2023 SUPER FORMULA Round 9 Report

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The ninth and final round of the 2023 Super Formula series was held at Suzuka Circuit, Mie Prefecture, on Sunday, October 29th. The championship fight was still open for the three point standings leaders, Ritomo Miyata (Vantelin Team Tom’s), Tomoki Nojiri (Team Mugen), and Liam Lawson (Team Mugen). But other participating drivers were also committed to giving everything for it, aiming to conclude the 2023 season with the best result possible regardless of their championship position.

Unfortunately, Hiroki Otsu (TCS Nakajima Racing) and Ukyo Sasahara (Vantelin Team Tom’s) had to withdraw from this round since their cars were wrecked in the crash on the previous day. Therefore, the last race of the season was fought by 20 drivers.

After the penultimate round, Miyata led the title battle with 103.5 points. Noriji, in second, had 97 points, the gap between them being 6.5 points. Lawson followed them with 88.5 points, so adding qualifying points before the race was crucial for the Kiwi to overcome his point deficit against Miyata.

In the qualifying session, Nojiri set the fastest time in Group A of Q1 and secured his place in the subsequent Q2. Miyata and Lawson were assigned to Group B. The former crossed the control line first and clocked 1’37″014, which put him at the top of the timing screen, but the latter then beat it by setting 1’36″881. Lawson was the only driver in this group who went around the circuit with a time under 1’37”.

Thus, the three title contenders came up to Q2, and the top qualifiers in Q1, the pair of Team Mugen, looked to fight for the pole position. However, Kakunoshin Ohta (Docomo Team Dandelion Racing), who impressed everyone by claiming the second grid the day before, joined the fray.

At first, Nojiri led the battle with a time of 1’36″704, but Lawson topped it with 1’36″442. Then, Ohta also beat Nojiri and came in second with 1’36″613. Miyata, the last one to make the qualifying attempt among them, made the slightest mistake at Spoon Curve and ended the lap with 1’36″817, which placed him fourth. Consequently, Lawson snatched his first pole position of the season and got the three qualifying points, which may help in his quest for the championship title.

The race weekend at Suzuka Circuit was favored by fine weather. With a bit of help from popular supporting events, a crowd of spectators – 17,500 on Saturday and 25,500 on Sunday – came up to the place. And, in front of the packed grandstand, the race of the ninth round began.

As was the case some 24 hours earlier, Ohta made a brilliant start. And Lawson allowed him to get ahead, as the pole sitter watched out for Nojiri from behind and focused too much on blocking the teammate. Because of Lawson’s move, Nojiri couldn’t accelerate as he wanted, and Miyata made the most of the opportunity to pass the reigning champion. As a result, Ohta completed the opening lap as the race leader, followed by Lawson, Miyata, and Nojiri.

The top four continued without any position change, and Ohta maintained about a one-second gap with Lawson. After the tire change window opened at the end of Lap 10, Miyata was the first to move to alter the situation. He headed to the pit box after completing Lap 12, and the team changed his tires in 6.2 seconds and sent him back on the track.

Reacting to this, Lawson visited his pit on the next lap. The time spent at the box was 6.5 seconds, slightly longer than Miyata’s, but the Team Mugen driver managed to return to the track ahead of the championship leader. However, Miyata’s tires were already warmed up for a lap, so he quickly closed in on Lawson. Thus, the stage for a highlight in the race’s first half was set.

The distance between them was at first almost equal to the length of the pit straight. But Miyata gradually shaved it off as he went from S-Curve to Reversed Bank Corner and finally caught up with Lawson at Degner Curve. The Team Tom’s driver immediately made a move from the outside at Hairpin Curve to pass the rival, but Lawson narrowly defended his position. While Miyata tried to find another opportunity at Spoon Curve, Lawson’s tires got to the working temperature, which meant the Kiwi with fresher tires had the upper hand compared to Miyata.

Ahead of the battle between them, Ohta comfortably led the race and came into the pit after completing Lap 14. His team did a great job here, finishing the tire change in just 5.2 seconds. Thanks to this, Ohta returned to the track well ahead of Lawson, but he soon hit the traffic of late stoppers, and they had the right to defend their positions as they were on the same lap with him. Receiving heavy pressure from Lawson, who was getting close to him, Ohta carefully overtook the cars in front of him one after another.

Ohta’s pit stop gave Nojiri the position of interim leader. The two-time champion opted for a late stop strategy and stayed on the track until Lap 23. And, while he rejoined the race and found himself in fourth, he soon lost the position to Nobuharu Matsushita (B-Max Racing Team). But Nojiri had an advantage of fresher tires than the Matsuhita’s and could regain the fourth by pushing hard and overtaking the B-Max driver at Chicane on Lap25. Yet the top three were running about 15 seconds ahead of Nojiri already.

Ohta managed the gap with Lawson around one second for the remaining laps, except for the last two laps when it was reduced to 0.7 seconds, and received the checkered flag first. The Super Formula debutant, Ohta, was absent from the pre-season testing due to injury, adversely affecting his performance in the early rounds. However, he made impressive progress in the second half of the season and finally achieved his maiden victory in the final race.

By taking second place in this race, Lawson finished his first Super Formula season in second with the final score of 106.5 points and also won the Rookie of the Year award. Miyata came in third and won the championship with 114.5 points. Nojiri ended the race in fourth and the season in third, just 0.5 points shy of the teammate, missing out on the possible third consecutive title. Despite suffering from a retirement and a withdrawal due to illness, he kept fighting until the last lap of the season and lived up to his name as the two-time champion.