2025 Super Formula Championship

The 2025 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the fifty-third season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the twelfth under the moniker of Super Formula. The season started in March at Suzuka Circuit and was contested over 12 rounds in seven race weekends, ending in November at Suzuka.^[1]

Ayumu Iwasa, driving for Team Mugen, won his first Super Formula Drivers' Championship at the final race, ahead of defending champion Sho Tsuboi. Dandelion Racing won the Teams' Championship for the second time in a row.

All teams used identical Dallara-built SF23 chassis with either Honda or Toyota engines. Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-417E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota TRD-01F engine. All teams competed 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.^[10]

• 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, 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][11]

• A new team entered the championship in Triple Tree Racing, established by Hideki Noda, former Formula One and father of Juju Noda. It used Honda engines and was 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.^[6]

• Red Bull ended their partnership with Team Mugen after seven years of cooperation.^[12]

• 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.^[13]

• Nakajima Racing saw three-time series champion Naoki Yamamoto retire from the series after 15 seasons.^[14] The team promoted their reserve driver Igor Fraga, who spent 2024 competing in Super GT's GT300 class with Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage, to its Super Formula outfit.^[4]

• Team Impul had an all-new line up as 2016 series champion Yuji Kunimoto retired from the series after 14 seasons and neither of the four drivers who drove the No. 19 car in 2024 returned.^[15] The team signed Oliver Rasmussen, who came 19th in the WEC's Hypercar class with Jota Sport in 2024 and made his series debut, and NISMO works driver Mitsunori Takaboshi, who made his full-season debut after a one-off Super Formula appearance for Team Impul in 2021.^[3]

• B-Max Racing Team saw Iori Kimura leave the team after Honda ended its association with him. He joined Team Mach in the Super GT GT300 class, while B-Max promoted reigning Super Formula Lights champion Syun Koide from its outfit in that championship to replace him.^[16][17][4]

• TOM'S saw Ukyo Sasahara leave the series after five years and three full-time seasons to focus on his Super GT GT500 efforts with TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S. 2022 Super Formula runner-up Sacha Fenestraz returned to the series after a two-year stint in Formula E with Nissan to replace him.^[3]

• Kondo Racing replaced TGMGP-bound Kazuto Kotaka with former Williams Academy driver Zak O'Sullivan, who moved to Japan after coming 16th in Formula 2 with ART Grand Prix.^[3]

• 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.^[6]

• Oliver Rasmussen was forced to withdraw from the first two rounds at Suzuka after suffering a back injury in a crash in free practice.^[18] 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.^[19][7]

• 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.^[5] 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.^[8]

• Oliver Rasmussen returned for the third round at Autopolis after he recovered from his back injury.^[20]

• 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.^[21][9]

The calendar was announced on 1 August 2024.^[1]

• All weekends except the ones at Autopolis and Sportsland Sugo were scheduled as double-headers, making this the longest calendar in Super Formula history. The Sugo round moved from June to August, while the Motegi round moved from August to April

• 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]

• Race ten, originally scheduled to be held on the same weekend as race nine, was postponed to the final meeting at Suzuka because of fog.^[24]

Double-header race weekends now held two 60-minute practice sessions on a Friday instead of a single 90-minute session. The rounds held at Autopolis and Sugo retained the format previously employed for single-race events, with 90 minutes of practice prior to qualifying on Saturday. Races held on Saturday were 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, were run over 185km. These longer races no longer had a pre-determined pit window, while the shorter races retained the existing pit window.^[25]

A restriction on the teams' activity on race weekends was employed in order to prevent fatigue among staff members. Teams were now required to stop all work carried out in the paddock four hours after the end of the final session, although there were exemptions in cases of cars becoming seriously damaged in incidents.^[25]

On October 27, 2025, the Suzuka schedule was changed to accommodate the three-race format. Qualifying sessions for both afternoon races were held on Saturday morning. The Saturday race and Sunday afternoon race retained their standard distances. The Sunday morning race, which was the postponed Fuji race with the grid set by the results of qualifying at Fuji for Round 10, was held over 19 laps (110km) with a 50 minute time limit and no mandatory pit stops.^[26]

The 2025 Super Formula season began with a Team Mugen 1-2 in qualifying at Suzuka. Tomoki Nojiri led Ayumu Iwasa, but lost out to the Red Bull junior at the start, while Kakunoshin Ohta held third for Dandelion Racing. Three safety cars shaped the 27-lap race, with the second one crucially falling on the opening of the pit window on lap ten. That led to the whole field stopping together, with Mugen forced to double-stack and Nojiri falling out of the top five. That allowed Ohta to rejoin in second, and he passed Iwasa at the start of lap 14 before another incident neutralised proceedings once more. The race resumed on lap 18, where Ohta retained control despite Iwasa remaining within a second. Ohta took his third consecutive Suzuka win by 0.197s, with Nakajima's Ren Sato completing the podium after passing TOM'S driver Sho Tsuboi at Turn 1 on the second restart.^[27]

Nojiri and Iwasa repeated their qualifying 1-2 a day later for round two, ahead of the Dandelion pair of Tadasuke Makino and Ohta. Iwasa led the opening lap before stopping early together with Ohta, the latter cutting the final chicane while overtaking Iwasa and receiving a five-second penalty. Makino extended his first stint to lap 20 and briefly ceded position to Ohta after rejoining on cold tyres, but reclaimed the lead on lap 24 using the advantage of fresher rubber. The race ended under the safety car following Kondo's Zak O’Sullivan crashing at Turn 2 after contact with Impul's Seita Nonaka, preventing Ohta from mitigating the penalty and dropping him to 12th. Makino kept the victory after a post-race investigation into the safety car procedure, with Tsuboi classified second and Iwasa third. Iwasa left Suzuka leading the championship on 30 points, seven ahead of Tsuboi.^[28]

Round three at Motegi saw Makino lead a Dandelion Racing front-row lockout ahead of Ohta, with Igor Fraga starting third for Nakajima Racing. Makino retained the lead at the start while Fraga moved past Ohta and briefly challenged for first before settling into second. The race was neutralised on the opening lap when Inging's Toshiki Oyu hit Sato at Turn 1. Ohta pitted as soon as the window opened on lap 10, Fraga stopped on lap 17, and Makino responded one lap later. Ohta briefly cycled to the front through the undercut but Makino reclaimed the lead at Turn 1 on lap 22 and pulled away to victory. Ohta held off Fraga for second, while Iwasa rose to fourth with a late stop before retiring with a gear-selection failure, promoting Tsuboi to fourth. That saw Makino end the day with a five-point championship lead over Ohta, with Tsuboi 13 points behind the new leader.^[29]

Kondo Racing's Kenta Yamashita claimed pole position for the second Motegi race, but his race unraveled straight away as a collision left TGMGP's Hibiki Taira stranded in the gravel, prompting a first-lap safety car and pitstops for fourteen drivers. Yamashita had a slow stop that saw him lose the lead to Ohta, before his right rear tire came loose and he dropped down the order. Makino led the seven drivers that elected not to stop, holding out in hope of another interruption before pitting on lap 23. He came out in fifth and quickly rose to second, but Ohta had built a twelve-second gap by that point, allowing him to comfortably manage the rest of the race. Iwasa mirrored Makino's strategy, pitting even later on lap 28, to complete the podium in third. Ohta's victory saw him retake the championship lead by a single point over his teammate, with Iwasa behind in third.^[30]

Autopolis hosted round five of the season, where Nojiri led Yamashita in qualifying. Tsuboi and Iwasa, who had started fifth and seventh, both had very good getaways that saw them move right behind Nojiri into the podium places as Yamashita dropped to fourth. Iwasa took his mandatory stop on lap 15, with Nojiri and Tsuboi both following on lap 19. That saw Iwasa take the net lead as Tsuboi got past Noriji into a net second place on their outlap. On lap 27, Iwasa's front-right wheel came loose, robbing him of an almost certain maiden victory as he dropped down the field and later retired. Tsuboi took the lead and with it the win, 1.1 seconds ahead of Nojiri, with Yamashita promoted back onto the podium. Pre-race leaders Ohta and Makino finished 13th and eighth, respectively, with Makino retaking a four-point championship lead and Tsuboi now only 14 points behind.^[31]

A double-header at Fuji Speedway followed, and Nojiri was once again on top in qualifying. Tsuboi started alongside him in second place, but pressured Nojiri for the opening two laps before taking the lead. The defending champion then pulled away, while Nojiri tried fighting back on strategy by pitting early on lap eleven. Tsuboi stayed out until lap 23, which saw Nojiri retake the net lead of the race. Tsuboi's much fresher tyres saw him soon close up to Nojiri and he retook the lead to win by 6.7 seconds. Iwasa took third by also staying out long and capitalizing on fresher tyres, passing KCMG's Nirei Fukuzumi, who had qualified third and remained there for much of the race, with five laps to go. Points leader Makino finished fifth after a poor start dropped him to tenth, so he was forced to relinquish his championship lead to Tsuboi by two points, with Ohta now third.^[32]

Race points

Qualifying points

Notes:

• † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Notes:

• † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

• Super Formula official website