Honda's top 6 qualifying monopoly vanished in the Fuji mist
Suzuka CircuitThick fog on Sunday cancels the second of Fuji Speedway's double-header pair of races
The ninth and the tenth rounds of the 2025 Super Formula series were held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.) on Friday 10 to Sunday 12 October. The previous day's '2-in-1' format race, the ninth round of the season, was reduced to a ‘half-point’ race due to the heavy rainfall, and Sunday's tenth round was cancelled completely due to a thick fog.
R10 Qualifying Sessions
Sunday at Fuji Speedway just escaped rainfall, but the air was heavy under thick clouds.
At 10:10 a.m., the air and track temperature each at 20℃ and 23℃, the official qualifying sessions for the tenth round were duly started. While the racing line was almost dried out, there were small wet patches everywhere on the tarmac. nevertheless, drivers began their Q1 A-group and then B-group time attacks on dry tyres.
#5 Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) immediately set quick times even before the track condition became fully ready. He maintained the momentum in Q2 and captured the pole position (1’22.123”). SF rookie driver Igor Omura Fraga (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING), who was in good shape since the opening day of the weekend, followed 0.076-sec behind in second, achieving his first ever front row start in the series. #6 Kakunoshin Ohta (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) marked the 3rd fastest time, followed by #15 Ayumu Iwasa (TEAM MUGEN), #16 Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN), #64 Ren Sato (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING) all of whom sat within a 0.3-sec bracket between 1’22.2 and 1’22.4, making up the Honda/M-TEC users’ top-6 monopoly on the grid.
R10 The Race
Shortly before the scheduled race start time, at around 3 p.m., dense fog descended over the whole circuit, and a start delay due to poor visibility was announced. The condition check was done every ten minutes or so, and a further delay was advised each time around. And at 15:35 p.m., the cancellation of the race (R10) was finally declared determining a zero chance of condition improvement. The validity of the qualifying results and the rescheduling of the round are to be discussed and notified at a later date.
My qualifying run was superb because I think I could put the changeable conditions under my control. Turn-1 was a little bit wet and the braking was very severe, but it was OK for me, for I had my tyre pressure adjusted to the condition well in advance. Although I had a hard time in the mid-season, all those changes we've made in the last couple of months seem to be rewarding. I was full of prospect for the race, so it’s really a pity that we couldn’t complete it. I’m really sorry for the spectators who had came all the way to Fuji, but we can do nothing about the weather, and it happens once in a while. All we can do is to prepare best for the next round at Suzuka.
My qualifying run was superb because I think I could put the changeable conditions under my control. Turn-1 was a little bit wet and the braking was very severe, but it was OK for me, for I had my tyre pressure adjusted to the condition well in advance. Although I had a hard time in the mid-season, all those changes we've made in the last couple of months seem to be rewarding. I was full of prospect for the race, so it’s really a pity that we couldn’t complete it. I’m really sorry for the spectators who had came all the way to Fuji, but we can do nothing about the weather, and it happens once in a while. All we can do is to prepare best for the next round at Suzuka.
