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.

The Qualifying Session

The Aso region where the Autopolis circuit is located met with the bad weather from Friday evening, and on Saturday, the heavy rainfall with a dense fog forced race control to call off all the morning practice sessions. The almost zero visibility fog stayed in the afternoon which forced the entire program of the day to be inevitably cancelled. As the result, a 40-minute qualifying session was provided instead of the free practice session that would otherwise have been held at 9:40 on 18 (Sun). In this irregular qualifying method, the starting grids are decided, unlike as the usual knockout format, in accordance with the best lap time recorded at each entrant in the 40-min session.

It was cloudy but not foggy anymore on 18 (Sun), with ambient and track surface temperatures at 18℃ and 20℃ respectively, and some small puddles still remained on the track. With the absence of all the Saturday sessions in mind, the usable number of tyres was decided up to a total of 6 sets including 3 sets of new tyres.

As the qualifying session began, Honda/M-TEC engine users immediately showed a good start; #6 Kakunoshin Ohta (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) led with a 1’28.196” with #16 Nojiri following in 2nd just 0.1-sec behind, while #5 Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) sat in 4th. By the midterm point of the session, #15 Ayumu Iwasa (TEAM MUGEN) and #64 Ren Sato (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) also came up with the top times. In the meantime, #8 Nirei Fukuzumi (TOYOTA) renewed the fastest lap to which #16 Nojiri responded in no time hitting yet another fastest lap clocked at 1’26.757”, a fraction better than #8 Fukuzumi’s.

As it came to the final minutes of the session, almost all the runners made each stop for fresh tyres in order to execute the last and therefore the most crucial attack. The time attack rush began with 5-minutes or so left to the session end, however, #16 Nojiri, as he began his own attack, ran over the line at Turn-1 and broke his front wing. At the same time, another car stranded at the course side after a similar over run, which brought out Yellow Flag on the spot. Numerous cars were forced to abort their attacks right in the middle of the action and had to watch the time tick away, losing their opportunity for further attack laps. #16 Nojiri who had marked his best time on the penultimate attack captured the pole position, #65 Igor Omura Fraga (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) marked the 6th fastest, #15 Iwasa 7th and #64 Sato 10th. #6 Ohta, who has been in good shape this season and was the current point leader, sank in unbefitting 8th. The same was true for #5 Makino’s 13th as the Autopolis winner last year and current runner-up in the point ranking found himself down the order.

R5 The Race

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.)