2022 Super Formula Championship

The 2022 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the fiftieth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing,[1] and the tenth under the moniker of Super Formula. It started in April 2022 and was contested over ten rounds across seven race meetings.

Tomoki Nojiri won his second Super Formula Championship title.

Tomoki Nojiri defended his championship title at the penultimate race, the first back-to-back series champion since Tsugio Matsuda in 2007 and 2008. His team, Team Mugen, was also crowned teams' champion after the same race, for the first time in its competition history.

Teams and drivers

edit

Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-414E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota RI4A engine.

Team Engine No. Driver name Rounds
  Team Mugen[2][3] Honda 1   Tomoki Nojiri[2] All
15   Ukyo Sasahara[3] All
  Kondo Racing Toyota 3   Kenta Yamashita[4] All
4   Sacha Fenestraz[4] All
  Docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda 5   Tadasuke Makino[2] All
6   Hiroki Otsu[2] All
  KCMG Toyota 7   Kamui Kobayashi[4] All
18   Yuji Kunimoto[4] All
  ThreeBond Drago Corse Honda 12   Nirei Fukuzumi[2] All
  docomo business ROOKIE Toyota 14   Kazuya Oshima[4] All
  Carenex Team Impul Toyota 19   Yuhi Sekiguchi[4] All
20   Ryo Hirakawa[4] All
  Kuo Vantelin Team TOM’S Toyota 36   Giuliano Alesi[4] All
37   Ritomo Miyata[4] All
  P.mu/CerumoINGING Toyota 38   Sho Tsuboi[4] All
39   Sena Sakaguchi[4] All
  B-Max Racing Honda 50   Nobuharu Matsushita[2] All
  Team Goh[5] Honda 53   Ren Sato[2] All
55   Atsushi Miyake[6] All
  TCS Nakajima Racing Honda 64   Naoki Yamamoto[2] All
65   Toshiki Oyu[2] All

Team changes

edit

Driver changes

edit

Race calendar

edit

The provisional calendar was announced on 6 August 2021.[9] On 31 January, it was announced that three of the race meetings would be double-header rounds, consisting of two races per weekend: The opening weekend at Fuji Speedway in April, the mid-August weekend at Mobility Resort Motegi, and the season-ending JAF Grand Prix at Suzuka.[10]

Round Circuit Location Date
1 Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 9 April
2 10 April
3 Suzuka International Racing Course Suzuka, Mie 24 April
4 Autopolis Hita, Oita 22 May
5 Sportsland SUGO Shibata, Miyagi 19 June
6 Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 17 July
7 Mobility Resort Motegi Motegi, Tochigi 20 August
8 21 August
9 Suzuka International Racing Course Suzuka, Mie 29 October
10 30 October

Regulation changes

edit

As a measure to help reduce the amount of tyre usage, qualifying now consisted of two phases of knockout qualifying, Q1 and Q2, instead of three phases.[11] The field was split into two groups for Q1, and the fastest six drivers from each Q1 group advanced to Q2.[12]

For single race meetings, there was a 90 minute free practice session held on Saturday prior to qualifying, and then a 30 minute free practice session before the race. For double-header weekends, there was a single 90 minute free practice session on Friday, and two separate qualifying sessions in the morning to set the grid for each afternoon's race.[10]

Points scored in all races now counted towards the final championship standings. In 2020 and 2021, only the top five out of seven scores were counted towards the championship.[13]

Results

edit
Round Circuit Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning driver Winning team
1 Fuji Speedway   Ukyo Sasahara   Ryo Hirakawa   Ryo Hirakawa   Carenex Team Impul
2   Tomoki Nojiri   Yuhi Sekiguchi   Tomoki Nojiri   Team Mugen
3 Suzuka International Racing Course   Tomoki Nojiri   Tomoki Nojiri   Nobuharu Matsushita   B-Max Racing
4 Autopolis   Tomoki Nojiri   Atsushi Miyake   Ryo Hirakawa   Carenex Team Impul
5 Sportsland SUGO   Tomoki Nojiri   Yuhi Sekiguchi   Sacha Fenestraz   Kondo Racing
6 Fuji Speedway   Yuhi Sekiguchi   Toshiki Oyu   Ukyo Sasahara   Team Mugen
7 Mobility Resort Motegi   Naoki Yamamoto   Naoki Yamamoto   Naoki Yamamoto   TCS Nakajima Racing
8   Toshiki Oyu   Kazuya Oshima   Yuhi Sekiguchi   Carenex Team Impul
9 Suzuka International Racing Course   Tomoki Nojiri   Ritomo Miyata   Ukyo Sasahara   Team Mugen
10   Tomoki Nojiri   Ren Sato   Tomoki Nojiri   Team Mugen

Season summary

edit

First half

edit

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

edit

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.

Championship standings

edit
Race points
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
Points 20 15 11 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Qualifying points
Position  1st   2nd   3rd 
Points 3 2 1

Drivers' championship

edit
Pos Driver FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2 Points
1   Tomoki Nojiri 2 11 21 41 31 33 3 43 21 11 154
2   Sacha Fenestraz 3 20 43 2 12 Ret 22 62 16 4 89
3   Ryo Hirakawa 13 2 7 1 7 Ret Ret 2 9 5 87
4   Ritomo Miyata 5 32 18 52 6 4 8 14 52 32 64
5   Tadasuke Makino 6 Ret 3 63 4 5 4 3 7 9 61
6   Ukyo Sasahara 191 103 14 7 10 1 7 8 1 17 57
7   Yuhi Sekiguchi 4 6 11 16 15 Ret1 9 1 6 11 43
8   Toshiki Oyu 7 11 13 Ret 2 10 Ret3 51 43 7 43
9   Hiroki Otsu 16 7 8 9 53 15 10 13 13 23 33
10   Naoki Yamamoto 14 14 9 14 12 9 11 16 11 6 32
11   Sho Tsuboi 8 12 20 13 11 22 5 10 8 12 30
12   Ren Sato 92 13 10 17 16 6 12 7 3 19 25
13   Nobuharu Matsushita Ret 19 1 10 Ret Ret 11 11 17 Ret 21
14   Atsushi Miyake 10 5 Ret 3 18 Ret Ret 15 12 8 21
15   Kenta Yamashita 11 4 162 12 Ret 7 6 Ret 14 13 19
16   Yuji Kunimoto 13 15 6 11 9 8 15 12 20 18 10
17   Kamui Kobayashi 18 9 5 Ret 17 14 14 17 18 10 9
18   Sena Sakaguchi 12 17 12 8 19 12 16 9 10 14 6
19   Nirei Fukuzumi Ret 16 17 DSQ 8 11 Ret Ret 15 Ret 3
20   Giuliano Alesi 17 8 15 Ret 13 Ret 13 Ret 21 16 3
21   Kazuya Oshima 15 18 19 15 14 13 17 18 19 15 0
Pos Driver FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2 Points
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Other points position
Blue Other classified position
Not classified, finished (NC)
Purple Not classified, retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Excluded (EX)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Withdrawn (WD)
Did not enter (cell empty)
Text formatting Meaning
Bold Pole position
Italics Fastest lap

Teams' championship

edit
Pos Team FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2 Points
1   Team Mugen 2 1 2 4 3 1 3 4 1 1 187
19 10 14 7 10 3 7 8 2 17
2   Carenex Team Impul 1 2 7 1 7 Ret 9 1 6 5 126
4 6 11 16 15 Ret Ret 2 9 11
3   Kondo Racing 3 4 4 2 1 7 2 6 14 4 99
11 20 20 12 Ret Ret 6 Ret 16 13
4   Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 6 7 3 6 4 5 4 3 7 2 91
16 Ret 8 9 5 15 10 13 13 9
5   TCS Nakajima Racing 7 11 9 14 2 9 1 5 4 6 67
14 14 13 Ret 12 10 Ret 16 11 7
6   Kuo Vantelin Team TOM’S 5 3 15 5 6 4 8 14 5 3 59
17 8 18 Ret 13 Ret 13 Ret 21 16
7   Team Goh 9 5 9 3 16 6 12 7 3 8 44
10 13 Ret 17 18 Ret Ret 15 12 19
8   P.mu/CerumoINGING 8 12 12 8 11 2 5 9 8 12 34
12 17 20 13 19 12 16 10 10 14
9   B-Max Racing Ret 19 1 10 Ret Ret 11 11 17 Ret 21
10   KCMG 13 9 5 11 9 8 14 12 18 10 19
18 15 6 Ret 17 14 15 17 20 18
11   ThreeBond Drago Corse Ret 16 17 DSQ 8 11 Ret Ret 15 Ret 3
12   docomo business ROOKIE 15 18 19 15 14 13 17 18 19 15 0
Pos Team FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2 Points

References

edit
  1. ^ ""SUPER FORMULA NEXT 50" Project Start Announcement Japan Race Promotion, Honda, and TOYOTA are the core members of a newly formed mobility & entertainment technical development partnership | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Honda outlines Super Formula driver roster for 2022". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ^ a b c d "Mugen adds second Super Formula entry, signs Sasahara". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing announced its 2022 motorsport team setups". Toyota Gazoo Racing. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Team Goh gets Red Bull backing for first Super Formula season". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  6. ^ "Super Formula: Team Goh hands second seat to Atsushi Miyake". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  7. ^ "B-Max Racing Team 2022 Race Structure". B-Max Racing Team (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  8. ^ Klein, Jamie (2022-03-07). "Super Formula: Goh aiming to refer Honda juniors to Red Bull". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  9. ^ "Fuji gets second race on 2022 Super Formula calendar". www.motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-06. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
  10. ^ a b "2022 Race Schedule | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  11. ^ "2022 SUPER FORMULA Season Outline - Creating a Next Generation of Motorsport Entertainment Experience in Conjunction with our SF NEXT 50 Partners - | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  12. ^ "Super Formula scraps Q3 in qualifying format shake-up". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  13. ^ "2022 All-Japan Super Formula Championship Unified Regulations" (PDF). JAF Motor Sports (in Japanese). 4 January 2022. p. 3. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Ukyo Sasahara takes surprise first pole". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  15. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Hirakawa outduels Nojiri for victory". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  16. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Tomoki Nojiri grabs pole for second race". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  17. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Nojiri denies Hirakawa double win". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  18. ^ "Super Formula: Mugen's Tomoki Nojiri on pole again at Suzuka". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  19. ^ "Super Formula: Nobuharu Matsushita takes first win at Suzuka". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  20. ^ "Super Formula: Tomoki Nojiri scores third straight pole". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  21. ^ "Super Formula: Ryo Hirakawa wins from eighth at Autopolis". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  22. ^ "Super Formula: Tomoki Nojiri scores fourth straight pole". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  23. ^ "Super Formula: Sacha Fenestraz takes first win at Sugo". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  24. ^ "Super Formula: Yuhi Sekiguchi ends Nojiri's pole streak". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  25. ^ "Super Formula: Ukyo Sasahara gifted first series win at Fuji". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  26. ^ "Super Formula: Naoki Yamamoto ends two-year pole drought". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  27. ^ "Motegi Super Formula: Yamamoto holds off Fenestraz for victory". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  28. ^ "Motegi Super Formula: Oyu gives Nakajima back-to-back poles". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  29. ^ "Super Formula: Yuhi Sekiguchi beats Ryo Hirakawa in thriller". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  30. ^ "Suzuka Super Formula: Nojiri puts one hand on title with pole". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  31. ^ "Super Formula: Tomoki Nojiri crowned 2022 champion at Suzuka". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  32. ^ "Suzuka Super Formula: Nojiri storms to sixth pole of 2022". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  33. ^ "Super Formula: Tomoki Nojiri ends season with dominant win". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
edit