Photo: Super Formula

Toyota Gazoo Racing has announced its motorsport programmes for 2026, including which drivers it will be backing and powering in single-seaters.

At the top of the pyramid in Japan’s Super Formula championship, three Toyota-powered teams have signed rookies.

World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera will join KCMG, Rikuto Kobayashi will race for TGM Grand Prix after contesting an event with Team Impul this year, and Charlie Wurz will drive the sole car of the returning Team Goh.

Kobayashi finished 16th on his SF debut at Twin Ring Motegi in April, with his main programme this year having been the third-tier Super Formula Lights championship where he was third in the standings after being runner-up in 2024.

He also raced in sportscar series Super GT’s GT300 class in 2025, coming third in the standings, and will be promoted to the top GT500 class next year with Cerumo.

Wurz, son of ex-Formula 1 driver Alexander, was Formula Regional Oceania champion in 2023 then was a race-winner in Euroformula before spending two seasons in the FIA Formula 3 Championship and coming 13th this year with two podiums.

He has some sportscar experience too, and will join the Super GT grid with the Toyota-powered Apr team in the GT300 class. Kazuhisa Urabe, who was 10th in SF Lights and third in the FRegional Japanese Championship this year, will joining Inging in Super GT300.

Wurz and his younger brother Oscar, who was 2024 Formula 4 Central European Zone champion and 18th in Eurocup-3 this year, will become Toyota juniors for 2026.

Their father was a World Endurance Championship race-winner with Toyota, and Oscar will race for TOM’S in SF Lights next year as team-mate to fellow Toyota juniors Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki. The pair came one-two in this year’s FRegional Japanese Championship, while in Japanese F4 the title was won by Suzuki and Umegaki was seventh in the standings.

Vacating his SF Lights at TOM’S is Yuki Sano, who was 2025 championship runner-up and finished ninth in the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix.

Next year the Toyota junior will step back down to FRegional, having won all four of the FRJC races he contested in 2024, full-time as he joins R-ace GP in the European and Middle East championships.

Toyota’s racing school runs a team in Japanese F4, and its line-up next year will consist of Masaki Hamabe, Buntaro Igarashi, Yuzuki Miura, Masana Muto, Ryo Sakai and Tomoki Terashima.

Of those six, only Miura and Muto will be Toyota juniors. They came 12th and 15th in the standings this year, each with one podium, and will have double programmes as they will also race for TOM’S in FRJC.

2026 TGR Driver Challenge Programme members (single-seaters)

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Photo: Super Formula Lights

Kazuhisa Urabe set the pace in Super Formula Lights post-season testing at Suzuka this week.

The TOM’S driver set the benchmark pace on his penultimate lap of the opening session on Tuesday morning, a 1m51.094s putting him 0.66 seconds clear of team-mate Sho Tsuboi whose personal best had been set in the middle of his run plan.

Tsuboi was one of four drivers from Japan’s top-tier single-seater series Super Formula to contest the test, along with Nobuharu Matsushita (Delightworks Racing), Atsushi Miyake (B-MAX Racing) and Mitsunori Takaboshi (B-MAX).

Matsushita was third fastest in session one, and Eurocup-3 racer Oscar Wurz was fourth for TOM’S and the last driver within a second of the pace. His older brother Charlie Wurz is understood to be in contention to step up from the FIA Formula 3 Championship to SF next year with Team Goh, and drove for them in that championship post-season test last week.

Urabe, who was 10th in SF Lights and third in the FRegional Japanese Championship this year, also drove in the SF test.

B-MAX’s Evan Giltaire set the quickest laptime of the afternoon, a 1m51.398s, as a second covered the top six but those six drivers were split by 0.283s. Giltaire led TOM’S driver Kiyoshi Umegaki by 0.072s and Matsushita by 0.112s.

The French teenager was FRegional Middle East champion at the start of 2025 then fifth in the FRegional European Championship in his third year with ART Grand Prix, and is understood to have already secured a step up to SF Lights for 2026.

Five drivers improved their pace in Wednesday’s sessions, while six drivers joined the entry list after missing the previous day’s running. This included Akshay Bohra, who came sixth in FREC and 14th in FRME this year as a category rookie and is evaluating multiple options for next year. He was part of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia’s talent pool assessment last month.

Giltaire posted a 1m51.498s late in session three to top the timesheet by 0.135s over Umegaki, and this time nine drivers were within a second of the pace. Just 0.015s split Tokiya Suzuki (TOM’S) and Yusuke Mitsui (Delightworks) in third and fourth.

Urabe’s advantage at the top in the test’s overall classification was reduced in session four, in which he was only eighth fastest.

Giltaire was fastest once again, and a late improvement to 1m51.174s put him 0.08s off Urabe’s session one benchmark. Umegaki was 0.145s behind Giltaire, putting him third overall, and Suzuki was a further 0.031s behind to be fourth fastest overall in the test.

Fifth in the session and sixth overall was B-MAX’s Yuto Nomura, who won the 2025 SF Lights title so will not be staying in the paddock next year.

Test results

The post Urabe leads Giltaire in SF Lights test teasing 2026 driver moves appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Super Formula post-season testing at Suzuka next week will feature a large group of junior single-seater stars.

The December 10-12 group test doubles up as the Japanese championship’s official rookie test, and is a key opportunity to impress for drivers aiming to race there.

Luke Browning is the highest profile junior single-seater star entered into the test, and will do days two and three with the Toyota-powered Kondo Racing team. The 23-year-old Englishman is a race-winner in Formula 2 this year and is aiming to end his rookie season this weekend as championship runner-up.

As a Williams junior, he has been called up to drive in four Formula 1 practice sessions, the latest being at Yas Marina Circuit this weekend in between F2 action. He will also do F1’s young driver test there on December 9 before flying to Japan.

Ex-F2 star Jack Doohan, who did six F1 races with Alpine this year before being demoted, is reportedly eyeing an SF switch.

Also coming from overseas to test is Charlie Wurz, who will join for day one’s afternoon session then also drive in the next two days with Team Goh, which was last seen on the grid under that name in 2022. The 20-year-old has spent the last two years in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, and came 13th this season with two podiums.

Planning to be on the SF grid in 2026 after making his single-seater racing debut next month in Formula Regional Oceania is Kalle Rovanpera, and Toyota’s two-time World Rally champion from Finland will do the full test with KCMG.

Gaining test mileage at the top level after racing in Japan’s third-tier Super Formula Lights championship in 2025 are six drivers.

Honda-powered B-MAX Racing has called up three of its SF Lights drivers: champion Yuto Nomura (days one and two), podium-finisher Zachary David (day three) and backmarker Yasuhiro Shimizu (day three).

Toyota junior Rikuto Kobayashi, who came third in the standings with one win and also made his SF debut in the double-header Twin Ring Motegi round, will do the full test with the TGM Grand Prix squad that replaced Goh in SF in 2023.

INGING will put Kazuhisa Urabe, who was 10th in SF Lights and third in the FRegional Japanese Championship this year, in one of its Toyota-powered cars for the final day, and former Honda junior Souta Arao will hope to impress the manufacturer again by testing on days two and three with ThreeBond Racing. Arao was only able to contest one SF Lights round this year.

Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuka did double programmes as Toyota juniors in 2025. They came first and second in FRJC, while in Japanese F4 the title was won by Suzuki and Umegaki came seventh in the standings.

The pair will join SF’s test for the final day, with Umegaki at Rookie Racing and Suzuki driving for KCMG.

The post Browning leads junior single-seater stars entering Super Formula test appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRJC

Kazuhisa Urabe and Kiyoshi Umegaki were the winners in round three of the Formula Regional Japanese Championship season at Suzuka.

Umegaki topped both qualifying sessions, setting a 1m57.47s in Q1 to lead Urabe by 0.232 seconds and Kento Omiya by 0.628s. Points leader Tokiya Suzuki was also within a second of pole, 0.825s back.

In Q2 the pace was lowered to 1m57.009s, and Umegaki had a sizeable 0.541s advantage over Suzuki. Urabe and Omiya were split by 0.024s in third and fourth.

Race one began with Urabe and Umegaki going side-by-side into the opening corner. Umegaki conceded the lead and went off exiting turn two, dropping to fourth, then dived down the inside of Omiya into the chicane to gain back one spot.

The top three stayed close together, with Umegaki looking to make a move into the chicane on lap six. The safety car then came out, and on the lap nine restart a spinner led to racing being neutralised again.

There were two laps remaining when the next restart took place, and Suzuki attacked the leader into turn one. There was drama at the hairpin as Anna Inotsume was spun around while running in fifth, and Yuyaka Toriba began the final lap by crashing out.

Umegaki did a switchback move on Suzuki to get ahead through Spoon Curve, but Suzuki got past by staying committed on the outside through turn 15 despite almost going off.

In desperation, Umegaki lunged at the chicane and rode over the top of Suzuki’s car. While he finished third on-the-road behind Omiya, a 40s penalty dropped him to seventh. Suzuki was even less lucky, being classified eighth after failing to see the chequred flag. Yu Oda was a surprise beneficiary as they were promoted to the podium.

Race two was far blander. Umegaki covered the inside line at the start then had Suzuki and Urabe in his mirrors for a few laps. In the race’s second half he pulled away from both, winning by 3.81s to end the weekend half a point behind Suzuki. Omiya was a lonely fourth.

Results round-up  oran
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing 31m22.380s
2 Kento Omiya Ponos Racing +2.517s
3 Yu Oda Rn-sports +7.003s
4 Chenghua Lin Ragno Motor Sport +11.357s
5 “Yuki” Nilzz Racing +19.485s
6 Anna Initsume Hitotsuyama Racing +21.050s
7 Kiyoshi Umegaki TOM’S +44.671s
8 Tokiya Suzuki TOM’S +1 lap
9 Yutaka Toriba Aiwin +1 lap
Ret Zhabin Jia B-MAX Racing
Pole: Umegaki, 1m57.470s
Fastest lap: Umegaki, 1m58.551s

Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Umegaki 25m51.885s
2 Suzuki +3.810s
3 Urabe +9.872s
4 Omiya +15.940s
5 Lin +23.758s
6 Oda +24.755s
7 Toriba +32.113s
8 Hideaki Irie Fujita Pharmacy Racing +38.753s
9 Jia +40.118s
10 Inotsume +1m08.945s
P: Umegaki, 1m57.009s
FL: Umegaki, 1m58.869s

Championship standings
1 Suzuki 120.5   2 Umegaki 120   3 Omiya 94.5   4 Urabe 86   5 Lin 44   6 Toriba 40   7 Oda 39.5   8 Inotsume 31   9 Jia 21   10 Irie 21

The post Umegaki and Urabe share FRegional Japan wins at Suzuka appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Haas F1 Team

Formula 2 teammates Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman will both take part in the Super Formula rookie test at Suzuka this week ahead of graduating to Formula 1.

The test is a chance for both drivers to gain their first experience of the Suzuka track ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, which hosts the third round of the 2025 F1 season next April.

Both will take part in the third and final day of the test on Friday. Bearman will drive for KCMG in the car raced this year by Kamui Kobayashi, while Antonelli will test for Rookie Racing in place of Kazuya Oshima.

Antonelli will arrive at the test directly from driving for Mercedes in the young driver test in Abu Dhabi. Bearman’s chance to drive for Haas in the same test was scuppered when he made his third stand-in grand prix start in Brazil, rendering him ineligible, with new teammate Esteban Ocon driving in the parallel tyre test.

Juan Manuel Correa is also among the rookie testers after bringing an early end to his F2 campaign with DAMS. He will test on Thursday for Kondo Racing, while James Hedley – who contested the FIA Formula 3 round in Monaco with Jenzer Motorsport alongside selected outings in GB3 – will drive the team’s sister car on both Thursday and Friday.

The majority of the other rookies are names from the Japanese racing scene. Super Formula Lights champion Syun Koide will drive the full three-day test in B-Max Racing’s car ahead of an anticipated step up to the series for next year, replacing Iori Kimura.

SFL runner-up Rikuto Kobayashi will test on the final day for TOM’S, taking over from SF champion Sho Tsuboi. Sacha Fenestraz will drive the team’s other car ahead of an expected return to Japan following a stint in Formula E.

Seita Nonaka, who came third in SFL, tests Bearman’s KCMG car on Thursday. Kaylen Frederick, who switched from FIA F3 to SFL this year and finished fifth in the points, had been announced as taking part in the test but will no longer participate.

Former W Series driver and 2022 Formula Regional Japan champion Miki Koyama will test alongside Bearman at KCMG on Friday. Kazuhisa Urabe, who came 11th in Japanese F4 and contested two FRJC rounds with Toyota support will test for the INGING team on the same day next to Yuui Tsutsumi, who contested four SFL rounds last year alongside racing in Super GT’s secondary GT300 class.

Ex-Red Bull junior and Toyota Racing Series champion Igor Fraga, who came fourth in SFL last year, will do the full test for Nakajima Racing, where he’ll be joined on the last day by former FRJC racer Riki Okusa. Also considered a rookie is Nissan GT ace and 2017 Japanese F3 champion Mitsunori Takaboshi, who does the full test for Team Impul, where former F3 racer turned World Endurance Championship hypercar driver Oliver Rasmussen will also drive two days.

The post Antonelli and Bearman to take part in Super Formula test at Suzuka appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Honda has confirmed in the announcement of its 2024 motorsport plans that Iori Kimura will drive for B-MAX Racing in Super Formula this year.

Kimura won the 2023 Super Formula Lights title with B-Max, and was expected off the back of that success to step up to the top level of single-seater racing in Japan. In mid-December he announced at a function with B-MAX that he would race for the team in Super Formula, and its engine supplier Honda has now confirmed that move.

Since starting his car racing career in 2016, Kimura has had a lot of success. The Russian-Japanese racer’s first programme in single-seaters was the 2019 Japanese Formula 4 season, in which he came ninth in the standings with one podium, and he returned to the championship two years later as a Honda junior. A tally of four wins and three poles put him third in the points table.

He then stepped up to the Formula 3-level SF Lights series with B-Max, taking three wins, two poles and coming third in the standings as a rookie in 2022 and an improved haul of six wins, six other podiums and five poles to become 2023 champion.

Fellow Honda junior Syun Koide came third in SF Lights last season with Toda Racing, and picked up four wins and one pole. For his sophomore campaign he will switch to B-Max, while Souta Arao takes his seat at Toda. Arao came third in French F4 in 2022 and 17th in GB3 last year as a Red Bull junior.

The Honda Formula Dream Project team and B-Max will partner up for the 2024 Japanese F4 season, and run juniors Yuto Nomura and Ryota Horachi. Nomura was a race-winner in French F4 in 2022 then switched to Japanese F4 for 2023 and came fourth in the standings with one win. Horachi raced for the Akiland Racing team in the championship last year and was ninth in the points table with three fourth places being his best finishes.

Toyota has also announced where its juniors are headed for 2024. Seita Nonaka will stay at TOM’S for his fourth season in SF Lights, and be joined by Rikuto Kobayashi and Jin Nakamura as team-mates.

Kobayashi took five wins en route to the 2023 Japanese F4 title, and Nakamura took three victories as he finished a close runner-up to him in the title fight. Both will also be racing for the apr team in Super GT’s GT300 class this year.

In Japanese F4, the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge Racing School team will run Yuki Sano, Tokiya Suzuki, Kiyoshi Umegaki and Kazuhisa Urabe. Sano raced for the team last year and came seventh in the standings, and Urabe switches from Bionic Jack Racing who he took one victory and came eighth in the 2023 standings with.

Suzuki and Umegaki are both graduates of Japan’s karting scene, although the latter does have some European racing experience on karts.

The post Honda confirms Iori Kimura’s place on 2024 Super Formula grid appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: fiaf4.jp

Honda junior Yusuke Mitsui took the Japanese Formula 4 points lead at Sportsland SUGO.

The 44-car field was split into two groups for qualifying, and Group A headed out on a damp track with grooved tyres. Mitsui was fastest by 0.479 seconds over Toyota junior Yuki Sano, with Honda junior Tosei Moriyama the only other driver within a second of Mitsui.

But Mitsui started second for race one, as track conditions improved considerably for Group B who ran on slick tyres. In a far quicker and more competitive session, Honda junior Yuto Nomura took pole with a 1m26.113s lap that was 7.818s faster than Mitsui’s benchmark.

Bionic Jack Racing’s Jiei Okuzumi and Kazuhia Urabe were second and third fastest in Group B, 0.12s and 0.267s behind Nomura respectively, putting them third and fifth on the grid. Points leader Rikuto Kobayashi qualified 10th.

It remained dry for race one, and at the start Nomura and Mitsui broke away. The top five maintained positions, while Toyota junior Jin Nakamura passed Moriyama for sixth at turn one on lap two and Kobayashi got into eighth.

A spin into the gravel for Yoshiaki Nakamura then led to the safety car being required, with racing resuming on lap six.

Sano attacked Okuzumi for third through the first corners of the lap, with both easing each other off the track before Sano got ahead. That battle enabled the top two to break away again. Urabe also got edged off the asphalt and fell to seventh.

Okuzumi was relegated to fifth by Jin Nakamura on lap eight, and soon had Moriyama, Kobayashi and Urabe attacking him.

Nomura won, always keeping Mitsui out of attacking distance, and Sano resisted pressure from Nakamura for his second podium.

On lap 10 of 17, Moriyama passed Okuzumi around the outside at turn one, with Kobayashi and Urabe following through a few corners later. Rin Arakawa also got past Okuzumi before the lap’s end, who late in the race fell to 10th. Kobayashi’s sixth place dropped him to third in the standings behind Mitsui and Nomura.

The difference in track conditions during qualifying also impacted race two’s grid, since drivers’ second-best laptimes were used, and Urabe took pole by 7.548s over Mitsui with a 1m26.391s. He topped his own group by 0.194s over Okuzumi.

Urabe converted pole into victory, resisting pressure from Mitsui until he went wide at turn one on lap eight and dropped back. He was back on Urabe’s gearbox on lap 15 as they tried lapping  Tadakazu Kojima, but the safety car then led the field to the finish after Reijiro Yamazaki spun off.

Sano took third from Okuzumi at the end of lap two, but then Moriyama passed both into turn one to make the podium.

Jin Nakamura took less than five laps to go from 14th to seventh, passed Sano and Arakawa in a double move for fifth and finished fourth while Okuzumi sank to 13th.

Ryoma Henzan was eighth despite stalling at the start, and an off for Kobayashi left him 22nd.

Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura HFDP 27m06.594s
2 Yusuke Mitsui HFDP +0.619s
3 Yuki Sano TGR-DC RS +4.702s
4 Jin Nakamura TGR-DC RS +5.277s
5 Tosei Moriyama HFDP +8.316s
6 Rikuto Kobayashi TGR-DC RS +9.312s
7 Kazuhisa Urabe Bionic Jack Racing +12.261s
8 Rin Arakawa Zap Speed +16.762s
9 Itsuki Sato Helm Motorsports +17.284s
10 Jiei Okuzumi Bionic Jack Racing +18.285s
Pole: Nomura, 1m33.931s
Fastest lap: Nakamura, 1m24.438s

Race 2 (17 laps)
1 Urabe 26m11.166s
2 Mitsui +0.129s
3 Moriyama +0.307s
4 Nakamura +1.723s
5 Sano +2.016s
6 Yuta Fujiwara Akiland Racing +2.616s
7 Arakawa +4.343s
8 Ryoma Henzan Buzz Racing +5.075s
9 Kento Omiya PONOS Racing +6.178s
10 Ryota Horachi Akiland Racing +6.868s
P: Urabe, 1m26.391s
FL: Nomura, 1m24.827s

Championship standings
1 Mitsui 160   2 Nomura 139   3 Kobayashi 138   4 Nakamura 123   5 Moriyama 87   6 Sano 64   7 Arakawa 56   8 Urabe 47   9 Horachi 39   10 Shunji Okumoto 33

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