Dunlop was looking well placed for its first pole position of the 2022 season after the opening segment of qualifying on Saturday afternoon, as Toshiki Oyu broke the lap record at Sugo with a time of 1m09.660s at the wheel of the #16 Mugen Honda NSX-GT.
Hiroki Otsu was second-quickest in the #64 Nakajima Racing Honda, which had set the pace earlier that morning in practice and is carrying zero success ballast this weekend.
However, just 40 minutes later, the competitive order had shifted entirely as Sasahara was unable to come close to his teammate's benchmark time, ending Q2 down in seventh on a 1m10.335s and almost seven tenths down on the pole time set by Racing Project Bandoh's Sena Sakaguchi.
Takuya Izawa was eighth and slowest in Q2 after suffering an off at SP Corner on his attack lap.
"I simply didn’t have enough grip," Sasahara told Motorsport.com. "I’m still surprised at how things can change so much from Q1 to Q2. In Q1, both Dunlop cars were dominating, but in Q2, even with no mistake the #64 car couldn’t get pole for sure.
"The tyre felt completely different to free practice, and after Q1 I was sure we could be on pole. It seems to be the same for both Dunlop cars.
"We want to just stay on track and score as many points as we can. But first we need to understand what happened in qualifying, otherwise tomorrow will be difficult as well. At the moment it feels like a mystery!"
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Izawa meanwhile was left to rue a mistake he feels cost he and Otsu a chance to start much higher up the order, even if he conceded that Sakaguchi's pole time would have likely been out of reach.
"I touched the grass on the inside at SP one and the car became unsettled, so it was just my mistake," Izawa told Motorsport.com. "Maybe it was not enough for pole position but maybe it was enough for second or third position, so I'm disappointed about this result.
"We have the lightest car in the field [in terms of success ballast] so we must get a good result tomorrow. Maybe if the tyre works well for the race, we can still aim for a podium."
Izawa also said he apologised to Sakaguchi for impeding the Bandoh Toyota on what turned out to be the pole-winning lap as he rejoined the track following his off.
"This was also my mistake, coming back on to the racing line," he said. "I should have come off the throttle to let the #19 car by, but I thought there was a chance to do one more lap."
Sakaguchi estimated that the time loss from getting stuck behind Izawa was around three tenths of a second.
