it didn't take long for the first safety car of the race to come out, following Kento Omiya's spin into the gravel in the esses.

On the restart on lap 4, Hironobu Shimizu and Ryo Shirasaki collided in turn one and found themselves in the gravel, along with Kazuhisa Urabe who had nowhere to go trying to avoid the incident.

On the final restart, Ryota Horachi held on to win the race, but would later be disqualified for a technical infringement, handing the win to Kotaro Shimbara, who was joined on the podium by Yuto Nomura and Tosei Moriyama.

Shimono, who had started P15, stayed out of trouble to finish P12 on track, and was later promoted to P11 after Horachi's disqualification - again finishing on the doorsteps of the points-paying positions, showcasing a solid progression over the season to consistently battle for points in the final rounds.

In the Independent's class, Yutaka Toriba swept the weekend, winning ahead of Nobuhiro Imada and "Dragon", the latter of which, being crowned champion of the class.

With the F4 season over, Rio Shimono now sets her sights on the final round of Kyojo Cup, where she currently sits third in the championship, next week on December 22nd at Fuji Speedway.