“It was not bad, all things considered”: Ren Sato on qualifying and race expectations at Autopolis

Credit: Super Formula

Ren Sato is a three-time podium finisher in Super Formula, currently driving for Nakajima Racing. He qualified seventh for Round 3 of the 2026 Super Formula season at Autopolis, to be held tomorrow. He sat down with DIVEBOMB to discuss his thoughts heading into tomorrow’s race.

Sato missed out on making it to Qualifying 3 by exactly a tenth of a second. He goes through why he lost out on that valuable tenth and couldn’t make it to Q3: “During Free Practice, our setup was no good, so we had to redo the setup. We went into qualifying with a different setup that we did not test at all, and we just did our best. It was not bad, all things considered.”

Starting from seventh, he is in a great spot to finish in the points. He was, however, more concerned about the weather and whether the race would even go on. “We're expecting heavy rain, so we're not sure yet if the race will go on. So, we hope to have a race tomorrow in spite of the rain.”

Heavy rain is expected to hit the track tomorrow, and in the previous wet weather race, round one at Motegi, Sato qualified and finished third. He is not worried about the race tomorrow and thinks they have nailed the setup. “We had it set for rain anyway. We expected rain, so we are all set for the rainy conditions.”

Credit: Super Formula

He ended last season with a second-place finish at the season finale, just seven tenths behind the race winner, Ayumu Iwasa. In the previous race, his teammate, Igor Fraga, became the first driver outside of Team TOM’S, Team Mugen and Dandelion Racing to win a race. Sato believes Nakajima Racing are already a top team and expects to be competitive with those teams.

“Since the last part of last season, it was already as such. I think we have belonged to one of the top teams since then. I expect us to keep up as one of the top teams for this season.”

At the season opener weekend, Sato went viral online for his talent for drawing. He often makes illustrations before races and occasionally posts them on his X account. “Drawing is one of my hobbies, and when I draw, fans usually get excited about it. I usually draw illustrations about whatever I’m interested in at the time,” he said.

As mentioned earlier, Sato will start from seventh in the race tomorrow. He is in prime position to grab a healthy amount of points or even sneak a podium. The race starts at 14:30 JST and will run for 41 laps.