2022 SUPER FORMULA Round 4 Report

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The fourth round of the 2022 Super Formula series took place at Autopolis. In contrast to last year’s meeting there, which was cut short due to heavy rain and thick fog, the 42-lap race this year was favored by beautiful weather. And Ryo Hirakawa (Carenex Team Impul) claimed his second win of the season, despite starting from the eighth grid.

The Super Formula series visits Autopolis, located on a hillside of Mt.Aso, once a year. The event has been very popular for motor racing fans in Kyusyu and Western Japan. This year, it was held as a “2&4 race meeting,” which meant the weekend’s program included some motorcycle races.

Looking back at the first three races this season, Tomoki Nojiri (Team Mugen) led the championship, as he hadn’t missed a podium finish in all three races, including a win in the second round. And Hirakawa, the winner of the season opener, followed him by 16 points.

On Saturday, May 21st, there was occasional drizzle in the morning hours, so the race control declared “Wet Track” for the free practice session. But the track conditions improved before the qualifying got underway in the afternoon, and the pole position was fought on the completely dry tarmac.

Tadasuke Makino (Docomo Team Dandelion Racing) and Nojiri topped Q1 in Group A and B. But since Makino’s best lap time was about 0.3 seconds faster than Nojiri, the Dandelion driver seemed to be the favorite for the pole position at the time.

However, the sunshine broke through the clouds when Q2 was about to start, and the sun’s heat began to warm up the pavement. This changed the track conditions, and Makino’s qualifying time in Q2 was slower than his best in Q1, probably because of it. On the other hand, Nojiri improved his time in Q1 by 0.2 seconds and secured the top slot, his third consecutive pole position since the second round at Fuji Speedway. He shared the front row with Ritomo Miyata (Kuo Vantelin Team Tom’s), and Makino followed in the third.

On Sunday, May 22nd, the weather was fine from the morning. The air/track temperatures reached 24/44 degrees centigrade when the race started, higher than those of any previous round this season.

Nojiri made an excellent start, while Miyata got screwed up and allowed Makino to get ahead of him. Behind them, Hirakawa moved up to sixth when he exited the first corner after starting from the eighth grid. Furthermore, he overtook two more at Turn 2 and Hitachi Astemo Corner to come up to fourth before passing Miyata at First Hairpin by diving to the inside, using OverTake System. So Hirakawa was running in third at the end of Lap 1.

But the Safety Car came out then. At Turn 3, Toshiki Oyu (TCS Nakajima Racing) in a crowded group tried to gain a position from the outside, but the track surfaces there were dirty and didn’t offer enough grip to him. As a result, he went off the track and crashed.

The top six when the field completed the opening lap were; Nojiri leading the race, Makino, Hirakawa, Miyata, Ukyo Sasahara (Team Mugen), and Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing). It didn’t take long to remove Oyu’s crashed car, and the racing resumed on Lap 4.

For Hirakawa, the close battles immediately after the restart was a great opportunity. He closed the gap with Makino to the minimum before the Final Corner and made a move on the pit straight. Helped by OTS again, Hirakawa overtook Makino at Turn 1 to emerge to second.

Soon after that, however, Kamui Kobayashi (KCMG), running in 14th, suddenly crashed at Turn 2. Shortly before that, he was hit from behind by Sho Tsuboi (P.Mu/Cerumo Inging), which caused damage to one of his tires, and he lost the car’s control. Kobayashi’s car bounced back from the sidewall, which he clipped, and halted on the track, so the Safety Car intervention was required again. The work to clear up the track took a bit longer, and the second restart was done at the beginning of Lap 10.

When Nojiri completed the lap, the pit stop window for tire change opened. The first ones to come in were Makino running in third and Sasahara fighting for fourth with Miyata. The gap between Makino and Nojiri, who opted for staying out, when the former went back to the track was more than 30 seconds. So, Makino pushed hard to reduce the gap and make his attempt to undercut successful. He actually set the fastest lap at the time, 1’29″975, on Lap 12, but Nojiri also managed to keep a good pace, so the reigning champion was 35 seconds ahead of Makino at the end of Lap 15 and then headed to the pit lane. Team Mugen’s tire change at the stop was near-perfect, and Nojiri was still the effective leader when he rejoined the race.

Nojiri’s stop meant that Hirakawa took over the head of the field. Here, another invisible battle to create enough gap with the direct rival began, as was the case between Nojiri and Makino. This time, Hirakawa kept a pace in the 1’30” bracket for a while, but the Team Mugen driver was slightly slower than him. Therefore, the time gap increased from 31 seconds on Lap 16 to almost 33 seconds two laps later.

At the same time, on Lap 18, Miyata made a stop and became side-by-side with Nojiri when he exited the pit lane. Nojiri had the upper hand with properly warmed tires at first, but their close battle continued, as Miyata didn’t give up easily.

The situation played in Hirakawa’s favor. He came into the pit at the end of Lap 20, and he was leading Nojiri when the team sent him back to the track. Hirakawa held the reigning champion behind him on his out-lap despite having cold tires and then just pulled away.

The interim top three, Fenestraz, Atsushi Miyake (Team Goh), and his teammate, Ren Sato, were yet to make their stop when the race had passed its halfway point. And Fenestraz and Miyake had more than a 30 second margin over Nojiri and were likely to keep a top-three position even after their tire change.

At the end of Lap 28, Fenestraz steered his car to the pit lane. The team had a slight problem detaching his left-hand front wheel but still sent him back on the track ahead of Nojiri. Four laps later, Miyake came into the pit and also beat Nojiri at the pit lane exit, which meant the Team Mugen driver dropped out of the podium finish positions.

Thus, all drivers got over with mandatory pit stops, and Hirakawa returned to the top of the field. He had more than 4 seconds to Fenestraz running in second and carefully managed his pace for the remaining ten laps to get his second win of the season in the bag. By finishing second, the Frenchman bettered his best result so far, the third place in this year’s first round. Miyake, who was the last guy to get the fresh tires, clocked the fastest lap, 1’28″747, on Lap 35, but it wasn’t enough to catch Fenestraz. Nevertheless, this was the first-ever Super Formula podium finish for Miyake.