Nirei Fukuzumi grabs ROOKIE Racing's maiden win after a thriller at Suzuka
- Tarun Suresh
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Round 5 of the Super Formula season saw an intense three way battle for the lead, which had Nirei Fukuzumi grab his third win and ROOKIE Racing’s first, seven years on from their debut.
Qualifying
Q1 Group A
Qualifying 1 for Group A did not suffer from the track limits violations that plagued yesterday’s sessions, but it wasn’t without its own drama. Juju Noda had a loose wheel in the pit lane, and it seemed like the crew fixed it and sent her out, but the wheel still was not properly fitted. She did a good job of bringing the car back to the garage, but with less than a minute to go, that effectively ended her qualifying session early.
The session was among the closest it’s been at Suzuka in recent years, with the top five separated by less than a tenth and a half. The drivers who made it through to Qualifying 2 were: Ren Sato, Tadasuke Makino, Tomoki Nojiri, Rikuto Kobayashi, Sena Sakaguchi and Sacha Fenestraz. It was Rikuto Kobayashi’s first time entering Q2.
Q1 Group B
For Group B’s Q1 session, track limits shenanigans from yesterday returned to the scene with Toshiki Oyu, Zak O’Sullivan, Seita Nonaka and Luke Browning all getting their lap times deleted for crossing the white line at the exit of the second Degner. It was a major disappointment for Oyu and O’Sullivan in particular since those two were among the favourites to make it to Q2.
The drivers from group B to qualify for Q2 were, in order: Ayumu Iwasa, Kakunoshin Ohta, Igor Fraga, Yuto Nomura, Nirei Fukuzumi and Sho Tsuboi.
Qualifying 2
When the clock started ticking down in Q2, track limits violations, once again, reared their heads. Championship leader Ohta, the two Nakajima Racing machines of Sato and Fraga and the two-time champion Nojiri all fell victim to it and had their fastest lap times deleted. They’ll be occupying positions nine through 12.
When the chequered flag came out, it was Fukuzumi on pole position, grabbing ROOKIE Racing’s maiden pole position by 0.160 seconds ahead of Iwasa in second. Makino was a tenth and a half behind the reigning champion in third.
Yuto Nomura starts from the second row for the second time in a row after an impressive lap put the rookie in fourth. Behind him is the 2024 champion, Sho Tsuboi, who’ll be joined on the third row of the grid by Sena Sakaguchi. Yesterday’s winner, Fenestraz, starts seventh, followed by Rikuto Kobayashi in eighth, in what is the rookie’s best starting position so far.
Final Race
Fukuzumi left no room for error at the start and immediately started building a gap to Iwasa in second. Makino was running firmly in third. Tsuboi made ground and went up to fifth.
Ohta was among the biggest gainers in the opening lap, jumping from ninth to sixth.
It didn’t take long for the first safety car to be brought out as Oyu and O’Sullivan had separate incidents, resulting in debris on track and their front wings broken.
Racing resumed on lap five, and the Dandelions wasted no time, both of them gaining a position each on restart.
When the pit window opened on lap eight, Makino was the first to pit from second; he was followed by Fraga in ninth and Rikuto Kobayashi in eleventh. Nomura came in a lap later from fourth.
Tsuboi entered the pits on lap 12 from third, but took some time to warm up his tyres and was facing a challenge from Fraga. Fortunately for the reigning Super GT champion, he could hold off Fraga and was soon right behind Makino, and eventually got past the dandelion driver with a fastest lap on top.
Iwasa and Sakaguchi were the first from the overcut strategy to enter the pits, coming in at the end of lap 21 from second and fourth, respectively. Iwasa exited right ahead of Tsuboi, but luckily for him, Tsuboi went wide trying to overtake on the outside of the spoon curve, a rare mistake for the usually clinical driver.
Fukuzumi and Ohta came in the following lap and exited the pit lane ahead of Iwasa and Tsuboi. Ohta initially struggled on cold tyres and lost a position to Iwasa.
Iwasa wasted no time after getting past Ohta and was immediately trying to find a way past Fukuzumi for the net lead. It did not take long, as with five laps to go, and with the help of the Overtake System (OTS), Iwasa got past Fukuzumi on the outside of 130R.
The following lap, Fukuzumi used up almost all of his OTS to get past Iwasa for the lead. Iwasa soon had Ohta to worry about as the championship leader had more than a hundred seconds of OTS left and was on the button with a clear intention to get past his title rival.
With one lap to go, the top three were separated by a second and a half. Iwasa was on the OTS and so was Ohta, but Fukuzumi only had three seconds of it left. Iwasa did not hold back and hung it out around the outside of the Astemo chicane, but Fukuzumi had just enough grip to hold on to first.
When the top three crossed the finish line, they were separated by just 0.620 seconds. It was Fukuzumi first, grabbing ROOKIE Racing’s maiden win; Akio Toyoda’s personal project finally ending up on the top step of the podium after seven difficult years. Iwasa crossed the finish line second, and four tenths behind him was Ohta.
Sena Sakaguchi had made up a place on Sho Tsuboi and finished fourth, with Tsuboi being the fifth to cross the line. Makino finished sixth after the undercut proved to be a suboptimal strategy with a speedy Fenestraz right behind in seventh.
The two Nakajima Racing machines of Fraga and Sato finished right behind each other in eighth and ninth, with the final points scoring position being occupied by Kamui Kobayashi for his first point of the season.
Championship Standings
Ohta walks away from the weekend with a 52 point lead, but the gap to second has not changed, as Iwasa in second with 37.5 points maintains the 16.5 point gap between the two. Fukuzumi is not that far behind with 35 points to his name.
In the Teams’ Championship, Dandelion Racing get back to the top of the standings with 50 points. Team TOM’S are still close in second with 44.5 points.
Rounds 6 and 7, along with the replacement round for the cancelled round 3, will take place at the Fuji Speedway from July 17th-19th. There will also be mid-season test sessions held at Fuji a couple of weeks earlier.
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