As the crisp autumn air heralded the end of a long and hot summer, the ninth and the tenth rounds of the 2025 Super Formula series were held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.) on October 10 (Fri) - 12 (Sun). The '2-race in 1-event’ format for this time was scheduled to stage two free practice sessions on Friday, one each in the morning and afternoon, and a set of the official qualifying session and the race for R9 on Saturday, and qualifying and Round 10's race on Sunday.

The Free practice sessions started under ‘Dry’ conditions with the sun battling with the scattered clouds. #65 Igor Omura Fraga (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) marked the top time in the morning session with #64 Ren Sato (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING), #15 Ayumu Iwasa (TEAM MUGEN) and #16 Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN) following immediately behind. In the afternoon, Honda/M-TEC users took the top 4 times, with #5 Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) at the top, then by Omura Fraga, Iwasa and Sato.

R9 Qualifying Sessions

Saturday morning brought rain at Fuji Speedway, and the air/track temperatures of 17℃ and 20℃ respectively were significantly down on the previous day. While the rain continued on and off during the morning, the qualifying session for Q1 A-group started at 10:10 a.m. followed by B-group, both in the heavy wet conditions that meant all drivers struggled with torrential spray.

A total of six Honda drivers made their way to Q2; three each from A-group (Iwasa, Makino, Sato) and B-group (Nojiri, Ohta, Omura Fraga).

The Q2 session was also held in the rain and saw Iwasa set the top time, only to crash into the wall after spinning on a puddle while still holding the top position. #15 car was heavily damaged and the race official decided to cancel the session reasoning it would take too long to clear the aftermath. Iwasa’s top time in Q2 was also cancelled on the grounds that his crash caused the Red Flag, and he was relegated to the 12th grid. The final order of the qualifying session was as follows: Nojiri (3rd), Makino (4th), Sato (5th), #6 Kakunoshin Ohta (7th), Omura Fraga (8th). Iwasa had to replace the damaged engine before the race, which gave him a further 10-grid down penalty making him to start the race from the back of the grid.

R9 The Race

The rain continued in the afternoon after the qualifying sessions, and there were pockets of standing water on the track.

The race was started at 3:00 p.m. with the Safety Car (SC) leading the field due to the foul weather combined with poor visibility. As conditions worsened, the race was stopped with a Red Flag after Lap-6. All cars were lined up, stationary, on the main straight when the suspension of the race was announced.

At 3:48 p.m., anticipating an improvement in the weather, the race was restarted, again led by the SC, however, the persistent rain, along with the visibility problems caused by the emerging fog, forced yet another suspension at the end of Lap-14, and soon after, the ninth round of the series was declared to be an early finish.

As the race was run for a total of 14 laps and therefore cleared the minimum distance to be eligible for half points, Nojiri (3rd), Makino (4th), Sato (5th), Ohta (7th) and Omura Fraga (8th) earned each corresponding points.