Super Formula Preview: Rounds 3, 6 & 7 at Fuji

Credit: Super Formula 

Super Formula returns to the calendar, and this time it’s a triple header, with the cancelled Autopolis round having its replacement race on Sunday.

Track Overview

The Fuji Speedway is, for the most part, a high speed circuit, with turns one through nine being fast right handers except for the fast left hander of turn three and the medium speed hairpin of turn six. 

Then, the circuit leads into a more technical and relatively lower speed section from Turns 10 to 16 before leading into the longest start/finish straight on the calendar, 1.475 km long.

Driver and team personnel changes

KCMG have announced that Giuliano Alesi will be driving the No.9 car for the remainder of the season, replacing Seita Nonaka in the car after having impressed the team enough in the official test sessions that concluded a couple of weeks ago.

Nonaka will be in the car for Round 3, however, owing to the fact that he ran the qualifying sessions with the car at Autopolis.

Another major personnel change comes from Triple Tree Racing, Juju and Hideki Noda’s family run team. They bring in Hiroyoshi Tsuchinuma as the new Team Principal. Tsuchinuma has been a long standing figure in Super Formula, having been a race engineer and team principal at the historic Team Le Mans, most notably working with both Michael and Ralf Schumacher and winning a title with the latter.

Credit: Super Formula

Storylines

Heading into this weekend, Kakunoshin Ohta leads the Drivers’ Championship by 14.5 points. Reigning champion Ayumu Iwasa is second, with 2021 runner-up Nirei Fukuzumi one and a half points behind him in third.

Ohta has described this weekend as a potential turning point in this season, believing great performances this weekend could leave him with one hand on the trophy.

One cannot talk about the Fuji Speedway and not mention 2024 Drivers’ Champion Sho Tsuboi and Team TOM’S. Tsuboi made a name for himself around this track when he won three races here in his title winning year, becoming the only driver to win three races at a single circuit and the second to complete a weekend sweep.

Tsuboi enters this weekend after a disappointing start to the season, having scored only 18 points so far, but strong laptimes in the recent tests at Fuji hint at a potential resurgence at this circuit.

His teammate, Sacha Fenestraz, won at Fuji the last time Super Formula visited the circuit, albeit one that was mostly run under the safety car and ended early. He grabbed his maiden win of the season last race weekend at Suzuka, but did not show the same pace as his teammate in the recent tests.

The ones who impressed the most during the tests were the Nakajima Racing crew of Igor Omura Fraga and Ren Sato, being the only team to have both drivers in the top five during the tests and topping two of the four sessions.

Credit: Super Formula

Round 3

The replacement rounds for the cancelled Autopolis round will take place on Sunday morning. The race will be shortened to just 25 laps. Because the race distance is under 150 km, no mandatory pit stop will be required.

No strategy being involved means that the starting positions, which are set by the qualifying results at Autopolis before the race was cancelled, will be a major determining factor this round. Iwasa will start on pole position ahead of Ohta and Tomoki Nojiri.

The shortened nature of this round also results in a different points system for this race. Whoever finishes first gets 12 points, second gets nine, third seven, and then the points received reduces by one point per position down to ninth.

Weather Forecast

Similar to every other round this season, some rain is to be expected, but on Saturday and Sunday, only light showers are expected and most likely will hit after the race is over.

Weekend Schedule

This weekend, being a triple header, will have a unique schedule. Qualifying for Rounds 6 and 7 will take place on Saturday morning at 08:15 and 10:15 JST, respectively, with the Round 6 race taking place on Saturday evening at 16:15 JST.

On Sunday, Round 3 will take place at 10:05 JST and Round 7 at 15:35 JST.

Written by Tarun Suresh, edited by Liam Ploetner