Ohta’s victories weren’t enough to prevent the drivers’ title going the way of TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi, but they did ensure that Dandelion claimed the coveted teams’ title for only the third time in its history, following its previous triumphs in 2012 and 2019.

Beating Team Mugen to the top spot in the rankings by 16.5 points was a remarkable achievement for the small operation made up of just 25 staff based in Kameoka City, Kyoto, which unlike most of its rival teams has no involvement in racing outside of Super Formula.

Dandelion has long been regarded as a team where youngsters within the Honda stable go to cut their teeth. Takuya Izawa (2009), Tomoki Nojiri (2014), Nobuharu Matsushita (2018) and Nirei Fukuzumi (2019) all made their Super Formula debuts with the team, with Ohta the latest to do so in 2023, scoring his maiden series victory in that year’s Suzuka finale.

Together with his fellow Kansai native Tadasuke Makino, Ohta forms one half of what has proven to be a formidable combination at Dandelion, as the pair scored four wins this year between them - more than any other team - and took P3 and P4 in the drivers’ standings.

Reflecting on Dandelion’s success, team principal Kiyoshi Muraoka said: “I think it’s the result of having two young drivers who are constantly driving each other forward.

“The teams’ title is won by what the team, including the mechanics, does with the two cars when things are not going well. With these two wins [at Suzuka], we ended up with four wins in total this year, so you might say it’s natural that we would win the teams’ title, but I think it’s equally important that we scored points consistently when we weren’t winning.

“In that sense, it’s all about the work done by each individual mechanic and team member, all of whom you saw on the podium [to celebrate the title]. For other teams, there would have been many other team members who couldn’t go up there, but for us, that was everyone we have. We have no spares! I think that is one of our strengths as a team.”

Ohta meanwhile was keen to praise the work of his engineers, Dandelion mainstay Norimitsu Yoshida and Yuji Hamano, for giving him the “perfect car” on his way to his first victory of the Suzuka weekend on Saturday, which came after he scored his first Super Formula pole and then hung on to the advantage during two safety car restarts.

As if to prove his point about having a comfortable lead eradicated by the first safety car, he recorded the fastest lap at the very end of the race. The following day, he took over Nojiri’s Mugen machine heading into Turn 1 and never looked back to complete a Suzuka double that puts him firmly among the favourites for the 2025 season.

“Last year, I started from the front row many times, and even if people remember that, it doesn’t appear in the record books, so that was something that was bugging me,” said Ohta after his Saturday win. “I wasn’t able to fight for the title this year, but I wanted to shine at the end of the season to raise expectations for next year. It was an important race to increase the level of attention on me, so I’m glad I was able to give a ‘10/10’ performance.”

Makino meanwhile was left disappointed that his own drivers’ title bid came to a frustrating end with a third-place finish on Saturday and eighth on Sunday at Suzuka. But he was still able to look back with satisfaction on a breakout season in which he scored his first two Super Formula wins, the first at Autopolis in May and the second at Motegi in August.

“Last year we changed the car to the SF23, and we were really struggling at the start of last year, but from the Fuji [in-season] test, we found a good set-up, and this year we were able to build properly on that,” said Makino. “We understood why we struggled in the first round at Suzuka and then we changed something on the setup that enabled me to win at Autopolis. That’s why after Autopolis I’ve always been consistent, especially with the race pace.”

Dandelion made its debut in what was known as Formula Nippon in 1999, and won its first championship in 2004 with Richard Lyons before becoming part of the Honda stable in 2006 when the current era of engine competition commenced. Naoki Yamamoto later made it a second drivers’ title in 2020, the year after leading the squad to its second teams’ prize.

“We are the only Kansai-based team, so it’s hard to gather people,” said Muraoka. “I have tried to take care of each individual mechanic and member of staff that did join us so that they would think, ‘the team is getting stronger because I’m here’. Maybe if you asked them, they wouldn’t say that’s the case, but that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

“Even for the drivers, in the past they would say, ‘I have nowhere to go but Dandelion’, whereas now they say, ‘I want to drive for Dandelion’. That’s because I trust our people. Our people don’t change, and we are a small but elite team.”

With few technical changes on the horizon for the 2025 Super Formula season, there’s no reason to think that Dandelion won’t be fighting at the head of the order again. But both Makino and Ohta will be keen to ensure they can avenge their loss in the race for the drivers’ title race, while no doubt continuing to spur each other on to greater heights.