Race
SUPER FORMULA 2025
Round 2

Makino wins, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING secures consecutive victory

jp Suzuka Circuit

Makino achieves back-to-back wins at the season-opening double-header race

Makino wins, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING secures consecutive victory

The opening event of the 2025 SUPER FORMULA series (R1 & R2) was held at Suzuka Circuit (Mie Prefecture). Two free-practice sessions were held on Friday, and the official qualifying session and race were held each on Saturday and Sunday for R1 and R2 respectively. #5 Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) won in R2 and giving Honda/M-TEC engine users consecutive wins.

[R2 Qualifying Sessions]

Fine weather greeted Suzuka Circuit early in the morning on Sunday, and the conditions slightly differed from yesterday partly because of a shift in wind direction.

In Q1-A session, #5 Makino, #15 Iwasa and #50 Koide marked top three times. The same hattrick was repeated in Q1-B session by #16 Nojiri, #64 Sato and #6 Ohta. In Q2, #16 Nojiri hit the top yet again, achieving the second pole position in a row as well as his 21st pole position in the category, which is the highest record in history. #15 Iwasa came in 2nd, and #6 Ohta 3rd, the same trio lined up on the grid as the top three, which was followed by #5 Makino in 5th and #64 Sato in 6th.

[R2 The Race]

The weather was fine on Sunday, with ambient and track surface temperatures raising to 15 and 38 respectively. With the wind getting stronger as the day went on, the race conditions demanded a difficult approach towards setup. At 2:40 p.m., R2 was green-flagged for a 32-lap battle. The first into Turn-1 was #15 Iwasa who outran #16 Nojiri again in the launch from the starting grid. #6 Ohta, the R1 winner, was trailing behind in 3rd, and then #5 Makino moving up from 5th on the grid into 4th.

For the 2025 season, a new race regulation is applied to the second race of the 1-event/2-race” double-header format that cancels any pit window restrictions allowing the entrant to change tyres at anytime during the 32-lap race. It was one of those moments when the strategic differences between the teams became palpable, and to everyones surprise, some of the cars including top-three chose to make their stop right after the opening lap. On the other hand, #5 Makino, #1 Tsuboi and #64 Sato preferred to stay on the track and lead the race amid a chaotic state.

On Lap-20, a little after the turnaround point, #5 Makino and #1 Tsuboi headed for the pit lane, and so did #64 Sato a lap later who, unfortunately, took longer in changing tyres and inevitably lost many places as he got back in the race. #5 Makino returned to the track maintaining his position, but allowed #6 Ohta shod with nicely heated tyres to close up and finally take the lead at NIPPO corner.

As it turned out soon after, a 5-sec. time penalty was officially pronounced to #6 Ohta for his short cut at the chicane when he was trying to overtake #15 Iwasa. #6 Ohta pushed hard trying to pull away for enough of a gap to offset the 5-sec. penalty, however, #5 Makinos pace was way faster with fresh rubber. On Lap-24 at 130R, #5 Makino finally took the leading position from #6 Ohta. On Lap-28, a car stranded on the track caused another SC period that would last until the end of the race.

#5 Makino received the checkered flag, then #6 Ohta followed right behind having failed to open up the gap due to the SC and was relegated further back in the field. 2nd position therefore went to #1 Tsuboi and 3rd to #15 Iwasa. The pole sitter, #16 Nojiri finished 4th, and the rookie, #65 Omura Fraga in 5th, each earned their share of series points.

[Tadasuke Makino (R2 Winner)]

"Its so hard for me yesterday, and I was almost in tears, really! But I reset my mind and I could take revenge today. The fact that I saved the last point in the pitiful opening race was a sort of consolation to me. Today, I was wondering what should I do about the unimpressive performance in the qualifying sessions, though, Im really happy that I could win, and I feel relieved a little bit, honestly.

"Motegi hosting next rounds is the memorable place for me where I won last year albeit in a different month, and of course its one of my favourite tracks. So, Ill do my best to achieve a double win there. Weve done a lot of things to prepare for the new season, and its so nice that, even if its just the season opener, we could see one of them beared fruit today."



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