The 2024 Japanese Super Formula Championship is the fifty-second season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the twelfth under the moniker of Super Formula. It started in March at Suzuka Circuit and is due to be contested over seven race weekends, ending in November at Suzuka. [1]
Reigning drivers' champion Ritomo Miyata did not defend his title in 2024 after leaving the series to compete in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and European Le Mans Series. [2] Team Mugen entered 2024 as the defending teams' champion.
All teams use identical Dallara-built SF23 chassis with either Honda or Toyota engines. Every Honda-powered car uses a Honda HR-417E engine and every Toyota-powered car uses a Toyota TRD-01F engine.
Entrant | Engine | No. | Driver name | Rounds |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kondo Racing [3] | Toyota | 3 | Kenta Yamashita [3] | 1 |
4 | Kazuto Kotaka [3] | 1 | ||
Docomo Team Dandelion Racing [4] | Honda | 5 | Tadasuke Makino [4] | 1 |
6 | Kakunoshin Ohta [4] | 1 | ||
Kids com Team KCMG [3] | Toyota | 7 | Kamui Kobayashi [3] | 1 |
8 | Nirei Fukuzumi [3] | 1 | ||
ThreeBond Racing [4] | Honda | 12 | Atsushi Miyake [4] | 1 |
docomo business ROOKIE [3] | Toyota | 14 | Kazuya Oshima [3] | 1 |
Team Mugen [5] | Honda | 15 | Ayumu Iwasa [5] | 1 |
16 | Tomoki Nojiri [5] | 1 | ||
Itochu Enex Team Impul [3] | Toyota | 19 | Théo Pourchaire [3] | 1 |
20 | Yuji Kunimoto [3] | 1 | ||
Vantelin Team TOM’S [3] | Toyota | 36 | Sho Tsuboi [3] | 1 |
37 | Ukyo Sasahara [3] | 1 | ||
Vertex Partners Cerumo・INGING [3] | Toyota | 38 | Sena Sakaguchi [3] | 1 |
39 | Toshiki Oyu [3] | 1 | ||
San-Ei Gen with B-Max [4] [6] | Honda | 50 | Iori Kimura [4] | 1 |
TGM Grand Prix [4] | Honda | 53 | "Juju" [4] [7] | 1 |
55 | Nobuharu Matsushita [8] | 1 | ||
PONOS Nakajima Racing [4] | Honda | 64 | Naoki Yamamoto [4] | 1 |
65 | Ren Sato [4] | 1 |
Cerumo-INGING acquired a new title sponsor in finance advisory firm Vertex Partners, and the team is now known as Vertex Partners Cerumo-INGING. [3]
Nakajima Racing acquired a new title sponsor in video game developer PONOS to replace Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and the team is now known as PONOS Nakajima Racing. [4]
B-Max Racing Team downsized from running two cars in 2023 to a single-car entry in 2024. The team also gained a new title sponsor in food ingredient manufacturer San-Ei Gen, and is now known as San-Ei Gen with B-Max. [6]
Championship runner-up Liam Lawson left Team Mugen and the series to focus on his reserve driver role at Red Bull Racing in Formula One. He was replaced at Team Mugen by fellow Red Bull Junior Team member Ayumu Iwasa, who returned to Japan to make his series debut. [5]
Reigning champion Ritomo Miyata left Team TOM'S and the series to move to Formula 2 and the European Le Mans Series in preparation to step up to the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing. [2] Miyata's replacement at Vantelin Team TOM'S was Sho Tsuboi, who spent the last five seasons at INGING, and was Miyata's co-driver in their 2023 Super GT GT500 class championship campaign. Ukyo Sasahara, who raced with TOM'S for the last three rounds of the 2023 season, returned on a full-time contract for 2024. Both drivers swapped numbers from the end of last season with Tsuboi driving the No. 36 car and Sasahara the No. 37 car. [3]
Cerumo・INGING signed Toshiki Oyu, who left Honda after losing his Super Formula ride with TGM Grand Prix before the end of the 2023 season. He joined Toyota and the team, replacing Sho Tsuboi. Sena Sakaguchi took over Tsuboi's old number 38, and Oyu was given the number 39. [3] [9]
Itochu Enex Team Impul recruited an all-new lineup of 2023 FIA Formula 2 Champion Théo Pourchaire, who made his series debut as the only non-Japanese driver on that year's grid, and 2016 Super Formula champion Yuji Kunimoto, who had spent the last four seasons with KCMG. [3] Impul's former drivers left the series, with Ryō Hirakawa electing to focus on his new role as the reserve driver for McLaren Racing in Formula One and Yuhi Sekiguchi joining KCMG as a reserve driver and team coordinator. [3] [10] [11]
KCMG replaced Impul-bound Kunimoto with Nirei Fukuzumi, who left ThreeBond Racing and also left Honda after being contracted by the manufacturer since his junior years, to join Toyota and drive the No. 8 entry alongside Kamui Kobayashi. [3]
TGM Grand Prix entered 2024 with an all-new driver lineup, as Cem Bölükbaşı left the team and the championship after a single season to join DKR Engineering in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series, and Toshiki Oyu joined Cerumo・INGING. [12] [3] The team signed Juju Noda to drive its No. 53 car, driving under the mononym "Juju". [7] [4] Noda became the first Japanese woman and youngest driver to race in the history of the series, after spending 2023 in Euroformula Open, the Drexler-Automotive Formula Cup, and BOSS GP. [13] Nobuharu Matsushita also joined TGM, the week before the opening round of the season, to drive the No. 55 car. [8]
ThreeBond Racing signed Atsushi Miyake to replace KCMG-bound Nirei Fukuzumi. Miyake returned to Super Formula after driving for Team Goh during the 2022 season, where he finished 14th in the standings. [4]
B-Max Racing Team recruited reigning Super Formula Lights champion Iori Kimura to drive the team's single car, the number 50. [4] Nobuharu Matsushita left B-Max after four seasons, and Raoul Hyman left after just one season in the number 51 car.
The provisional calendar was announced on 3 August 2023. [1] The final two rounds were later made to be double-headers. [14] Fuji Speedway's double-header weekend has been moved from the start of the season to 12–13 October, serving as the sixth and seventh rounds of the championship. Suzuka now hosted the opening round of the championship on 10 March. On 25 December 2023, the calendar was slightly amended, with the season finale moved forward by two weeks. [15]
Round | Circuit | Location | Date | Support bill | Map of circuit locations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Suzuka International Racing Course | Suzuka, Mie | 10 March | All Japan Road Race Championship Formula Regional Japanese Championship | |
2 | Autopolis | Hita, Oita | 17–19 May | Super Formula Lights | |
3 | Sportsland SUGO | Shibata, Miyagi | 21–23 June | Super Formula Lights | |
4 | Fuji Speedway | Oyama, Shizuoka | 19–21 July | Super Formula Lights Kyojo Cup | |
5 | Mobility Resort Motegi | Motegi, Tochigi | 23–25 August | Formula Regional Japanese Championship | |
6 | Fuji Speedway | Oyama, Shizuoka | 11–13 October | Formula Regional Japanese Championship | |
7 | |||||
8 | Suzuka International Racing Course | Suzuka, Mie | 8–10 November | Super Formula Lights | |
9 |
Round | Circuit | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winning driver | Winning team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Suzuka International Racing Course | Sena Sakaguchi | Naoki Yamamoto | Tomoki Nojiri | Team Mugen |
2 | Autopolis | ||||
3 | Sportsland SUGO | ||||
4 | Fuji Speedway | ||||
5 | Mobility Resort Motegi | ||||
6 | Fuji Speedway | ||||
7 | |||||
8 | Suzuka International Racing Course | ||||
9 |
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
---|---|---|---|
Points | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|
|
Pos | Team | No. | SUZ1 | AUT | SUG | FUJ1 | MOT | FUJ2 | SUZ2 | Points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Team Mugen | 15 | 9 | 22 | ||||||||
16 | 1 | |||||||||||
2 | PONOS Nakajima Racing | 64 | 3 | 17 | ||||||||
65 | 5 | |||||||||||
3 | Kondo Racing | 3 | 2 | 15 | ||||||||
4 | Ret | |||||||||||
4 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 5 | 10 | 9 | ||||||||
6 | 4 | |||||||||||
5 | Kids com Team KCMG | 7 | 19† | 5 | ||||||||
8 | 6 | |||||||||||
6 | Vertex Partners Cerumo・INGING | 38 | 7 | 4 | ||||||||
39 | 16 | |||||||||||
7 | TGM Grand Prix | 53 | 17 | 3 | ||||||||
55 | 8 | |||||||||||
8 | Vantelin Team TOM’S | 36 | 11 | 0 | ||||||||
37 | 15 | |||||||||||
9 | San-Ei Gen with B-Max | 50 | 12 | 0 | ||||||||
10 | docomo business ROOKIE | 14 | 13 | 0 | ||||||||
11 | ThreeBond Racing | 12 | 14 | 0 | ||||||||
12 | Itochu Enex Team Impul | 19 | 18 | 0 | ||||||||
20 | Ret | |||||||||||
Pos | Team | No. | SUZ1 | AUT | SUG | FUJ1 | MOT | FUJ2 | SUZ2 | Points |
TGM Grand Prix formerly Team Goh Motorsports is a Japanese auto racing team founded by Kazumichi Goh in 1996. Now the team compete in Super Formula Championship since 2023.
Yuji Kunimoto is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who is currently competing in Super GT for Racing Project Bandoh and in Super Formula for Team Impul. He is the champion of the 2016 Super Formula Championship and the 2010 Japanese Formula 3 Championship.
Tsugio Matsuda is a Japanese professional racing driver for Nissan and Kondo Racing in the Super GT Series, and a team ambassador for KCMG in the Super Formula Championship.
The 2017 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-fifth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the fifth under the moniker of Super Formula. Yuji Kunimoto was the defending series champion.
The 2018 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-sixth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fourteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-sixth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 8 and ended on November 11, after 8 races.
The 2018 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-sixth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the sixth under the moniker of Super Formula. The season began on 22 April and is scheduled to end on 28 October at the same place after seven rounds.
The 2019 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-seventh season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the seventh under the moniker of Super Formula. The season began on 21 April at Suzuka Circuit and ended on 27 October at the same location.
Sho Tsuboi is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing and TOM'S Racing, who currently competes in the Super GT Series GT500 class and Super Formula Championship.
The 2020 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-eighth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the eighth under the moniker of Super Formula.
The 2020 Super GT Series was motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-eighth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the sixteenth season the series to compete under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-eighth overall season of a JAF national sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2021 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-ninth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the seventeenth season under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-ninth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship, dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2021 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-ninth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the ninth under the moniker of Super Formula. Naoki Yamamoto entered the 2021 season as the defending drivers' champion.
Toshiki Oyu is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in Super GT for Team Cerumo and in Super Formula for INGING. He was previously a factory driver for Honda until 2023.
Sena Sakaguchi is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who is currently competing in Super GT for Racing Project Bandoh and in Super Formula for Cerumo・INGING. He is the champion of the 2020 Formula Regional Japanese Championship.
The 2022 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the fiftieth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the tenth under the moniker of Super Formula. It started in April 2022 and was contested over ten rounds across seven race meetings.
Hiroki Otsu is a Japanese racing driver who is currently competing in Super GT with ARTA, and in Super Formula for TCS Nakajima Racing as a substitute driver for Naoki Yamamoto.
The 2022 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirtieth season of the JAF Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the eighteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the fortieth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2023 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the fifty-first season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the eleventh under the moniker of Super Formula. It started in April 2023 and was contested over seven weekends, comprising nine races. Tomoki Nojiri entered the season as the two-time and defending series champion.
The 2023 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ran by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirty-first season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which included the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the nineteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the forty-first overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
Cerumo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese racing team headquartered in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture. The competed in Super Formula together with INGING Motorsport, and participated in Super GT GT500 Class. In January 2016, former Bridgestone Scuderia Ferrari engineer Hirohide Hamashima joined the team and became general manager in both the Super GT and Super Formula categories. At the shareholders' meeting in February 2019, founder Masayuki Sato resigned as president, and Hamashima also resigned as general manager. In his place, Haruhisa Urabe will become president and chairman, and Hiroaki Ishiura will become a director. After that Yuji Tachikawa picked as the director.