2022 SUPER FORMULA Round 10 Report

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Following the ninth round the day before, the 2022 Super Formula Championship series held the tenth and final round on Sunday, October 30th.

Although the driver’s and team’s titles had already been decided, each of the 21 drivers and 12 teams still had their own challenges and wanted to conclude this year’s championship on a high note, looking forward to the new season. And the back-to-back champion, Tomoki Nojiri (Team Mugen), convincingly claimed his second win this year from the pole position and ended the victorious season in the best possible way.

There was a clear autumn sky over Suzuka Circuit just as the day before. The qualifying session began at 9:05 a.m., ten minutes earlier than the ninth round. Looking at the two drivers, who were still in the fight for the championship’s runner-up, Sasha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing) set the third fastest time in Group A of Q1and went through to Q2, redeeming himself after having been eliminated in Q1 in the previous round.

And his rival, Ryo Hirakawa (Carenex Team Impul) in Group B, was also third in the group when he finished his qualifying attempt. But he slid down to the sixth and last place to go on to Q2 at the end because other competitors beat him after that.

In Group B, Nojiri’s speed was already devastating in the first sector of his qualifying lap, and he clocked the fastest in Q1 commandingly. He said after Saturday’s race that “Now my only target will be winning the race (tomorrow),” as he was released from duty to secure the title and allowed to focus on fighting for a win in the final round. His invincible performance in Q1 seemed to express such a mindset.

And he was even faster in Q2 and claimed the pole position by setting a time only thousands of a second shy of 1’35” domain, 1’36”003, which was beyond everyone’s expectations. It was his sixth pole position this year and the 13th in his Super Formula career, which is equal to the record of Naoki Yamamoto (TCS Nakajima Racing) among the active drivers. Ritomo Miyata (Kuo Vantelin Team Tom’s) came in second by only 0.04 seconds, followed by Hiroki Otsu (Docomo Team Dandelion Racing).

Four and a half hours later, the 31-lap race kicked off. The air/track temperatures were 21/32 degrees centigrade, but many people even felt a bit sweaty, probably because of the bright afternoon sun and a very gentle wind.

Nojiri made a good start and led the whole field down to the first corner. In contrast, Miyata’s getaway wasn’t ideal, so he had to give way to Otsu and Ukyo Sasahara (Team Mugen), who started from the fourth grid. And shortly after that, Nirei Fukuzumi (Threebond Drago Corse) went off the track at Turn 1 and crashed into the tire barriers, which caused the Safety Car intervention.

The course marshals efficiently removed the halted car, and the racing resumed from Lap 3. But Sasahara suddenly lost his speed at Chicane because “Anti-stall came in, and I don’t know why,” as he said later. His mishap meant he dropped to fifth, while Miyata and Sho Tsuboi (P.Mu/Cerumo Inging) floated to third and fourth, respectively.

Since the Safety Car came out on the opening lap, Lap 3 was the effective start of the race. Nojiri’s pace from the restart was outstanding, so he could build a 1.9-second gap with Otsu in the second during this de facto opening lap. After that, Nojiri went on faster than anyone on the track and expanded the gap to about six seconds on Lap 9.

When the leader completed Lap 10, and the pit stop window opened, Sasahara came into the pit lane as the first one to do so, and Otsu and Tsuboi visited their pits on the next lap. Pushing hard on his out lap, Sasahara, with properly warmed tires, quickly closed in on Tsuboi, who had just returned to the track. They became tail-to-nose soon and, unfortunately, collided with each other at Chicane on that lap.

Sasahara had to revisit the pit to replace his damaged front wing, which meant he dropped to the back of the field. Although Tsuboi could continue, he also lost positions after the incident because of bad handling, probably because of the impact.

Immediately afterward, another collision occurred at Chicane between Nobuharu Matsushita (B-Max Racing Team) and Giuliano Alesi (Kuo Vantelin Team Tom’s). As Matsushita’s car thrust into the crash pads on the outside, the day’s second Safety Car period was required. And, seeing a good opportunity, the drivers, who hadn’t made their mandatory tire change yet headed to the pit lane in a stream.

Nojiri could return to the track as the race leader, but Miyata was passed by Otsu, who stayed out, when the Team Tom’s driver rejoined from the pit exit. Thus, Otsu was now in second again, and Miyata followed in third as they entered the race’s second half.

The signal turned green on Lap 18. Nojiri did a near-perfect restart again and instantly pulled away from Otsu. Looking back at the previous races, Nojiri didn’t relatively use OverTake System so often, but on this occasion, his car’s OTS lights blinked even when he was running on his own. On Lap 20, he marked the fastest lap at the time, improving his own record in the early stages, and continued to push until the end.

While the fastest lap of the race was set by Ren Sato (Team Goh) a few laps later, Nojiri remained the race leader from start to finish, so he did the perfect pole-to-win. This was his first victory in eight races since the second round at Fuji Speedway.

By coming in second, Otsu earned his second podium finish this season. The third place went to Miyata, and Fenestraz followed. The Frenchman overtook Hirakawa in the early stage and secured the runner-up in the drivers’ championship, as he finished this final round ahead of Hirakawa, who had the same number of points as him before the race. Hirakawa ended the race in fifth and concluded the championship in third.

The TCS Nakajima Racing’s pair, Yamamoto and Toshiki Oyu, came in sixth and seventh and achieved a double points-finish for the team. Atsushi Miyake (Team Goh), who was in the fight for the Rookie of the Year, took eighth place, but the award went to his teammate, Sato, by only four points.