Sho Tsuboi took a step closer to the Super Formula title in Saturday’s opening round of the final weekend at Suzuka with a second-place finish behind a dominant Kakunoshin Ota.
From pole position, Dandelion Racing driver Ota was never headed over the course of the 31-lap race interrupted by two safety car periods, beating Tsuboi by 4.5 seconds in a final three-lap showdown following the final restart.
Tsuboi qualified only fifth, one place behind nearest title rival Tadasuke Makino, but his path to second place was eased by Ayumu Iwasa stalling on the grid from second and then Ren Sato losing a wheel during his pitstop.
The TOM’S driver crucially managed to overcut Makino by pitting a lap later, hanging on to what became a net second place on his outlap on cold tyres.
Although Tsuboi was never fast enough to threaten Ota at either of the following two safety car restarts, Makino was equally unable to clear his championship rival.
It means Tsuboi takes a comfortable 18.5-point advantage over Makino into the final round of the season, with 23 points up for grabs.
Sho Tsuboi, VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Tomoki Nojiri’s hopes of a third Super Formula title ended on Saturday as the Mugen driver finished fifth after struggling to a dismal 14th on the grid.
That was after a red flag in the first segment of qualifying that left Nojiri with his lowest grid slot since 2020, and although he made strong progress during the race, it wasn’t enough to keep himself within the crucial 23-point window of Tsuboi.
Sena Sakaguchi scored his best result of the season in fourth for Inging ahead of Nojiri, who passed Nirei Fukuzumi’s KCMG car for fifth after the final restart.
Naoki Yamamoto was seventh in the surviving Nakajima Racing car in his penultimate Super Formula start, while the points scorers were completed by Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing), a recovering Iwasa (Mugen) and Toshiki Oyu (Inging).
Only 14 cars saw the chequered flag in one of the more attritional races of recent memory, with Juju Noda briefly running 10th at one stage before slipping to 12th.
That was after an altercation at Spoon Curve between Ukyo Sasahara and Kazuya Oshima, as Sasahara tried to pass around the outside only to lose control, spin and hit his rival.
That caused the second safety car period, while the first caution was the result of Hibiki Taira’s wheel coming off exiting the pits and bouncing on to the race track.
Kamui Kobayashi was 14th and last for KCMG after picking up a drive-through penalty for rear-ending Kazuto Kotaka and a five-second sanction for a separate incident with Noda.
