In qualifying for Races 6, 7 and 8 of the season in the series that uses the Dome F111/3 chassis, powered by an Autotecnica engine, the Bionic Jack Racing driver missed out on pole, but he was on the front row for each outing.
At the start of the first race over 18 laps of the 3.7km circuit, the polesitter Michael Sauter was slow away and was fourth as Lacey led. He was out to over half a second in front when the Safety Car was deployed on Lap 3. Four laps later the race resumed, and Lacey spun at Turn 1. Sauter fought through to win while Lacey recovered to sixth.
The track was wet for Race 2 where Sauter quickly pulled to a clear lead on the first lap. Lacey had pushed through to second and set successive quickest laps to keep Sauter in check. Sauter responded and was almost 5s ahead at the chequered flag. But Sauter was given a post-race 10s penalty for an alleged jump start which gave Lacey the race win.
The track was dry by the time the cars hit the track for Race 3. Sauter was a little tardy off the line and Lacey was quicker and took advantage to pass him at Turn 2. Lacey led the first eight laps and was able to ward off the challenge, until Lap 9 when the Sauter took the lead.
The safety car appeared a lap later and stayed out to the finish. It didn’t help Lacey for he was the recipient of 10s as he was deemed to have had a jump start, and was relegated to fourth.
The next round is at Motegi on August 24-25. Sauter has a 53-point advantage over Sebastian Manson with Lacey third a further 11 points adrift.
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