Hirakawa for Toyota; Nojiri for Honda
SUPER FORMULA FUJI (JPN) 9-10 APRIL ROUND 1/7
Tomoki Nojiri and Ryo Hirakawa shared the honours as Super Formula got its 2022 season off to a thrilling start with a Fuji double-header. Hirakawa came through from third on the grid to win the opening race on Saturday ahead of reigning champion Nojiri, who took revenge on Sunday with a dominant victory, with Hirakawa behind.
The bonus score for securing the Sunday pole position has given Nojiri an early two-point lead as he bids to become the first back-to-back champion since Tsugio Matsuda in 2008.
Nojiri’s Mugen team-mate Ukyo Sasahara took a surprise pole on Saturday ahead of Team Goh’s Red Bull-backed rookie Ren
Sato, but both front-row starters had disastrous opening laps, with Sasahara stalling on the grid and Sato getting tipped into a spin by Hiroki Otsu. That cleared the way for Hirakawa to score his first win since 2020 in his Toyota-powered Team Impul car, although he had to see off an early challenge from Sacha Fenestraz and then pass Nojiri, who briefly got ahead with an undercut strategy but was powerless on worn tyres to resist Hirakawa.
Fenestraz (Kondo Racing) came home third for his second SF podium finish, ahead of Yuhi Sekiguchi (Impul) and leading
TOM’S runner Ritomo Miyata.
Top Honda runner Nojiri was never truly threatened in Sunday’s race after beating second-place starter Miyata off the line, helped by Hirakawa qualifying eighth and losing time early on battling other cars. Once clear of traffic, Hirakawa was able to undercut Miyata to grab second, with Kenta Yamashita (Kondo) and star rookie Atsushi Miyake (Goh) completing the top five.