November 9 (Sat) - 10 (Sun) — The final event of the 2024 Super Formula series (R8 & R9) was held at Suzuka Circuit (Mie Pref.) and a total of 10 drivers from six teams using the Honda/M-TEC engine participated as follows:

- Tadasuke Makino #5 & Kakunoshin Ohta #6 (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING)

- Atsushi Miyake #12 (ThreeBond Racing)

- Ayumu Iwasa #15 & Tomoki Nojiri #16 (TEAM MUGEN)

- Iori Kimura #50 (San-Ei Gen with B-Max)

- Juju #53 & Hiroki Otsu #55 (TGM Grand Prix)

- Naoki Yamamoto #64 & Ren Sato #65 (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING).

Following the format from the previous event at Fuji, the Suzuka weekend featured a “one-event two-race” format staging a set of qualifying sessions and a race each on Saturday (Round 8) and Sunday (Round 9). The ninth round of the series represented the final race of the season, traditionally dubbed as the "JAF Suzuka Grand Prix", and was the 23rd meeting held since its inauguration in 1974.

In order to cope with the double-header weekend, a free practice session was provided on 8 November (Friday), and #64 Yamamoto rose to the occasion by setting the best time among 21 entrants.

On Saturday, Suzuka Circuit was greeted by fine weather right from the morning, and the 10-minute qualifying session for Q1 A-group was started at 9:05 a.m. #5 Makino marked the best time immediately followed by #64 Yamamoto and #15 Iwasa, as the top-three Honda/M-TEC users made their way to Q2.

The Q1 B-group session was started at 9:20 a.m., also for 10-minutes, in which #16 Nojiri set multiple best times in succession demonstrating the height of his spirits, however the session was soon stopped when #50 Kimura slid off the track. As the session was restarted, #16 Nojiri, now having to run on cold new tires that were not coming up to temperature, tried to do a time attack again but failed to improve. This left Nojiri 7th in the group and thus he failed to advance into Q2. As for B-group Honda/M-TEC users, #6 Ohta and #65 Sato went into Q2.

The Q2 session featured 12-cars, 6 each from Q1 A and B-groups, was started at 9:50 a.m., and#6 Ohta secured pole position for the first time in his SF career. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th slots went to #15 Iwasa, #65 Sato and #5 Makino respectively making up the monopoly of Honda/M-TEC users in the first two rows. #64 Yamamoto secured 6th on the grid and #16 Nojiri was forced to start from 14th.

At 2:40 p.m., with ambient and road surface temperatures at 24℃ and 31℃ as it became warmer than in the morning, the entire pack launched out for the warming-up lap, 10-minutes behind the given schedule due to some minor hindrance in the race procedure, and then the 31-lap race was duly started in dry conditions.

#6 Ohta, showing a superb launch from the line, leapt into turn one without any practical challenge from others. #15 Iwasa, on the contrary, stalled upon departing from the 2nd grid slot with trouble engaging gears.

#6 Ohta finished the opening lap in the lead, with #65 Sato next, and then #5 Makino, #36 Sho Tsuboi (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) and #64 Yamamoto following suit. #16 Nojiri, in the meantime, climbed a few positions during the first lap and was running in 11th. #5 Makino tried hard to pass #65 Sato by using the Overtake System (OTS) only to find it too much of a task.

After lap 10, when the pit window opened, #5 Makino and #16 Nojiri headed for the pit lane immediately, and #65 Sato and #36 Tsuboi came in next time around. #65 Sato had his left-rear tire detached as he left from the pit box and was forced to retire on the spot.

#5 Makino looked like he would gain from Sato’s fate, however #36 Tsuboi, after a super-quick pit stop, returned to the track just in front of Makino, pulling off the so-called the “over-cut” successfully. Makino closed in on Tsuboi in his out lap, but the gap was opening again as his tires came up to temperature, and their positions remained unchanged.

Meanwhile #6 Ohta, who had already built up a comfortable margin, made his stop after lap 12, with #64 Yamamoto following suit, and returned on fresh tires in front of #36 Tsuboi to maintain the lead going into the latter half of the race.

As #6 Ohta was approaching into lap 20, another wheel-related incident occurred in the midfield and induced a Safety Car (SC). At this point, #6 Ohta was leading the race with #36 Tsuboi following 2nd, followed by #5 Makino, #38 Sena Sakaguchi (VERTEX PARTNERS CERUMO-INGING), #8 Nirei Fukuzumi (Kids com Team KCMG), and #16 Nojiri.

The race was restarted from lap 23 after clearing the incident, but soon after that, an accident happened in the lower group calling for a Safety Car for the second time in the race. The SC period ended on lap 28, and the race was restarted with only three more laps to go. The two direct rivals for the title, #5 Makino and #36 Tsuboi, fought a fierce battle for the position by using OTS at each other but never came to change their order. Behind them, #16 Nojiri had found his way to 5th thanks to some masterful passes typical of him.

#6 Ohta confirmed his lead and control of the race by marking the fastest laps both on lap 30 and lap 31, the final lap, and achieved the pole-to-win. It was the first win for him in this season and his second since the previous year’s final round at Suzuka.

#5 Makino having been held behind #36 Tsuboi finished 3rd, #16 Nojiri came in 5th all the way from the 14th grid, #64 Yamamoto 7th, and #15 Iwasa 9th, each earning deserving series points.

As a result, #5 Makino maintained 2nd position in the overall point ranking, 18.5-points short from the series leader #36 Tsuboi, and preserved his hope for the title until the final race. On the other hand, #16 Nojiri’s point gap from #36 Tsuboi further widened to 25.5-points, hence his chance for a come-from-behind victory had ended.