Photo: ACI Sport

Taito Kato will warm up for his rookie FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign with ART Grand Prix by racing for the team in Formula Regional Middle East.

The 18-year-old Japanese racer will contest three rounds out of four in the FIA regional trophy, missing the season finale at Losail on February 11-13 due to it clashing with F3’s sole pre-season test at Barcelona.

It will be Kato’s second time racing in FRME, having also been part of ART GP’s line-up in the Middle East last year. After winning the 2024 French Formula 4 title as a rookie, Kato stepped up to FRegional for a double programme. He came 12th in FRME with one podium, and finished in the top three twice en route to seventh in the FRegional European Championship.

“I’m so excited to be competing in the FRME with ART GP. A new challenge awaits me, but I will give my best performance together with my team,” said Kato.

His last FRegional mileage came two months ago when he contested the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix with ART GP. In the opening free practice session he was fastest, but could not quite maintain that frontrunning pace. He was eighth in the first qualifying session, fourth in FP2 and Q2, and finished fifth in both the qualification and main race.

ART GP’s team principal Sebastien Philippe said returning to FRME “allows Taito to start his 2026 season in a competitive environment before moving on to his FIA F3 commitments”.

Kato is a Honda junior, and the Japanese automobile manufacturer has announced the 2026 programmes of the other drivers it supports in junior single-seaters.

Kotato Shimbara, who came fourth in Japanese F4 last year with two wins and three poles, will step up to the F3-level Super Formula Lights with B-MAX Racing. The team will run Sho Momose and Kazuma Kurosawa in Japanese F4, with Momose having come sixth in 2025 with two podiums while Kurosawa graduates from the Honda Racing School to Honda junior status.

Kota Tsuchihashi is the latest winner of the HRS scholarship, but will not be a Honda junior as he is sent to race in French F4.

The post ART GP’s Taito Kato to warm up for F3 with second go at FRME appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: B-MAX Racing

Super Formula Lights champion Yuto Nomura will graduate to Super Formula with B-MAX Racing next year.

The 20-year-old Japanese racer will be going into his fifth year of car racing, and has been a Honda junior since making his single-seater debut in French Formula 4 back in 2022.

That year he was also a Red Bull junior, and he won two races en route to seventh in the standings. He then spent two seasons in Japanese F4, coming fourth in his rookie campaign and winning the title as a sophomore. Over the two years, the second of which was with B-MAX, he won eight races, took 10 other podiums and six poles.

Nomura remained with B-MAX for this year’s step up to Japan’s third-tier SF Lights championship, and he had a stellar season. After finishing second in all three races of the season opener, then failing to score at Autopolis, he won 12 of the remaining 13 races over the next four rounds and his title-winning margin was equivalent to almost five wins’ worth of points.

Earlier this month he drove for B-MAX in SF’s post-season test, and was 24th in the overall classification. For 2026 he takes over the seat of Syun Koide, his predecessor as SF Lights champion with B-MAX, after he came 16th in his rookie campaign.

“As mentioned in the announcement, at this time, there is no information that we can share with the fans,” Koide said in a statement after Nomura’s graduation was confirmed. “While there is some anxiety, we will continue to challenge ourselves in order to definitely return again [to SF].”

Nomura will also join Real Racing in Super GT’s top GT500 class next year. He debuted in the sportscar series’ secondary GT300 class this season, and came 11th in the standings with one win and one pole.

The post SF Lights champion Yuto Nomura lands 2026 Super Formula seat 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: Super Formula Lights

Super Formula Lights champion Yuto Nomura won all three races in the final round at Twin Ring Motegi.

It was close in the fight for race one pole in qualifying, with B-MAX Racing driver Nomura edging Toyota junior Yuki Sano by 0.012 seconds and his TOM’S team-mate Rikuto Kobayashi by 0.157s.

Nomura grew his advantage with a faster pace in qualifying two, setting a 1m42.597s to clinch race two pole — his eighth of 2025 — by 0.307s over Sano.

Kobayashi was just 0.011s slower than Sano, and Delightworks Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi was 0.589s off pole in fourth.

Race one concluded Saturday’s action, and Sano’s victory hopes ended with a bad start. Kobayashi drove straight past him, and Delightworks’ Yusuke Mitsui briefly nosed ahead too before the opening corner.

Sano ensured he got through the corner in third, then mostly had a lonely race as the top four spread out.

Nomura was 1.8s clear, with Sano a further two seconds back, when the safety car came out on lap 10 due to B-MAX’s Nobuhiro Imada spinning off.

Racing resumed with two laps to go, and everyone held their positions. Nomura won by 0.796s, and Kobayashi had a 0.899s gap to Sano.

There was drama at the start of race two, with six drivers failing to complete the opening lap. That led to the safety car leading the field through to lap five, when they were released with Nomura at the front.

Sano had once again lost out to Kobayashi on lap one, and he was mostly able to stick with Nomura. The winner grew his lead to 0.758s on the final lap, and Mitsui finished fourth after having Yamakoshi in his mirrors throughout.

Nomura started on pole again for the season-ending race three, ahead of Kobayashi, Sano, Mitsui and Yamakoshi.

Kobayashi had wheelspin off the line, and Mitsui tried going around his outside at turns one and two. But later in the lap he got baulked and lost out to Sano, with Yamakoshi almost getting past too.

His team-mate then got the job done around the outside through turn 11, and their squabble allowed the top three to break away.

Nomura had a 1.341s gap after one lap, which he maintained en route to his 12th victory of the campaign.

Sano was a lonely third again, as Yamakoshi spent most of the race holding Mitsui off. He edged away in the last few laps, with 0.793s between the two at the finish.

Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing 26m24.636s
2 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +0.796s
3 Yuki Sano TOM’S +1.695s
4 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +2.944s
5 Hiyu Yamakoshi Delightworks Racing +3.555s
6 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +4.283s
7 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +5.817s
8 Esteban Masson TOM’S +6.427s
9 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +6.905s
10 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +7.898s
Pole: Nomura, 1m43.135s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 1m43.537s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Nomura 29m51.197s
2 Kobayashi +0.758s
3 Sano +2.858s
4 Mitsui +5.300s
5 Yamakoshi +6.406s
6 Masson +10.029s
7 Ito +12.281s
8 “Ken Alex” Buzz Racing +24.803s
9 Nobuhiro Imada B-MAX Racing +29.744s
Ret Keito Matsui B-MAX Racing
P: Nomura, 1m42.597s
FL: Nomura, 1m44.110s

Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 33m19.957s
2 Kobayashi +0.995s
3 Sano +3.688s
4 Yamakoshi +11.865s
5 Mitsui +12.658s
6 Furutani +24.308s
7 Urabe +26.907s
8 Masson +27.690s
9 Ito +28.803s
10 Yasuhiro Shimizu B-MAX Racing +56.699s
FL: Kobayashi, 1m44.424s

Championship standings
1 Nomura 153   2 Sano 104   3 Kobayashi 85   4 Furutani 36   5 Kaylen Frederick 35   6 Mitsui 32   7 Masson 31   8 David 25   9 Yamakoshi 7   10 Urabe 5

The post Nomura brings win tally up to 12 in Super Formula Lights’ Motegi finale appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Honda junior Yuto Nomura wrapped up the Super Formula Lights title a round early at Fuji Speedway with two wins.

A typhoon barraged the circuit with rain on Friday, so free practice was postponed. FP1 was squeezed in at the end of the day, while FP2 started before 8am on Saturday.

B-MAX Racing’s Yuto Nomura set the pace, a 1m33.529s in the second session earning him top spot by 0.144 seconds over TOM’S driver Yuki Sano. His team-mate Rikuto Kobayashi was a further 0.031s behind in third.

Qualifying began just 40 minutes after practice ended on a dried out track, and Nomura remained on top. A 1m33.028s earned him race one pole by 0.166s over Kobayashi, with Sano 0.208s off pole and Delightworks Racing’s Yusuke Mitsui fourth.

Kobayashi was quickest in Q2, setting a 1m33.376s that Nomura got within 0.106s of late on. Yuga Furutani (TOM’S) and Mitsui were also less than 0.17s off pole, and Sano qualified fifth with a deficit of 0.284s to Kobayashi.

Nomura was late off the line in race one and passed by Kobayashi, but he had jumped the start and got a 10s penalty. Nobuharu Imada, who was last on the grid, got a five-second penalty for moving slowly at the start.

The top two were then side-by-side until Kobayashi cemented himself ahead at turn four. Nomura lost second at turn five to Yuki Sano, and tried getting back past at turn 10. At the corner apex, Sano tapped Kobayashi’s rear and he spun, while Nomura had nowhere to go and cut turn 11.

Sano began lap two leading Esteban Masson (TOM’S) by 0.949s, but with a five-second penalty for spinning Kobayashi, with Nomura in sixth and Kobayashi way behind the pack.

Nomura took fifth from team-mate Zachary David into turn one, and dived past Mitsui there on lap three. Furutani was cleared on lap five, into turn four, then it took until lap 13 to reach Masson. His failed defence of the inside down the pit straight allowed Nomura to go around the outside of turn one, and he provisionally had victory in his hands as Sano was 4.8s ahead.

Sano then held a five-second lead until the safety car appeared late in lap 17 due to Yasuhiro Shimizu having stopped at turn 12 two laps prior.

Racing resumed with two laps remaining, and Sano fended off Nomura’s attacks before pulling away. He finished fifth once his penalty was applied, while Kobayashi’s penalty put him 11th.

He caught and passed the backmarkers on lap five, made two overtakes to rise to 10th on lap six then faced a 5.5s gap ahead. Kobayashi passed two more drivers on lap 14, and went around the outside of B-MAX’s Kaylen Frederick at turn one on lap 16. But with no further progress after the restart and a bunched up pack, he was sent back down the order.

Nomura had another slow start in race two, dropping to fourth while Furutani tried going around the outside of Kobayashi at turn one but went wide then put a wheel off and dropped to sixth.

One position was reclaimed by Nomura before turn six, and Furutani went down Masson’s inside at turn one on lap two.

Kobayashi went on to win by 4.59s over Mitsui, and Kazuhisa Urabe was a penalised 10th after spinning Frederick at the opening corner.

Nomura had pole for race three, and this time held onto the lead while fellow front row starter Masson fell to eighth after a five-wide battle into turn one. Furutani was second, and kept Nomura in sight all race but was never close enough to attack.

Mitsui held third ahead of Sano, who was passed by Kobayashi on lap 10. Four laps later he tried diving inside Mitsui at turn one but went too deep. He tried passing again at turn three, and soon Sano was on their tail and got past. They went three-wide into turn 10 and Sano emerged ahead of Mitsui and Kobayashi.

They went three-wide again starting the final lap, and Mitsui remained side-by-side with Sano through the first two corners. Kobayashi joined again at turn four, where Mitsui flew off and retired, and then took third from Sano to end his title hopes.

Results round-up
Race 1 (21 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing 36m08.127s
2 Esteban Masson TOM’S +1.244s
3 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +1.808s
4 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +2.660s
5 Yuki Sano TOM’S +3.026s
6 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +3.522s
7 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +5.954s
8 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +6.372s
9 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +10.300s
10 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +12.486s
Pole: Nomura, 1m33.028s
Fastest lap: Sano, 1m34.781s

Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S 23m45.602s
2 Mitsui +4.590s
3 Nomura +5.316s
4 Sano +8.515s
5 Masson +9.291s
6 Furutani +11.670s
7 David +21.798s
8 Ito +24.259s
9 Frederick +28.322s
10 Urabe +33.968s
P: Kobayashi, 1m33.376s
FL: Kobayashi, 1m34.461s

Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Nomura 23m50.458s
2 Furutani +0.977s
3 Kobayashi +9.807s
4 Sano +10.396s
5 David +13.302s
6 Frederick +15.756s
7 Masson +15.958s
8 Ito +17.077s
9 Urabe +23.341s
10 Yasuhiro Shimizu B-MAX Racing +46.195s
FL: Furutani, 1m34.569s

Championship standings
1 Nomura 121   2 Sano 89   3 Kobayashi 64   4 Frederick 35   5 Furutani 34   6 Masson 30   7 David 25   8 Mitsui 24   9 Urabe 5   10 Ito 1

The post Honda junior Yuto Nomura wraps up Super Formula Lights title at Fuji appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Yuto Nomura won all four races in Super Formula Lights’ fourth round of 2025 at Sportsland Sugo to build a gap at the top of the standings.

The Honda junior was the driver to beat throughout last weekend, starting with practice in which he led Kaylen Frederick by 0.248 seconds and the same gap covered second to sixth.

Next up was qualifying, and in Q1 took race one pole by 0.301s over Zachary David. He was just 0.024s faster than Yuki Sano, who had a 0.019s gap to Frederick.

Nomura had a 0.3s advantage again in Q2 for race two pole, with Sano denying David second by 0.002s. Esteban Masson was a further 0.059s behind, and quicker than Frederick by 0.001s.

Race one was bland, with Nomura making a great start and winning unopposed. Sano and Rikuto Kobayashi, from fifth, got up to second and third in the first corners but only Sano was near the leader’s pace. Masson overtook Frederick for fifth on lap two and the top 10 was settled.

Nomura had to cover the inside line at the start of race two, and exiting the opening corner David and Masson collided. Masson then went off at turn four, and David did one lap before retiring.

Thr safety car appeared on lap two, then released the field on lap seven. Nomura led home Sano again, and Yuga Furutani was promoted onto the podium by the lap one chaos while Kobayashi jumped to fourth.

Frederick lost two spots in the first two laps, and the only overtakes after that were outside the points positions.

Nomura also started from pole in race three, in which he built a 2.58s lead in the first six laps before Sano closed back in. It was down to 0.8s on lap 16 before Nomura responded, going a second clear before last-lap traffic meant Sano finished 0.5s behind.

Kobayashi had a slow start from third yet kept the position, and Yusuke Mitsui spun into the path of Kazuhisa Urabe exiting turn two yet both could continue and Mitsui came 0.135s shy of taking eighth from Reimei Ito.

Race four was a rescheduling of the Autopolis’s cancelled race three, and the front row was the same.

Sano jumped the start slightly and got on the inside of Nomura down the pit straight, and tried keeping his nose there into turn one. Nomura cut off the line though to stay ahead.

A five-second penalty ended Sano’s victory hopes, but by finishing 0.94s behind Nomura on-the-road he did enough to maintain second. They were 0.342s apart mid-race.

Furutani started and finished third, ahead of Mitsui.

Results round-up
Race 1 (26 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing 32m21.980s
2 Yuki Sano TOM’S +1.814s
3 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +13.181s
4 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +14.202s
5 Esteban Masson TOM’S +14.962s
6 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +15.979s
7 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +16.423s
8 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +21.837s
9 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +29.044s
10 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +31.092s
Pole: Nomura, 1m12.568s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 1m14.088s

Race 2 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 28m11.612s
2 Sano +1.173s
3 Furutani +7.168s
4 Kobayashi +8.195s
5 Mitsui +8.513s
6 Urabe +12.200s
7 Frederick +13.344s
8 Ito +18.637s
9 Nobuhiro Imada B-MAX Racing +42.918s
10 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +52.369s
P: Nomura, 1m12.554s
FL: Sano, 1m14.016s

Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 23m33.080s
2 Sano +0.504s
3 Kobayashi +5.675s
4 Masson +10.553s
5 David +13.021s
6 Frederick +13.603s
7 Furutani +14.369s
8 Ito +26.138s
9 Mitsui +26.273s
10 Imada +53.055s
FL: Nomura, 1m13.789s

Race 4 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 23m34.444s
2 Sano +5.940s
3 Furutani +6.882s
4 Mitsui +11.546s
5 Kobayashi +12.377s
6 Urabe +17.568s
7 Masson +18.100s
8 David +18.945s
9 Ito +20.745s
10 Frederick +21.624s
FL: Sano, 1m13.903s

Championship standings
1 Nomura 95   2 Sano 81   3 Kobayashi 48   4 Frederick 34   5 David 22   6 Masson 21   7 Furutani 21   8 Mitsui 14   9 Urabe 5   10 Ito 1

The post Nomura breaks clear in SF Lights title fight with four Sugo wins 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: Super Formula Lights

B-MAX Racing’s Yuto Nomura marched to his first three Super Formula Lights victories at Okayama last weekend to level the title race.

Nomura was fastest overall in practice, leading team-mate Zachary David by 0.23 seconds, and carried that form into qualifying as his advantage over him grew to 0.308s in Q1.

Delightworks Racing’s Yusuke Mitsui and TOM’s driver Rikuto Kobayashi were both within 0.09s of David in third and fourth, and Le Mans 24 Hours podium finisher Esteban Masson was 0.413s off pole in fifth.

Points leader Yuki Sano was seventh, and he was only one place higher in Q2 as Nomura set a 1m21.961s to claim another pole by 0.453s. Mitsui narrowly beat Masson, Kobayashi and David to second.

Nomura had to fend off an attack from David on the inside at the start of race one, which then allowed Mitsui to get through into second on the outside at turn one. Davd got back past on the straight down to turn five, then Kobayashi overtook Mitsui later in the lap too.

It was a quiet race for Nomura thereon, while David came under pressure on lap seven, then again from lap 15 onwards. Kobayashi got alongside him but was almost forced off on lap 19, but got past on the next lap. By the end of the 25-lap contest there was a train of cars behind David.

Mitsui lost fourth to Kaylen Frederick on lap two, and to Sano 16 laps later. Sano was eighth after lap one, and it took a few laps for him to return to seventh. He overtook Masson on lap 15, then slipstreamed past Mitsui on lap 18.

Nomura led lights-to-flag again in race two. Masson took second from Mitsui into the opening corner, with Kobayashi following him through at turn five. Sano then hounded Mitsui, and locked up as he made a dive at turn five on lap seven. They were close again at turn four on lap nine, but Mitsui then held on through the race’s second half.

The best battle thereon was for 12th, between “Dragon” and Yasuhiro Shimizu. There were many close moments, and eventually Shimizu crashed out with just over two laps to go.

Masson shrank Nomura’s lead from 1.37s to 0.7s late on too before Nomura lowered his pace to win by 2.1s. Frederick overtook Yuga Furutani for seventh on lap 15 of 18.

Nomura started on pole for racre three and had an easy time again. Frederick overtook David for third at the opening corner, but could not match Kobayashi in second until the safety car brought him onto his tail. The cause was Reimei Ito flying off at turn five on lap 13.

Three laps remained when racing resumed, and Nomura was unfazed by Kobayashi’s attacks. Masson overtook Mitsui for fifth, but there was no other action in the points places.

Sano’s seventh place meant fellow Nomura is now level with him on points at the top of the standings.

Results round-up
Race 1 (25 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing 35m35.616s
2 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +6.668s
3 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +10.035s
4 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +10.518s
5 Yuki Sano TOM’S +11.154s
6 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +12.028s
7 Esteban Masson TOM’S +12.871s
8 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +13.396s
9 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +14.691s
10 Yugo Iwasawa Delightworks Racing +19.842s
Pole: Nomura, 1m22.154s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 1m24.159s

Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Nomura 25m33.356s
2 Masson +2.465s
3 Kobayashi +9.761s
4 Mitsui +10.743s
5 Sano +11.751s
6 David +21.324s
7 Frederick +21.623s
8 Furutani +23.365s
9 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +24.219s
10 Ito +24.963s
P: Nomura, 1m21.961s
FL: Nomura, 1m24.238s

Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Nomura 27m03.290s
2 Kobayashi +1.243s
3 Frederick +2.123s
4 David +3.634s
5 Masson +4.010s
6 Mitsui +5.487s
7 Sano +6.169s
8 Furutani +6.608s
9 Urabe +7.623s
10 Iwasawa +9.516s
FL: Nomura, 1m24.515s

Championship standings
1 Sano 53   2 Nomura 53   3 Kobayashi 33   4 Frederick 32   5 David 17   6 Masson 16   7 Furutani 11   8 Mitsui 9   9 Urabe 3   10 Ito 1

The post Nomura goes unbeaten at Okayama to level SF Lights title race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Dense fog disrupted round two of Super Formula Lights’ season at Autopolis, which Yuko Sano left as points leader.

Practice proceeded without issue on Thursday and Friday, but then the fog led to qualifying and race one on Saturday being cancelled due to minimal visiblity.

Race one was moved to Sunday morning, at the expense of race three being dropped. The results from FP5 were used for race one’s grid.

Kaylen Frederick was fastest in FP1, a 1m38.224s putting him 0.199 seconds ahead of Yuto Nomura. Zachary David completed a B-MAX Racing 1-2-3, but was 0.918s behind. TOM’s duo Sano and Esteban Masson were the only others within a second of Frederick.

David set a 1m38.301s to top FP2 by 0.184s over Nomura and Sano. Rikuto Kobayashi (TOM’S) was fourth, 0.233s behind.

FP3 on Friday was much faster, and Frederick lowered the pace to 1m37.453s. He was 0.527s faster than Nomura, who had a 0.066s gap to Yuga Furutani (TOM’S).

The next session was much slower, with a 1m38.834s enough to earn Furutani top spot. He edged Sano by 0.003s and TOM’S debutant Esteban Masson.

Nomura went second fastest overall in practice with a session-topping 1m37.93s in FP5. That earned him race one pole, with Sano joining him on the front row. Just 0.019s split Frederick, Masson and Furutani behind.

The track was moist for the race, and Nomura paid the price of reaching his grid spot early and his tyres cooling down as he waited for others to line up. He spun his rear wheels off the line and was passed by Sano and Frederick, and from there the race was won.

Sano was two seconds clear by lap three, and had a 13.32s gap when the chequered flag waved after 21 laps.

Masson got onto Nomura’s tail on lap nine and tried passing around the outside of turn one next time by. Nomura got very defensive, leading to contact and a five-second penalty.

That moment helped Frederick pull away from them in the race’s second half, and while Nomura resisted Masson to the end there was a train of cars quite close by the penultimate lap and his penalty dropped him to eighth.

After the opening lap, the only pass was Yasuhiro Shimizu overtaking B-MAX team-mate and boss “Dragon” on lap 16 when he locked up at turn one. Having pressured him for a long time, he sprinted off after that as the fog became troublesome again.

It was also foggy for race two, which Frederick had pole for ahead of Kobayashi, Nomura, Furtani, Sano and Masson.

Sano made the best start, squeezing between several cars to be second before turn one. Furutani passed Kobayashi and Nomura for third a few corners later, with the latter two squabbling through lap one until Kobayashi established himself as ahead.

Frederick cruised to victory, Furutani pressured Sano late on and Nomura got another five-second penalty while defending against Masson so finished seventh. After a terrible lap one, David recovered to 10th.

Results round-up
Race 1 (21 laps)
1 Yuki Sano TOM’S 35m33.037s
2 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +13.320s
3 Esteban Masson TOM’S +15.872s
4 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +17.615s
5 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +18.621s
6 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +19.194s
7 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +19.862s
8 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing +20.458s
9 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX racing +27.539s
10 Yugo Iwasawa Delightworks Racing +28.253s
Pole: Nomura, 1m37.930s.
Fastest lap: Sano, 1m40.160s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Frederick 23m29.709s
2 Sano +8.862s
3 Furutani +9.506s
4 Kobayashi +10.662s
5 Masson +20.670s
6 Mitsui +23.909s
7 Nomura +25.080s
8 Urabe +26.526s
9 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +29.628s
10 David +35.267s
P: Frederick,
FL: Frederick, 1m39.928s

Championship standings
1 Sano 49   2 Frederick 25   3 Nomura 22   4 Kobayashi 14   5 Furutani 11   6 David 8   7 Masson 7   8 Mitsui 4   9 Urabe 3   10 Ito 1

The post Dense fog disrupts Super Formula Lights’ second round at Autopolis appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Syun Koide clinched the Super Formula Lights title with victory in the first race of the final round at Motegi, which he ended with an eighth win of the year.

Leading by Seita Nonaka by nine points and both Rikuto Kobayashi and Jin Nakamura by 23 points coming into the weekend, B-MAX Racing driver Koide topped qualifying for race one by 0.076 seconds ahead of Kobayashi.

While Nakamura had to make do with seventh, Nonaka was only 11th after suffering an electrical issue, and those problems would prevent him from even making the grid for the first race.

Koide made a good getaway and led Kobayashi by half a second after the first lap. It was only halfway through the 20-lap encounter that he grew his gap over one second, but the victory was enough to put him 20 points ahead of Nonaka – who got out on track for one installation lap – and thus be crowned champion.

Rin Arakawa, returning for this round in place of Master’s Cup driver Makoto Fujiwara in the B-MAX line-up, finished a distant third to complete the podium after holding off Souta Arao and Nakamura.

For race two, Koide took pole by the much larger margin of 0.632s over Kobayashi. The pair made an even start this time, going into the first corner side-by-side. Koide emerged managing to hold the lead, but Kobayashi fought back later in the opening lap to get ahead.

From there, Kobayashi managed to grow his advantage to more than a second in the first half of the race, while TOM’S team-mate Nakamura put Koide under more intense pressure.

Koide responded in the second half but Kobayashi ultimately clinched his third win of the season by 1.5s.

Arakawa slipped back from third to sixth on the opening lap, finishing behind Kaylen Frederick and Arao, while Nonaka was eighth.

In the final race of the season, Koide kept the lead from pole ahead of Kobayashi, while Yuga Furutani shot from seventh on the grid to win third in a battle with Arakawa through the opening turns. Nonaka meanwhile gained seventh places on lap one to run sixth.

Frederick got wide and crashed into the barriers exiting the final turn on lap four, triggering a safety car.

After the restart, Koide quickly re-established his lead, winning with a margin of 2s at the flag.

Second place for Kobayashi however was enough for him to clinch the same position in the final standings at the expense of Nonaka, who was unable to make further progress from sixth on a track where overtaking proved difficult beyond the first lap.

Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Syun Koide B-MAX Racing 35m11.029s
2 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +1.146s
3 Rin Arakawa B-MAX Racing +10.548
4 Souta Arao Toda Racing +10.988s
5 Jin Nakamura TOM’S +11.661s
6 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +19.036s
7 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +20.515s
8 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +26.852s
9 Togo Suganami JMS Racing Team +27.535s
10 Tsubasa Iriyama Albirex Raicng Team +35.815s
Pole: Koide, 1m42.779s
Fastest lap: Kobayashi, 1m44.762s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Kobayashi 24m35.437s
2 Koide +1.553s
3 Nakamura +2.850s
4 Frederick +9.543s
5 Arao +10.114s
6 Arakawa +13.247s
7 Furutani +14.163s
8 Seita Nonaka TOM’S +14.986s
9 Suganami +17.868s
10 Ito +21.580s
P: Koide, 1m42.613s
FL: Kobayashi, 1m44.514s

Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Koide 29m15.302s
2 Kobayashi +2.020s
3 Furutani +3.114s
4 Arakawa +6.530s
5 Nakamura +7.164s
6 Nonaka +7.783s
7 Arao +8.350s
8 Suganami +10.411s
9 Ito +13.280s
10 Iriyama +15.007s
FL: Koide, 1m44.996s

Championship standings
1 Koide 114   2 Kobayashi 86   3 Nonaka 77   4 Nakamura 71   5 Frederick 46   6 Arakawa 44   7 Arao 43   8 Furutani 34   9 Ito 1   10 Nobuhiro Imada 0

The post Koide seals Super Formula Lights title in convincing fashion appeared first on Formula Scout.