Red Bull F1 reserve Ayumu Iwasa wins Super Formula title

Red Bull Formula 1 reserve Ayumu Iwasa won Sunday’s final race of the Super Formula season to overturn Sho Tsuboi’s advantage and win the championship.

Iwasa went into the finale trailing Tsuboi by 9.5 points following the morning’s sprint race, in which he finished fourth and Tsuboi seventh, but with the advantage of starting at the head of the field following his double pole position on Saturday.

A clean start allowed Team Mugen driver Iwasa to maintain his advantage, as Ren Sato passed Tomoki Nojiri to slot into second and Tsuboi dropped two places from his grid slot to ninth.

Iwasa pitted on lap 7 of 31 and maintained the advantage even after a safety car was called on lap 11 following a collision between Seita Nonaka and Toshiki Oyu.

The safety car had the effect of shuffling Sato back to third behind title contender Kakunoshin Ohta, who pitted one lap prior to Iwasa, as all those who hadn’t pitted came in together on lap 11 to take advantage of the caution.

When the race resumed on lap 15, Ohta came under immediate pressure in the fight for second from Sato, who managed to pass his rival into Turn 1 at the start of lap 17.

Nakajima Racing driver Sato then set about chasing Iwasa – a pass at this stage would have denied Iwasa the title – but could never get close enough to attempt a pass, ending up seven tenths behind at the finish.

The result meant Iwasa took the title by 4.5 points from TOM’S driver Tsuboi, who was passed by Sena Sakaguchi (Inging) on his way to a low-key eighth-place finish.

Ayumu Iwasa

Dandelion Racing driver Ohta completed the podium after lacking his explosive pace of Saturday, ending up third in the standings and 1.5 points behind Tsuboi.

Igor Fraga (Nakajima) passed the second Dandelion car of Makino to cap his rookie season with fourth, having secured his first win earlier in the day during the 19-lap sprint.

After his victory on Saturday, Mugen driver Nojiri’s decision to pit on the opening lap failed to pay off as he slumped to 10th behind Shun Koide (B-Max Racing).

Fraga breaks duck in morning sprint race

Sunday morning’s 19-lap sprint race, the replacement for the cancelled round at Fuji last month, was a straightforward affair as Fraga capitalised on his grid position of second to pass poleman Makino for the lead at Turn 1.

From there, Fraga was able to control the pace and take the chequered flag comfortably ahead of a visibly frustrated Makino.

It marked the first triumph for Nakajima Racing since 2022, as well as the first for a Brazilian driver since Joao Paulo de Oliveira back in 2016.

Behind Makino, Ohta completed the podium ahead of Iwasa, Nojiri and Sato, with the top eight finishing in grid order with the exception of the top two in a race without pitstops.

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