Sho Tsuboi (left) and Dandelion Racing (right) are the current Drivers' and Teams' Championship leaders, respectively.
The 2025 Japanese Super Formula Championship is the fifty-third season of premier Japanese open-wheelmotor racing, and the twelfth under the moniker of Super Formula. The season started in March at Suzuka Circuit and is due to be contested over 12 rounds in seven race weekends, ending in November at Suzuka.[1]
The 2025 Super Formula Championship will be the last season for Kazuya Oshima, as after its conclusion, he will end his career after 13 seasons.
Teams and drivers
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. All teams compete with tyres supplied by Yokohama.
The entry co-run by Inging Motorsport and Cerumo added another title sponsor alongside Vertex Partners, with Industrial manufacturer Sanki Shokai joining the series and the team competing under the name Sanki Vertex Partners Cerumo・Inging.[5]
TGM Grand Prix underwent substantial changes within its organization. The team ended its engine contract with Honda and instead became part of Toyota Gazoo Racing, joining Rookie Racing in serving as a Toyota junior team and receiving Toyota engines. The team is co-run by TGM and TOM'S, acquired a new title sponsor in telecommunications operator KDDI and entered the 2025 season under the name KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC.[3][6]
A new team entered the championship in Triple Tree Racing, established by Hideki Noda, former Formula One and father of Juju Noda. It uses Honda engines and is operated by motorsport management company 4Minutes. Construction company Hazama Ando was confirmed to be the entry's title sponsor, with the team running under the name Hazama Ando Triple Tree Racing.[7]
Red Bull ended their partnership with Team Mugen after seven years of cooperation.[8]
Team Impul added another title sponsor in Itochu's subsidiary company, used car dealer Wecars, with the team competing under the name Itochu Enex Wecars Team Impul.[9]
Newly rebranded team TGMGP also took on two new drivers as Juju Noda and Hiroki Otsu both left the team following its switch from Honda to Toyota engines, with Noda switching to the new Triple Tree Racing team and Otsu electing to focus on his Super GT GT500 efforts with ARTA. Kazuto Kotaka joined the team after coming 14th with Kondo Racing in his second season in 2024. Hibiki Taira, who drove Team Impul's No. 19 car on four occasions in 2024, completed TGMGP's lineup on his full-time debut in the series.[3]
Juju Noda joined the new Triple Tree Racing team for her second season in the championship after finishing her debut season with TGM Grand Prix in 21st.[7]
Mid-season changes
Oliver Rasmussen was forced to withdraw from the first two rounds at Suzuka after suffering a back injury in a crash in free practice.[14] Rasmussen's replacement for the two races was announced to be TGMGP's reserve driver Seita Nonaka, who came 3rd in Super Formula Lights with TOM'S and made his series debut.[15][16]
Kamui Kobayashi missed the Motegi double-header due to a calendar clash with the WEC's 6 Hours of Imola. Nonaka deputized once again after doing so for Team Impul at the Suzuka season opener.[17] With Rasmussen still not cleared for competition after his crash at the opening round, Team Impul signed 2024 Super Formula Lights runner-up Rikuto Kobayashi to make his series debut in his place.[18]
Oliver Rasmussen returned for the third round at Autopolis after he recovered from his back injury.[19]
Toyota reevaluated the lineup of its TGMGP junior team after round five at Autopolis: reserve driver Seita Nonaka was promoted to one of the team's race seats, while Hibiki Taira was in turn demoted to serve as Toyota's reserve driver.[20][21]
Race calendar
The provisional calendar was announced on 1 August 2024.[1] All weekends except the ones at Autopolis and Sportsland Sugo will be double-headers, making this the longest calendar in Super Formula history. The series originally planned its first race outside Japan since 2004 with a round held at Inje Speedium.[22] These plans, however, were cancelled in October 2024. It marked the second time that a planned round at Inje was cancelled.[23]
Double-header race weekends now have two 60-minute practice sessions on a Friday instead of a single 90-minute session. The rounds held at Autopolis and Sugo retain the format previously employed for single-race events, with 90 minutes of practice prior to qualifying on Saturday. Races held on Saturday are now run over a reduced distance of 165km, while races held on Sunday, including those held during the single-race weekends at Autopolis and SUGO, are run over 185km. These longer races no longer have a pre-determined pit window, while the shorter races retained the existing pit window.[24]
A restriction on the teams' activity on race weekends was employed in order to prevent fatigue among staff members. Teams are now required to stop all work carried out in the paddock four hours after the end of the final session, although there are exemptions in cases of cars becoming seriously damaged in incidents.[24]
†– Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
Notes
↑ Oliver Rasmussen entered the first double-header at Suzuka, but withdrew ahead of the first qualifying session after sustaining an injury in free practice. He was replaced by Seita Nonaka.
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