Poleman Nojiri and Lawson, who began third, went side-by-side by way of the Flip 1 and a couple of right-handers on the opening lap of Sunday’s race, with Lawson making an attempt to go across the outdoors of his Crew Mugen colleague.
However Nojiri edged Lawson out large and onto the kerb, inflicting Lawson to lose management and spin into the trail of the chasing pack, whereupon he was concerned in a multi-car collision with Yuhi Sekiguchi, Tadasuke Makino and Nobuharu Matsushita.
The race was red-flagged, and Nojiri’s lead went unchallenged when it was lastly restarted as he pulled away from the closest pursuer, Toshiki Oyu.
With the incident with Lawson being judged as a racing incident, Nojiri went on to clinch his second win of the season with relative ease and revitalise his hopes of a historic third consecutive Tremendous Formulation title within the course of.
Wanting again on the chaotic begin to the race, Nojiri mentioned he went into the race decided to not enable team-mate Lawson to go him with out a struggle.
“I’ve the sensation that I went proper to the restrict,” mirrored Nojiri. “I’m certain Liam felt that I ought to have given him more room, nevertheless it was my intention to struggle to the restrict. I feel the actual fact I did not pull again is one thing I can use subsequent time at Suzuka.
“I spoke to Liam after the race and we made peace. We agreed to place it behind us and struggle once more within the subsequent race. I don’t assume there’s any extra to say about our relationship.
“Perhaps I put him in a tricky place, however I didn’t wish to make it straightforward for him, and never go away any more room than crucial… I feel I went proper to the restrict.
“It’s a disgrace it turned out like that. A part of me clearly thinks I might have completed extra to keep away from it, however I wish to go into the ultimate spherical with a powerful mindset.”
Nojiri’s victory put him simply 10 factors behind championship chief Ritomo Miyata, who completed fourth, with 46 nonetheless up for grabs in October’s double-header finale at Suzuka.
The 2-time champion mentioned he went into the Motegi race decided to make sure that the battle for the title wouldn’t be a two-horse race.
“I feel the journalists thought it could be a straight struggle [between Miyata and Lawson],” mentioned Nojiri. “After I noticed that, it made me really feel like, ‘watch this!’
“I feel the extra drivers which can be concerned [in the title battle], the extra attention-grabbing it’s. I’m completely happy I might create that state of affairs, and I wish to purpose for a 3rd consecutive title.”