Mugen driver Nojiri made a perfect start from third on the grid to leap ahead of surprise poleman Sena Sakaguchi and Kakunoshin Ota at the first corner, and from there his position was never truly threatened over the course of the 31-lap race.
Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing) and Naoki Yamamoto (Nakajima Racing) completed the podium, both gaining ground by clearing their mandatory pitstops early.
Both front-row starters lost positions off the start, as Inging’s Sakaguchi slipped to third behind both Nojiri and a fast-starting Ren Sato (Nakajima), and Ota plummeted from second to seventh.
Surviving an early safety car restart with his lead intact, Nojiri left his stop until lap 13, having extended a lead of nearly three seconds over Sato, resuming ahead of both Yamashita and Yamamoto, who stopped on lap 11 and 10 respectively after the pit window opened.
Sato left his stop until lap 15, but found himself jumped not only by Yamashita and Yamamoto but also Dandelion Racing man Ota and KCMG’s Nirei Fukuzumi.
From there, the order at the front remained unchanged as Nojiri eased to a 12th career victory by 1.855s from Yamashita, while Yamamoto recorded his best finish in a dry race since 2020 on his comeback race from the neck injuries that ruled him out of last year’s finale.
Ota recovered from his poor start to finish fourth ahead of Sato and Fukuzumi, making his debut as a Toyota driver after his off-season switch from Honda.
Naoki Yamamoto, PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Sakaguchi left his pitstop until lap 19 and slipped to seventh as a result, while the points scorers were completed by last-minute TGM Grand Prix signing Nobuharu Matsushita, Ayumu Iwasa (Mugen) and Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion).
Iwasa finished as top rookie, having been the last to stop on lap 26, initially dropping to 10th before passing Makino around the outside at Spoon once his tyres were up to temperature.
Of the other newcomers, Iori Kimura was 12th for B-Max Racing behind a struggling Sho Tsuboi (TOM’S), Juju Noda (TGM) was 17th and Theo Pourchaire (Team Impul) was 18th on a miserable Super Formula debut for the reigning Formula 2 champion.
That followed an off at Turn 7 (formerly Dunlop Curve) for the French driver that required his front wing to be changed during his pitstop.
Pourchaire’s teammate Yuji Kunimoto and Kazuto Kotaka (Kondo) were both eliminated in a clash at the Esses on lap 2, which brought out the safety car, while Kamui Kobayashi (KCMG) dropped out with a loose wheel late on.
Super Formula Suzuka – Race results:
Laura Adams is a tech enthusiast residing in the UK. Her articles cover the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
