2022 SUPER FORMULA Round 1 Report

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The 2022 Super Formula Championship has ten races in seven meetings on its calendar. Fuji Speedway hosted its season-opening doubleheader, with the qualifying and race of Round 1 on April 9th, Saturday, and Round 2 on April 10th, Sunday.

This year, 21 drivers compete in Japan’s highest-level single-seater race series. The ten drivers from six teams use Honda engines, and the remaining 11 from the other six teams rely on Toyota engines.

The qualifying session of Round 1 began at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Unlike the three-step knockout qualifying, which had been used until last season, it has been reduced to the steps this year. So, there are only Q1 and Q2, which means more drivers are eliminated in Q1.

Group A in Q1 included the reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN) and Yuhi Sekiguchi (carenex TEAM IMPUL). But the most impressive driver in this group was Team Goh’s rookie, Ren Sato, as he set the fastest time, 1’21”675, beating Nojiri by 0.2 seconds. In Group B, Sacha Fenestraz (KONDO RACING) led the field, while another rookie Atsushi Miyake (TEAM GOH) survived Q1 with the fourth-fastest time. Thus, the newcomer team with two rookies attracted much attention in Q1.

The youngsters shone again in Q2. Ukyo Sasahara (Team Mugen) grabbed the pole position by setting 1’21”404 in the session’s early stage. And Sato locked veterans out from the front row by coming in second. The time gap between the top two was 0.264 seconds. But, as if aiming them from behind, Ryo Hirakawa (carenex TEAM IMPUL) sat on the third grid, followed by Ritomo Miyata (Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S). Fenestraz ended the session in fifth and Nojiri in sixth.

About four hours later came the time to start the race. The focus point was the getaway of the front row drivers naturally, but Sasahara made a costly mistake and stalled on the grid, to everyone’s surprise. With Sato’s start also being less than ideal, Hirakawa was leading when the field entered the first corner.

The top two qualifiers’ setback at the start caused a mess behind them, and too many things happened to follow in the compressed field during the first laps. However, Naoki Yamamoto (TCS Nakajima Racing) and his teammate Toshiki Oyu, who started the race from the bottom grid, notably made the most of the chaotic situation and gained a lot of positions.

At the front, Hirakawa and Fenestraz were fighting for the lead. During the early laps, the Frenchman looked slightly faster, and, on Lap 6, he overtook Hirakawa at Turn 1 after using the OverTake System on the pit straight. But the Japanese didn’t allow him to pull away and fought back to regain the lead on the same Turn 1, nine laps later. Then, Hirakawa started to increase the gap gradually with Fenestraz and others.

Meanwhile, some drivers in the midfield were trying to improve their positions by choosing the right time to make a pit stop. On Lap 10, Nojiri opted for an early stop to change his tires, hoping for running in clean air after the stop.

The strategy worked. And Nojiri managed to reduce the gap with the leading drivers who were yet to stop, not to mention that he led the group of early stoppers. Then, he undercut Miyata, who made his stop on Lap 19, and rapidly moved up through the field. Knowing Nojiri was catching up, Hirakawa picked up his pace and finally came into the pit at the end of Lap 25. At the pit exit, the Team Impul driver was slightly ahead of Nojiri, but the latter overtook the former at Turn 1 using OTS, taking over the effective race leader.

Last year’s championship winner tried to pull away from Hirakawa, setting the fastest lap at the time. But, as Hirakawa’s tires were adequately warmed up, he could increase his pace again. Nojiri’s lead shrunk quickly and came down to only 0.6 seconds on Lap 28.

On Lap 30, when Sato visited his pit as the last driver to do so, Hirakawa pushed the overtake button to make a move. Seeing the Impul car right beside on the straight, Nojiri reacted by using OTS and managed to defend his position at Turn 1. However, the reigning champion went slightly wide and allowed Hirakawa to come alongside at Coca-Cola Corner. Nojiri fended off the attack again, and they continued the close battle until they came to the final sector of the lap. Then, Hirakawa found a narrow space on the outside of Turn 13 and cleverly placed his car in the short section to GR Supra Corner to force Nojiri to give way. In this way, the Impul driver finally came back to the lead.

Hirakawa marked the fastest lap of below 1’23”, which no other driver reached during the race, on Lap 32 and won the 2022 season’s opening race. This ended his two-year victory drought since the first round of 2020. Nojiri came in second, and Fenestraz scored his second podium finish in Super Formula. It was a curious coincidence that the Frenchman’s first podium was gained in the same race Hirakawa won last time!

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