Having qualified third on the grid, Lawson passed the TGM car of Toshiki Oyu following a safety car restart on lap 8 of 41 before settling in behind pole-sitter and Mugen teammate Nojiri.
Lawson fell as much as two seconds behind Nojiri over the following few laps, but the gap between the two had halved when the Kiwi came into the pits at the end of lap 21 for his mandatory tyre change.
