Kaku Ohta wants "a stress-free race" as he looks to wrap up the Super Formula drivers' title
Kakunoshin "Kaku" Ohta is in the middle of a dominant Super Formula season so far after missing out on the title last year by just six points. He has won half of the eight races held so far this season and is currently leading the championship by a gargantuan 45.5 points.
As the season returns to Fuji for Rounds 9 & 10 this weekend, Ohta has a mathematical chance of wrapping up the title as early as Round 10 Qualifying. He spoke to DIVEBOMB following the Free Practice sessions for the race weekend.
To clinch the title, he needs to outscore reigning champion Ayumu Iwasa by half a point by the end of the weekend and outscore Nirei Fukuzumi by 1.5 points. To do it by Round 10 Qualifying, he would need to win Round 9 from pole and qualify on the front row ahead of Iwasa for Round 10.
“It seems tough to clinch the championship before the Round 10 race because other competitors who are high in the standings, Fukuzumi, Fraga and Iwasa, they are all in the top group after the FP2 session. So, I think it's going to be very, very tough. They never let me go! Then they have to score more points than me, for sure. I know they will be looking at me during the race.
“Hopefully no crash. Then just, hopefully, from pole position, then just go in and, you know, like make a big gap. Then have a stress-free race. But they look fast. So I think it's quite difficult to clinch the championship before the round 10 race. If I'm able to become a champion after the round 10 race, I'll be super happy.”
Ohta has seen great success at this circuit over the past two years. He has won two of the three races held here this season, with one of those being his stellar charge from 13th on the grid. He mentioned his expectations for the race weekend.
“So far, we're doing good and the car has pace. The other teams and drivers look fast in FP1 and FP2, Nakajima Racing in particular. But tomorrow we should have warmer conditions than today, which is what I prefer. Because last round in Fuji was quite a successful weekend for us. Then the conditions were a bit warmer than today. Hopefully, the temperature goes up and maybe better than P4 or P5 [in Qualifying], then ready to win the race.”
The Dandelions had previously run relatively high-downforce setups here in the past before committing to low-downforce setups at Fuji earlier this year. He talked us through the setup for this weekend.
“We've been working on a lower downforce setting than before. That worked well in the last race. Our car is now a bit different from last year. But we are always going forward. That's our strength. Not the radical changes, but always thinking about the car and making small steps. Constantly taking small steps forward will accumulate into a big step at some point.”
Since the previous races at SUGO and Fuji, the power difference between the Honda and Toyota engines has been a major talking point, with Toyota drivers like Sho Tsuboi and Zak O’Sullivan becoming increasingly more vocal about the Honda engines’ seemingly higher power output. Ohta gave his two cents on the matter from the perspective of a Honda driver.
“I've never driven a Toyota engine before, so I don't know the exact difference. But I don't think the maximum power of their engines is different. Something must be different, but it seems that Fukuzumi was fastest before the last attack [in FP2], and in FP1 it looks like Toyota is strong, but I hope Honda will be better tomorrow”
While Ohta started the season off with back-to-back wins in Super Formula, the story was a little different in SuperGT. A shaky debut for the new Honda Prelude meant that he and his teammate, Hiroki Otsu, driving the #8 ARTA Mugen, finished outside the points in the opening two rounds.
Things took a sharp turn for Round 4 at Fuji as the Kyoto native qualified on pole and finished second. They then scored a podium the following round at Suzuka.
“It's impossible to make a step in Super GT because the development is frozen. To be honest, I don't know what Honda has been doing during that period, but it's obvious that our car has been performing very good since. We are becoming stronger and stronger.
“The car feels quite different. I could feel the improvement from round two to round four; it's a great thing. All engineers, all mechanics from Honda and Mugen, put all their effort into it, and that's the key. Their passion is now super high. We need the drivers to perform to contribute to the performance and the results as well.”
Ohta then went on to reminisce about the Fuji and Suzuka rounds.
“It was great to be the first pole sitter for Prelude in Fuji. It's a bit of a shame that we, we couldn't win the race in Fuji and Suzuka, but two consecutive podiums for us were great. So it was a bit of a mixed feeling. We wanted to be the first winners for the Prelude, but, yeah, still we haven't won a race, so hopefully the next race will be our first win.”
Ohta has long had his sights set stateside, and this year, he drove for Acura Meyer Shank Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship twice and grabbed a podium for the team at the 6 Hours of the Glen. The Acura GTP program, however, has come to an end following the season finale at Road America.
“It's a big shame that the Acura program will be ending this year. I was so sad to say goodbye to all of the team members last weekend in Petit Le Mans. Hopefully one day we can do another race together. But it is what it is. Honda chose it.”
Rumours have been circulating that Ohta is eyeing an LMP2 drive in IMSA for next year to try for an IndyCar seat in 2028. While he did not mention anything about IndyCar, he did confirm that he is looking for a drive in IMSA next season.
“For next year, I’m looking for another chance to compete in IMSA. And I have had some chats with the other teams. But, you know, it's so tough to find a seat in IMSA as well. There's no easy seat in this kind of high-level racing. And also, I'm a Honda factory driver.
I always show the biggest respect to Honda. So managing those two things is not very easy. I'm working on it very hard. Let's see. Hopefully I can give some good news to Japanese fans.”
Ohta will be racing in Super Formula at Fuji this weekend, with Round 9 taking place tomorrow, on Saturday and Round 10 taking place on Sunday. Both races start at 15:00 JST (07:00 BST).
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