Photo: Japanese F4

Honda junior Yuto Nomura clinched the Japanese Formula 4 title with his fifth successive win in the final round at Suzuka.

In his second season in the series after previously racing in French F4, Nomura took the points lead off teammate Ryota Horachi when he started his winning streak at Autopolis in October, before he then opened up a 41-point advantage with a hat-trick at Motegi.

It was Horachi who claimed a double pole position in qualifying, where he was 0.272 seconds faster than Nomura, but it was Nomura who made the better getaway at the start of race one to take the lead while Horachi went side-by-side with Yuki Sano through the opening corners and ultimately fell to third.

Nomura established a lead of around 0.7s in the early laps before the safety car was required after “Dragon” spun into the gravel at 130R on lap four of 11. The race restarted on lap 8, but an incident at the hairpin involving two more independents class drivers, Isao Nakashima and “Kentaro”, brought the safety car straight back out.

One lap remained at the restart, with Nomura doing enough to beat Sano by 0.606s and secure the title with a race to spare.

Horachi completed the podium, with Kotaro Shimbara fourth ahead of Tosei Moriyama while Rintaro Sato took sixth after a last-lap side-by-side battle with teammate Kento Omiya, who locked up and went off at the Casio Triangle, falling to 11th.

In race two, Horachi held the lead at the start as Nomura challenged him around the outside of the first corner, while Shimbara got the better of Moriyama in a battle for third and soon began pressuring Nomura.

The safety car was deployed on lap two after Omiya spun into the gravel in the S Curves out of eighth place.

Kageyama Racing driver Shimbara, who returned to Japanese F4 this year after a year out, immediately attacked Nomura at the restart and was past for second place before even turning in for the first corner.

Behind, there was a crash that put Ryo Shirasaki, Hironobu Shimizu and Kazuhisa Urabe into the gravel on the outside of turn one, bringing the safety car out once more.

Just three laps remained at the restart and Shimbara instantly pressured Horachi, who responded to win by 2.198s. However, Horachi was later disqualified when his car was found to be underweight, handing Shimbara his maiden win.

Shimbara – recently selected together with Sato as a winner of the Honda Racing School scholarship for 2025 – had already done enough to take third place in the final standings away from Toyota junior Sano, who was ultimately classified fifth in the last race.

Results round-up
Race 1 (11 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura HFDP 30m20.390s
2 Yuki Sano TGR-DC RS +0.606s
3 Ryota Horachi HFDP +0.990s
4 Kotaro Shimbara Kageyama Racing +1.675s
5 Tosei Moriyama Helm Motorsports +2.308s
6 Rintaro Sato Ponos Racing +3.557s
7 Hironobu Shimizu Drago Corse +3.764s
8 Ryo Shirasaki Bionic Jack Racing +4.341s
9 Kiyoshi Umegaki TGR-DC RS +5.013s
10 Rio Shimono Dr. Dry Racing Team +5.778s
Pole: Horachi, 2m06.737s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 2m07.705s

Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Shimbara 29m56.659s
2 Nomura +1.387s
3 Moriyama +1.926s
4 Umegaki +3.100s
5 Sano +4.042s
6 R Sato +4.558s
7 Tokiya Suzuki TGR-DC RS +4.879s
8 Kenta Kumagai OTG Motor Sports +5.308s
9 Itsuki Sato Drago Corse +6.412s
10 Shota Sakai TGM Grand Prix +6.590s
P: Horachi, 2m06.775s
FL: Moriyama, 2m08.198s

Championship standings
1 Nomura 236   2 Horachi 167   3 Shimbara 153   4 Sano 147   5 Moriyama 99   6 Shimizu 97   7 Umegaki 78   8 R Sato 70   9 Kento Omiya 68   10 Suzuki 47

The post Yuto Nomura crowned Japanese F4 champion with fifth straight win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Japanese F4

Toyota junior Rin Arakawa has moved into the Japanese Formula 4 points lead with a round to go after winning at Twin Ring Motegi.

Honda junior Iori Kimura won an action-packed opening race after battling with Arakawa.

There was drama before it began as Wataru Yoshimura just failed to reach his grid box and couldn’t get his car going so he had to be wheeled into the pits while a second formation lap took place.

When racing started it was a clean getaway for poleman Arakawa while Kimura bogged down from the front row. Kimura held second through turn one but was then briefly fifth at the next corner before diving down the inside of those ahead to reclaim second just as Hachiro Osaka speared off.

Toyota’s Jiei Okuzumi occupied third, and Honda’s Kakunoshin Ohta got himself into fourth but under pressure from points leader Seita Nonaka behind.

They battled hard, and drivers behind tried to get involved until the action was interrupted by the safety car after Syuji and Isao Nakashima collided and went off.

It was only out for a lap, and when racing resumed Ohta was able to keep his position. Arakawa was not though, as Kimura got alongside several times before briefly forcing Arakawa into the gravel after turn 11, dropping him to third while Kimura took the lead.

Arakawa reclaimed second from Okuzumi on the next lap, while Ohta briefly visited the gravel as he then tried to pass him. On the lap after it was three-wide between Ohta, Okuzumi and Nonaka at turn one and Ohta managed to get ahead.

A six-car battle had now formed for third place. Three of the cars ended up going off behind, but Ohta held on for third.

Nonaka, Okuzumi and Soto Ogawa traded places through the final two laps and Nonaka who came out on top for fourth, with Okuzumi pulling off a last-lap pass around the outside of Ogawa for fifth.

Arakawa claimed race two pole, but had Nonaka and Kimura overtake him on lap one. He soon led again though as they collided, and Arakawa went on to take the win and points lead.

Nonaka retired immediately, while Kimura dropped out of the top 15 but charged back up to ninth.

Ohta spent the opening two laps battling with Okuzumi in second place before securing the position.

Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Iori Kimura HFDP 24m54.704s
2 Rin Arakawa TGR-DC RS +0.971s
3 Kakunoshin Ohta HFDP +6.644s
4 Seita Nonaka TGR-DC RS +7.342s
5 Jiei Okuzumi TGR-DC RS +8.691s
6 Soto Ogawa Skill Speed +9.456s
7 Seiya Motojima Saccess Racing +9.794s
8 Takuya Otaki Media Do Kageyama Racing +11.445s
9 Reimei Ito OTG Motor Sports +11.825s
10 Kotaro Shimbara TOM’S +12.984s
Pole: Arakawa, 1m57.317s
Fastest lap: Arakawa, 1m58.005s

Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Arakawa 25m47.518s
2 Ohta +3.094s
3 Okuzumi +5.199s
4 Ogawa +5.662s
5 Yugo Iwasawa Bionic Jack Racing +6.951s
6 Motojima +15.149s
7 Ito +16.074s
8 Syun Koide HFDP +17.591s
9 Kimura +18.503s
10 Eijirou Shimizu TGR-DC RS +19.057s
P: Arakawa, 1m57.476s
FL: Arakawa, 1m58.127s

Championship standings
1 Arakawa 180   2 Nonaka 167   3 Kimura 164   4 Ohta 138   5 Ito 134   6 Koide 112   7 Okuzumi 79   8 Shimizu 62   9 Motojima 59   10 Ogawa 46

The post Toyota’s Rin Arakawa becomes new Japanese F4 leader at Motegi appeared first on Formula Scout.

Returnee Guillem Pujeu won all three races in the 2018 Spanish Formula 4 season-opener at Motorland Aragon.

Driving for the FA Racing Team run by Fernando Alonso’s?karting mentor?Marco Genis, Pujeu was beaten to all three poles by MP Motorsport pair Isaac Blomqvist and Amaury Cordeel, but was the stronger driver in the races.

Blomqvist finished second on each occasion, but was usually three or four seconds off Pujeu.

In the first race Blomqvist came under challenge from Drivex School’s Nazim Azman, the only other championship returnee.

The Malaysian was just 0.073 seconds off Blomqvist come the chequered flag, and added another podium in the final race to put himself third in the standings.

Cordeel should’ve been amongst Blomqvist and Azman, but left Aragon with a singular podium in the shorter second race, a sixth place and a disqualification. The Frenchman was leading the final race of the weekend until being handed a penalty with three laps to go, dropping him to sixth.

As in the first two events of the season, Yuki Tsunoda was the man to beat in the Japanese F4 championship, this time on the full Grand Prix layout at Suzuka.

The Honda Formula Dream Project driver took his 2018 pole tally to six out of six in qualifying, a stat that not only breaks a record in its length, but also makes him the first driver to take 10 overall poles in the championship.

Tsunoda made a predictably strong start from pole, while team-mate Teppei Natori nipped past TOM’S driver Kazuto Kotaka for second.

As Tsunoda drove into the distance, Natori and Kotaka fought over second, with some hairy moments occasionally occurring. Natori looked to have the position though until the penultimate corner, where he got loose at the exit and ran over the grass, conceding the runner-up spot to Kotaka.

A race-long tussle for fourth between championship returnee?Ayumu Iwasa, Ren Sato and Kohta Kawaai ended in Sato’s favour. The HDFP driver had sat in Iwasa’s mirrors for most of the race, unable to find a way through until Iwasa went wide at Turn 1 with four laps to go.

The Rn-sports driver slipped behind Kawaai too, but sixth place was still his best result in F4.

Rather surprisingly Kotaka beat Tsunoda into the first corner at the start of the second race, with the championship leader then coming under pressure from Takuya Otaki, another of his team-mates.

At the end of the second lap Tsunoda went for the lead, and hassled Kotaka enough to get alongside down the main straight. Otaki made it three-wide, but was the first to concede into Turn 1, as Kotaka and Tsunoda continued to fight for position.

The pair ran wheel-to-wheel through the first three corners, with Tsunoda taking the lead at Turn 4.

A monumental crash at Turn 1, with one car being launched over the barriers, meant the race went under safety car conditions and prevented Tsunoda from pulling away.

Thankfully all three drivers involved in the crash were able to walk away, but the race finished behind the safety car. Natori and Sato completed the top five.

Tsunoda now has a 43 point lead in the standings over Natori, almost equivalent to two race wins.

Results round-up [pole in bold, fastest lap in italics]

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