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2023 Super Formula Championship

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Ritomo Miyata, driving for Vantelin Team TOM'S, won his first Super Formula Championship title.

The 2023 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the fifty-first season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing,[1] and the eleventh under the moniker of Super Formula. It started in April 2023 and was contested over seven weekends, comprising nine races.[2] Tomoki Nojiri entered the season as the two-time and defending series champion.

TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata won the Drivers' Championship at the final race, ahead of Liam Lawson, who became Rookie of the Year while his Mugen Team won the Teams' Championship.

Teams and drivers

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All teams used identical Dallara-built SF23 chassis. 2023 was the first season for this new chassis. The SF23 was constructed from Bcomp bio-composite material aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 75 percent, and featured updated aerodynamic features aimed at reducing turbulent air and promoting more wheel-to-wheel racing.[3] Series tyre supplier Yokohama Rubber debuted a new "carbon neutral racing tyre" made from 33 percent recycled and renewable raw materials. Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-417E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota TRD-01F engine.

Team Engine No. Driver name Rounds
Japan Team Mugen[4] Honda 1 Japan Tomoki Nojiri[4] 1–3, 5–9
Japan Hiroki Otsu[5] 4
15 New Zealand Liam Lawson[4] All
Japan Kondo Racing[6] Toyota 3 Japan Kenta Yamashita[6] All
4 Japan Kazuto Kotaka[6] All
Japan Docomo Team Dandelion Racing[4] Honda 5 Japan Tadasuke Makino[4] All
6 Japan Kakunoshin Ohta[4] All
Hong Kong Kids com Team KCMG[6] Toyota 7 Japan Kamui Kobayashi[6] All
18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto[6] All
Japan ThreeBond Racing[4][7] Honda 12 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi[4] All
Japan docomo business ROOKIE[6] Toyota 14 Japan Kazuya Oshima[6] All
Japan Itochu Enex Team Impul[6] Toyota 19 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi[6] All
20 Japan Ryō Hirakawa[6] All
Japan Vantelin Team TOM’S[6] Toyota 36 France Giuliano Alesi[8] 1–5
Japan Ukyo Sasahara[9] 6–9
37 Japan Ritomo Miyata[6] All
Japan P.mu/Cerumo・INGING[6] Toyota 38 Japan Sho Tsuboi[6] All
39 Japan Sena Sakaguchi[6] All
Japan B-Max Racing[4] Honda 50 Japan Nobuharu Matsushita[4] All
51 United Kingdom Raoul Hyman[4][a] All
Japan TGM Grand Prix[10] Honda 53 Japan Toshiki Oyu[11] 1–5, 7
Japan Hiroki Otsu[12] 6
Japan Riki Okusa[13] 8–9
55 Turkey Cem Bölükbaşı[11] All
Japan TCS Nakajima Racing[4] Honda 64 Japan Naoki Yamamoto[4] 1–7
Japan Hiroki Otsu[14] 8–9
65 Japan Ren Sato[4] All

Team changes

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  • Red Bull left Team Goh and moved its sponsorship efforts to Lawson's Team Mugen entry. The loss of this sponsorship left Team Goh in doubts whether they would be able to continue their participation in the championship for 2023.[15] Servus Japan, the organization behind the team, later announced that the team would relaunch as TGM Grand Prix and confirmed that they would run two cars in 2023.[10]
  • After two seasons running one car, B-Max Racing expanded to two cars for this season.[4]
  • ThreeBond, who have been main sponsors for the Drago Corse team, acquired the team's entry and rebranded as ThreeBond Racing.[7]

Driver changes

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Mid-season

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  • Tomoki Nojiri was absent from the fourth round at Autopolis after being diagnosed with a pneumothorax. He was replaced by Hiroki Otsu, who came 9th in the standings with Team Dandelion in 2022.[5] Nojiri returned to competition from round five onwards.
  • After disappointing results in his second full-time season, Team TOM'S decided to replace Giuliano Alesi after round 5. His seat was filled by Ukyo Sasahara, who came sixth in 2022 driving for Team Mugen.[9]
  • Toshiki Oyu suffered from a broken collarbone during training ahead of round 6. Hiroki Otsu once again stepped in as a replacement driver.[12]
  • After suffering a heavy crash in the Super GT race at Sportsland SUGO, Naoki Yamamoto was diagnosed with a damaged vertebrae and spinal cord. He missed the Suzuka double-header during his recovery. Hiroki Otsu was the replacement driver for the third time this season.[14]
  • Ahead of the final Suzuka weekend, TGM Grand Prix announced that Toshiki Oyu would not be competing in the double-header, with Riki Okusa as the replacement driver making his Super Formula debut.[18][13]

Race calendar

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The provisional calendar was announced on 8 August 2022.[19] After three weekends were made to double-header events in 2022, the season opener and finale were both announced to have two races again.[20]

Round Circuit Location Date Support bill Map
1 Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 8 April Ferrari Challenge Japan
Honda N-One Owner's Cup
2 9 April
3 Suzuka International Racing Course Suzuka, Mie 23 April All-Japan Road Racing Championship JSB1000
4 Autopolis Hita, Oita 21 May Super Formula Lights
Honda N-One Owner's Cup
5 Sportsland SUGO Shibata, Miyagi 18 June Super Formula Lights
Legend Cars Japan
6 Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 16 July Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia
7 Mobility Resort Motegi Motegi, Tochigi 20 August TCR Japan Touring Car Series
8 Suzuka International Racing Course Suzuka, Mie 28 October Honda N-One Owner's Cup
Toyota 86 Racing Series
9 29 October

Race results

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Round Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team
1 Fuji Speedway Japan Tomoki Nojiri New Zealand Liam Lawson New Zealand Liam Lawson Team Mugen
2 Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan Toshiki Oyu Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
3 Suzuka International Racing Course Japan Toshiki Oyu Japan Ritomo Miyata Japan Ritomo Miyata Vantelin Team TOM'S
4 Autopolis Japan Sho Tsuboi Japan Sho Tsuboi New Zealand Liam Lawson Team Mugen
5 Sportsland SUGO Japan Toshiki Oyu New Zealand Liam Lawson Japan Ritomo Miyata Vantelin Team TOM'S
6 Fuji Speedway Japan Tadasuke Makino Japan Ryō Hirakawa New Zealand Liam Lawson Team Mugen
7 Mobility Resort Motegi Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan Ryō Hirakawa Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
8 Suzuka International Racing Course Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan Ritomo Miyata Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
9 New Zealand Liam Lawson Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi Japan Kakunoshin Ohta Docomo Team Dandelion Racing

Season report

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First half

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The 2023 Super Formula Championship began with a double-header at Fuji Speedway. Mugen's defending champion Tomoki Nojiri took pole position for the first race. His debuting teammate Liam Lawson started third, with the TGM of Toshiki Oyu between them until Lawson moved up into second. He then pitted on lap 21, with Nojiri following one lap later. A slightly quicker stop for Lawson together with his tyres already being up to temperature meant he took the lead. Lawson then built a gap and became the first driver to win on debut in Super Formula history. The podium was completed by Impul's Ryō Hirakawa, who had started seventh and pitted late in the race to climb up the order, but a late safety car meant the race finished under caution, so he was unable to make full use of his new tyres.[21]

Nojiri also took pole position for the second race of the weekend, but a great start by Oyu saw him take the lead into turn three. Most cars pitted shortly after a safety car on lap ten, where Nojiri profited of his pit box position as Oyu had to let him by before being allowed back into the fast lane. Oyu tried once to retake the lead, but then struggled for pace, allowing INGING's Sho Tsuboi to take second place, before dropping further down and finishing last. Lawson initially finished third, but was hit with a five-second time penalty for holding up other cars when he tried building a gap to Nojiri at the pit entry when Mugen double-stacked their cars. This promoted Kondō's Kenta Yamashita onto his first podium in three years. Nojiri left Fuji as the championship leader, 14 points ahead of his teammate Lawson.[22]

Next came the season's first visit to Suzuka, where Oyu claimed pole position. He held on to his lead as Lawson moved from eighth on the grid into fourth, and then past Nojiri into third. Most of the leaders then pitted, but Oyu waited until lap 19, resulting in him coming out directly in front of Nojiri. The pair fought through the opening corners, before Nojiri rear-ended Oyu, forcing both cars into retirement. TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata and Hirakawa stopped under the ensuing safety car, thereby coming out third and fourth. Their fresher tyres allowed them to take the fight to the leaders, with Miyata eventually ending up in the lead and winning the race ahead of Tsuboi, and Hirakawa passing Lawson for third. Nojiri still maintained his championship lead, but now Miyata was second, four points behind.[23]

The fourth round at Autopolis began with Tsuboi on pole position. Lawson in second initially lost position to INGING's Sena Sakaguchi, but stopped earlier than the other frontrunners, which allowed him to get past both INGING cars. Miyata was the only other frontrunner yet to pit and did so as Oyu and Sakaguchi crashed to bring out a timely safety car. Lawson and Tsuboi were both still able to stay in front of Miyata, but Lawson had by far the oldest tyres. A perfect restart allowed him to build a gap as Miyata tried to get past Tsuboi. He did so with three laps to go, but by then Lawson was far enough ahead to secure the win. Nojiri had to miss the weekend due to a pneumothorax, allowing Lawson to take the standings lead, four points from Miyata, with Tsuboi a further seven points behind.[24]

Oyu took another pole position a month later at Sportsland Sugo. He led Miyata at the start as Tsuboi and Lawson slotted in behind them. Oyu then started struggling for pace, allowing Miyata to take the lead on lap twelve. Tsuboi followed through as Oyu lost control of his car and crashed. Split strategies meant some drivers stopped early and other stayed out, with the former strategy clearly materializing to be the better one: Dandelion's Tadasuke Makino was the first driver to pit, which saw him take third place. Miyata and Nojiri also stopped early and ended the race first and second, while Tsuboi and Lawson were among the last cars to stop, having stayed out hoping for another safety car. Both unable to make the podium, while Miyata's win saw him take a twelve-point championship lead over Lawson.[25]

Second half

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The championship returned to Fuji Speedway to kick off the second half of the season. Makino beat Lawson to pole position and kept his lead at the start. Lawson pressured Makino, but was unable to pass him on the road. He then pitted a lap earlier than the leader and once again used his warmed up tyres to take first place, just as he did against Nojiri in the first race of the season. As the race stayed green until the end, the drivers who delayed their stop, led by KCMG's Naoki Yamamoto, were also no problem for him. In the end, he had built a four-second gap and won comfortably. Miyata had started fifth and passed Nakajima Racing's Ren Sato for third on lap 31 to hold on to his championship lead by a single point. Nojiri only came eighth, and Tsuboi failed to finish inside the points.[26]

Mobility Resort Motegi played host for round seven, and Nojiri was back on pole position. Dandelion's Kakunoshin Ohta qualified second, but stalled at the start. This saw Lawson aggressively challenge Nojiri for the lead into turn two, with the New Zealander running wide over the kerbs, spinning across the track, hitting Makino and Impul's Yuhi Sekiguchi and sending both cars airborne. A red flag interruption followed, with Makino being airlifted to hospital. He was able to avoid major injuries. After the restart, the race remained relatively uneventful, with Nojiri leading the pack home after a slow pitstop cost his nearest challenger Hirakawa any chance of victory. Oyu came third, while Miyata in fourth retook the championship lead. Lawson's car was repaired during the stoppage, but he could only manage 13th place and now trailed Miyata by eight points.[27]

The final double header at Suzuka began with Nojiri taking a crucial pole position to earn three more points and move past Lawson, who could only qualify seventh. The race began with Ohta moving past Makino for third, before being stopped for a massive crash between Sasahara and Nakajima Racing's Hiroki Otsu into 130R. Otsu was trying to move down the inside of Sasahara, which resulted in both cars hitting the barrier at high speed. Sasahara's car was flung into the catch fence, which tore the car in half. The chassis landed on the other side of the track near Degner 1. Both drivers miraculously avoided grave injuries, although Sasahara suffered a concussion. The damage to the barriers was to severe to restart the race and half points were awarded. This saw Lawson drop further back in the title fight, while Nojiri closed up to 6.5 points behind Miyata.[28]

Lawson took pole position for the final race of the season to minimize his gap to Miyata to twelve points. The odds still remained stacked against him, even more so after he lost the lead to Ohta at the start. Miyata moved into third, capitalizing on Nojiri losing momentum after also trying to move past Lawson. Miyata put pressure on Lawson, but knew he would not have to force the move to take the title. Ohta pitted later than his rivals, came out in front and spent the rest of the race fending off Lawson before eventually taking his maiden win. Miyata came home three seconds behind Lawson, his third place more than enough to secure his first Super Formula title. Nojiri could only manage fourth after a longer first stint waiting for a safety car and therefore lost second in the standings to Lawson by half a point.[29]

While all the talk was of the battle between Nojiri and Lawson leaving the first weekend, Miyata strongly inserted himself into the discussion through the next rounds. Delivering when he had the fastest car and still earning strong points when he had not, the TOM'S driver took a deserved title. Still, Lawson had an extremely strong rookie campaign that turned heads all over, tackling all obstacles with relative ease were it not for the overambitious move on Nojiri in Motegi that would prove pivotal in his title campaign. Nojiri meanwhile had to fight not only on track, but also off track as he had to recover from his pneumothorax that cost him the chance to compete at Autopolis. Considering his condition, he had a remarkable season to come so close within his third successive title.

Championship standings

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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

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Pos Driver FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2[b] Points
1 Japan Ritomo Miyata 52 42 1 2 12 3 4 22 3 114.5
2 New Zealand Liam Lawson 13 5 4 12 5 12 133 6 21 106.5
3 Japan Tomoki Nojiri 21 11 Ret3 23 8 11 11 43 106
4 Japan Sho Tsuboi Ret 2 22 31 7 11 Ret 5 5 59
5 Japan Ryō Hirakawa 3 21† 3 5 11 4 2 7 6 58
6 Japan Tadasuke Makino 14 8 15 6 3 21 Ret 43 10 43
7 Japan Kakunoshin Ohta 15 19 17 16 15 63 Ret2 3 12 35.5
8 Japan Kenta Yamashita Ret 3 5 4 8 17 9 11 9 32
9 Japan Toshiki Oyu 7 203 Ret1 Ret Ret1 3 22
10 Japan Ren Sato 6 9 DNS 7 12 5 16 10 Ret 17.5
11 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Ret 6 14 11 6 9 7 8 17 17.5
12 Japan Sena Sakaguchi 17 10 6 Ret3 10 10 5 14 11 15
13 Japan Naoki Yamamoto 4 15 11 9 13 7 Ret 14
14 Japan Kazuya Oshima 9 11 13 12 4 12 8 19 14 13
15 Japan Kazuto Kotaka 10 14 7 19 14 14 6 15 12 10
16 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi Ret 7 10 8 16 16 14 9 Ret 9
17 Japan Yuji Kunimoto 12 16 16 10 9 15 10 16 8 7
18 Turkey Cem Bölükbaşı 8 17 9 15 17 18 11 20 15 5
19 Japan Nobuharu Matsushita 13 12 12 Ret Ret 13 Ret 13 7 4
20 France Giuliano Alesi Ret Ret 8 13 Ret 3
21 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi 11 13 19 18 Ret 20 Ret 12 16 0
22 Japan Ukyo Sasahara 19 12 22 WD 0
23 Japan Riki Okusa 18 13 0
24 Japan Hiroki Otsu 14 21† 17 WD 0
25 United Kingdom Raoul Hyman 16 18 18 17 18 Ret 15 21 18 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

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Pos Team FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2[b] Points
1 Japan Team Mugen 1 1 4 1 2 1 1 1 2 188.5
2 5 Ret 14 5 8 13 6 4
2 Japan Vantelin Team TOM’S 5 4 1 2 1 3 4 2 3 109.5
Ret Ret 8 13 Ret 19 12 22 WD
3 Japan Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 14 8 15 6 3 2 Ret 3 1 69.5
15 19 17 16 15 6 Ret 4 10
4 Japan P.mu/Cerumo・INGING Ret 2 2 3 7 10 5 5 5 68
Ret 10 6 Ret 10 11 Ret 14 11
5 Japan Itochu Enex Team Impul 3 13 3 5 11 4 2 7 6 58
11 21† 19 18 Ret 20 Ret 12 16
6 Japan Kondo Racing 10 3 5 4 8 14 6 11 9 42
Ret 14 7 19 14 17 9 15 12
7 Japan TCS Nakajima Racing 4 9 11 7 12 5 16 10 Ret 31.5
6 15 DNS 9 13 7 Ret 17 WD
8 Hong Kong Kids com Team KCMG 12 6 14 10 6 10 7 8 8 24.5
Ret 16 16 11 9 15 10 16 17
9 Japan TGM Grand Prix 7 17 9 15 17 18 3 18 13 20
8 20 Ret Ret Ret 21† 11 20 15
10 Japan docomo business ROOKIE 9 11 13 12 4 12 8 19 14 13
11 Japan ThreeBond Racing Ret 7 10 8 16 16 14 9 Ret 9
12 Japan B-Max Racing 13 12 12 17 18 13 15 13 7 4
16 18 18 Ret Ret Ret Ret 21 18
Pos Team FUJ1 SUZ1 AUT SUG FUJ2 MOT SUZ2 Points

Notes

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  1. ^ Hyman is a South African driver competing under a British licence.
  2. ^ a b The First race for round 8 was stopped due to a huge crash and wasn't resumed. Due to less than 75% of laps being completed, half points were awarded.

References

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  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. ^ "2023 Race Schedule | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  3. ^ "SUPER FORMULA Celebrates 50 YEARS Japan's top formula introduces major sustainability and new action in 2023 the New Carbon-Neutral "SF23" the New Digital Platform "SFgo" | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Honda 2023 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Racing. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Tomoki Nojiri to miss Autopolis Super Formula race". www.motorsport.com. 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing announced its 2023 motorsport team setups". Toyota Gazoo Racing. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  7. ^ a b "ThreeBond takes over Drago Corse Super Formula entry". motorsports.com. 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Toyota signs Sasahara, but Alesi keeps Super Formula drive". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
  9. ^ a b "Super Formula: TOM'S axes Giuliano Alesi, Sasahara returns". www.motorsport.com. 2023-06-20. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  10. ^ a b "Reborn TGM Super Formula team announces two-car 2023 entry". motorsport.com. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  11. ^ a b c "Oyu, Bolukbasi fill final spots on 2023 Super Formula grid". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  12. ^ a b "Oyu to skip Fuji Super Formula round after breaking collarbone". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  13. ^ a b "TGM signs rookie Okusa for Suzuka Super Formula round". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  14. ^ a b "Yamamoto to miss remaining Super Formula, SUPER GT races after Sugo crash". motorsport.com. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  15. ^ "Team Goh announces split with Red Bull Junior Team". www.motorsport.com. 31 October 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  16. ^ "Nissan announces Nato and Fenestraz for Season 9". FIA Formula E. Archived from the original on 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  17. ^ a b "Super Formula: Ukyo Sasahara handed development driver role". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  18. ^ "Oyu withdraws from Suzuka Super Formula finale". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  19. ^ "Super Formula outlines 2023 calendar". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  20. ^ "2023年全日本レース選手権カレンダー". motorsports.jaf.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  21. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Red Bull junior Lawson wins on debut". www.motorsport.com. 2023-04-08. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  22. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Nojiri wins Race 2, Lawson penalised". www.motorsport.com. 2023-04-09. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  23. ^ "Suzuka Super Formula: Miyata gets first win, Nojiri crashes out". www.motorsport.com. 2023-04-23. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  24. ^ "Autopolis Super Formula: Lawson wins to take championship lead". www.motorsport.com. 2023-05-21. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  25. ^ "Sugo Super Formula: Miyata wins to snatch points lead from Lawson". www.motorsport.com. 2023-06-18. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  26. ^ "Fuji Super Formula: Lawson charges to third win in six races". www.motorsport.com. 2023-07-16. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  27. ^ "Motegi Super Formula: Nojiri wins, Lawson 13th after first-lap chaos". www.motorsport.com. 2023-08-20. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  28. ^ "Suzuka Super Formula: Nojiri wins as 130R crash ends race early". www.motorsport.com. 2023-10-28. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  29. ^ "Suzuka Super Formula: Miyata beats Lawson to title, Ota wins finale". www.motorsport.com. 2023-10-29. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
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