Nojiri takes second in Autopolis with a tenacious drive
AUTOPOLISTomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN) took pole position and a second-placed finish at the Autopolis International Racing Course
The fifth round of the 2025 Super Formula series was held at Autopolis International Racing Course (Oita Pref.) on May 18 (Sun). The bad weather on 17 (Sat) forced both of the qualifying session and the race to take place in a day on 18 (Sun), in which #16 Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN) left from the pole position finished 2nd.
After a 20-minute warm-up session held at 1:35 p.m. as an exceptional case, all the entrants lined up on the dummy grids, when the sky suddenly turned dark and light rain began falling. At 2:42 p.m, the 41-lap race was started with all cars preferring slick tyres despite the apprehension for worsening weather.
While #16 Nojiri made an excellent start from the pole position and entered first into Turn-1, #15 Iwasa and #64 Sato followed suit each from 7th and 10th grid, threading their way through the pack, and jumping up to 3rd and 7th respectively. On the other hand, #65 Omura Fraga and #6 Ohta dropped their positions rather drastically.
#1 Sho Tsuboi (TOYOTA) after making another excellent start was now running 2nd, some 3-sec. behind #16 Nojiri. #15 Iwasa being in a position to chase the top two runners in 3rd, however, decided to go for a strategic venture at the end of Lap-14. Aiming for the under-cut, he made his stop earlier than the two cars in front only to have to spend 8-seconds due to some awkward moments in changing left-rear tyre, and thus returned to the track in 11th. Nevertheless, #15 Iwasa marked the fastest lap on Lap-17, and run on the forefront position among the runners that completed the first stop.
#16 Nojiri and #1 Tsuboi running 1st and 2nd each, in the meantime, equally chose to came in at the end of Lap-18, and left the pit in the same order, however, #16 Nojiri allowed #1 Tsuboi to sneak inside right after they went back in course and was relegated to 2nd. And yet, soon after the position exchange, #15 Iwasa availing the under-cut advantage overtook the leading duo one after another and took up the top position.
A car went off the track inducing Safety Car (SC) on Lap-19, and the action was resumed on Lap-25. Iwasa stayed on the leading position even after the critical restart, however, #15 car suddenly slowed down a couple of laps later. The front right wheel nut had come off and he parked the car on the course side on Lap-27 to call it a day.
#1 Tsuboi inherited the top position and #16 Nojiri chased him less than a second behind. A few places back in the field, #64 Sato made a timely stop during the SC period, returned the race in 7th, then began overtaking one by one, and raised up to 4th on Lap-27. #16 Nojiri continued chasing #1 Tsuboi thereafter, and #64 Sato also pushed hard to get podium only to see the checkered flag waved on Lap-41 before making further position up.
In the end, #16 Nojiri finished 2nd, #64 Sato 4th, #5 Makino gained 6th from the 13th grid, and #65 Omura Fraga 8th, four of them earned each share of series point.
Point ranking after R5: #5 Makino summing up his total point to 65 became the point leader, whereas #6 Ohta ending up with no point sits in 2nd with a total of 61-points.
The next double header event (R6 & R7) will be held on July 18 (Fri) - 20 (Sun) at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.)
One-day event due to the bad weather had limited our run in time, and it made us extremely hard to put together the proper setup of the car. Although I got pole position, I had my front wing broken during the last attack, and I had to use the wing different from the one originally planned. My team had done excellent job to prepare the best possible car and I really wanted to win, but to my deepest regret, it didn’t come my way. Having said that, I feel positive now that I could get some points including one from pole position, especially when I think about the difficulties I had in the previous race at Motegi. We have a test schedule before the next rounds at Fuji, so we’d like to make a step upward for the forthcoming weekend.
One-day event due to the bad weather had limited our run in time, and it made us extremely hard to put together the proper setup of the car. Although I got pole position, I had my front wing broken during the last attack, and I had to use the wing different from the one originally planned. My team had done excellent job to prepare the best possible car and I really wanted to win, but to my deepest regret, it didn’t come my way. Having said that, I feel positive now that I could get some points including one from pole position, especially when I think about the difficulties I had in the previous race at Motegi. We have a test schedule before the next rounds at Fuji, so we’d like to make a step upward for the forthcoming weekend.
It didn’t hit quite right to me in the qualifying session. But I could make some positions at the start. My pace was a little bit awkward in the early part of the race, and yet, I followed the car in front somehow. SC came out just when I was changing tires so that I could overtake early stoppers when the race was restarted. Some intricacies of race, so to speak, served me to make a few more positions, I think. We’ve done hundred percent what we could do today, for me and for the team as well. Overall, we have to admit our shortcomings if compared with the top runners, which we would like to improve in the next test.
It didn’t hit quite right to me in the qualifying session. But I could make some positions at the start. My pace was a little bit awkward in the early part of the race, and yet, I followed the car in front somehow. SC came out just when I was changing tires so that I could overtake early stoppers when the race was restarted. Some intricacies of race, so to speak, served me to make a few more positions, I think. We’ve done hundred percent what we could do today, for me and for the team as well. Overall, we have to admit our shortcomings if compared with the top runners, which we would like to improve in the next test.
