First half
The opening round at Fuji Speedway in early April began with Ukyo Sasahara taking a surprise maiden pole in qualifying, ahead of Ren Sato. Both front row starters had bad luck, though, with Sasahara stalling and Sato getting spun around by Hiroki Otsu. This handed Ryo Hirakawa the lead, ahead of Sacha Fenestraz, and the pair soon started fighting, with both leading the race at times. Hirakawa was in the lead by the time he pitted on lap 25 and came out in second behind Tomoki Nojiri, who had pitted earlier. He used his fresher tires to close up to the leader, and was able to get by Nojiri around the outside of turn 13 on lap 30. Hirakawa then went on to win the race. Fenestraz was unable to follow Hirakawa through, so he had to be content with third place. [14] [15]
The second race of the Fuji double-header saw Nojiri claim his eighth career pole in qualifying. He led Ritomo Miyata at the start, while Sasahara in third stalled again. The safety car was called on lap one when Nobuharu Matsushita spun Tadasuke Makino around and ended his race. Fenestraz was eliminated from contention when he spun around after the restart. Stopping later was once again the better strategy: Hirakawa ran in fifth before stopping, and was able to undercut four cars by virtue of stopping later than them, on lap 24. Nojiri pitted another lap later, and was able to defend his lead on fresher tires. He led Hirakawa home, with the gap between the top two remaining fairly static in the final stages of the race. Miyata came home third to round out the podium. Nojiri left Fuji leading the championship, two points ahead of Hirakawa. [16] [17]
Suzuka hosted round three of the season, and Nojiri continued his qualifying form, grabbing pole again. He kept Kenta Yamashita behind at the start, who was unable to keep up the pace and got passed by Makino and Matshushita. In wet conditions, a pitstop was no longer mandatory, and most drivers elected to run the race on a single set of wet tires. Nojiri dominated most of the race, with Makino and Matsushita only closing up slowly. Four laps from the end, Matsushita made a decisive move on Makino and got second place. He had managed to keep his tires from overheating better than everyone around him, so he rapidly closed up to leader Nojiri, overtook him two laps later and claimed his maiden Super Formula win. Nojiri's second place still grew his championship lead to 16 points, as Hirakawa had a bad weekend and earned just four points. [18] [19]
Nojiri kept his one-lap pace at Autopolis, scoring his third pole in a row. Next to him, Miyata had a poor start, first getting passed by Makino and then accidentally sending Sasahara off track when defending. Hirakawa used this to his advantage, starting from eighth and climbing up to third by the time the safety car was deployed for a crashed Toshiki Oyu. Shortly after the restart, Hirakawa was able to move past Makino into second place, before another interruption, this time because of Kamui Kobayashi retiring with damage. When Nojiri then pitted on lap 16, Hirakawa elected to stay out, comfortably overcutting his rival. Nojiri was struggling with pace in his second stint, dropping back to fourth, behind Fenestraz and Atsushi Miyake. This saw his championship lead over Hirakawa cut down to seven points. [20] [21]
When the first half of the season came to a close at Sugo, Nojiri extended his pole position streak to four, with Hirakawa struggling again in qualifying. Fenestraz started second and moved past Nojiri at the start, before two early safety car periods for Yamashita and Matsushita caused differing strategies across the field. Most drivers took their mandatory pitstop early on during the second safety car, the leaders among them. Seven cars remained out to stop later, so the frontrunners risked getting held up by the slower of those cars, allowing those in front to build a gap and overcut them. The off-strategy group led by Miyata failed to build up a big enough gap, so Miyata ended up fifth after his stop, allowing Fenestraz to claim his maiden win ahead of Oyu and Nojiri. Hirakawa was only able to finish seventh, so Nojiri's lead now stood at 17 points. [22] [23]
Second half
When the championship returned to Fuji in July, Yuhi Sekiguchi ended Nojiri's qualifying streak in a disrupted wet session. An eventful race saw Hirakawa and Miyake retiring after a battle with Oyu in the first turn, before Fenestraz suffered a heavy crash on lap two that triggered a safety car. Many drivers elected to stop early, Nojiri in second among them on lap ten. When race leader Sekiguchi came into the pits on lap 25, his left rear wheel was not fitted properly and it came off when he returned to the track. This prompted another safety car, advantaging those yet to stop. Sasahara stopped on lap 27 and came out in the lead, ahead of Sho Tsuboi, who was just able to hold off Nojiri. Sasahara claimed his maiden win from 13th on the grid. As Hirakawa and Fenestraz both retired, Nojiri was able to extend his championship lead to 29 points. [24] [25]
The double-header at Motegi began with three-time series champion Naoki Yamamoto claiming pole for race one, his first since 2020. Rain shortly before the race caused a safety car start that saw the polesitter lead away comfortably ahead of Fenestraz and Oyu. This order remained until Oyu suffered from gearbox issues on lap 14 that saw him drop back and pit. On lap 27, the safety car was deployed again when Hirakawa beached his car in the gravel. With Fenestraz unable to pass Yamamoto and wet conditions again eliminating the mandatory pitstop, Yamamoto was able to lead Fenestraz home to win his first race in two years. Nojiri had a rather uneventful race on his way to complete the podium. Hirakawas non-score and Fenestraz's second place saw Fenestraz overhaul Hirakawa in the standings, now 30 points behind Nojiri. [26] [27]
A day later, it was the other TCS Nakajima Racing driver, Oyu, on pole ahead of Fenestraz. The latter was jumped by Nojiri at the start, and the order settled, with Yamashita the first of the frontrunners to pit, albeit because of a technical issue. Several drivers running further behind also pitted early to maximize the running in clean air, with Sekiguchi benefitting the most of that strategy. He pitted from sixth and undercut the lead group to come out second, with only Hirakawa in front of him who was yet to pit. He did so on lap 30, coming out in fourth, but with the freshest tires. He quickly dispatched Nojiri and Makino to close up to his teammate, but a thrilling battle for the lead ultimately saw him concede victory to Sekiguchi, following him home to secure Team Impul's first one-two since 2008. Nojiri slightly grew his lead over Fenestraz to 32 points. [28] [29]
The final weekend of the season saw the championship return to Suzuka, where Nojiri cemented his title ambitions with pole for race one, especially with Fenestraz starting 17th and Hirakawa eleventh. Front-row starter Miyata slipped back at the start, while Nojiri's teammate Sasahara climbed to second and immediately pressured Nojiri. Sasahara then pitted a lap earlier than Nojiri and used his warmed-up tires to pass his teammate for the net race lead. Miyata was the last of the frontrunners to pit and looked set to round out the podium, before a slow stop put him out of contention and promoted Sato to third. With his rivals in 16th and ninth place, Nojiri only had to follow his teammate home to secure his second championship in a row, as well as Team Mugen's first teams' title. Fenestraz and Hirakawa stood level on points ahead of the season finale. [30] [31]
Wrapping up the title the day before did not slow Nojiri down one bit, as he was back on pole for the last race of the season. At the start, Otsu and Sasahara got by Miyata for second and third, before Nirei Fukuzumi crashed into the barriers at turn one and prompted a safety car. Sasahara dropped back at the restart, and Otsu was the first of the new lead trio to pit. Giuliano Alesi then collided with Matsushita at Casio Triangle, sending him into the barriers and causing another safety car, so the other leaders were granted a cheaper pitstop. The top three of Nojiri, Otsu and Miyata then remained the same for the rest of the race, with Fenestraz in fourth claiming second place in the standings ahead of Hirakawa, who came fifth. Sato was 19th, but still able to earn the Rookie of the Year title ahead of Miyake. [32] [33]
While Nojiri had only two wins, he only finished outside the top three on two times and never came lower than fourth place. His resounding qualifying form granted him six pole positions and 20 bonus points from qualifying alone. This consistency and one-lap pace meant he shook off Hirakawa's championship chase early on, and never looked seriously threatened by him or Fenestraz later on. After two seasons of restricted borders, customs troubles and uncertainty about government restrictions, the championship enjoyed a relatively stable season without any mid-season driver changes. 21 cars entered every round, a high-point for the series.
