Rikuto Kobayashi records second win in dramatic Suzuka race

Rikuto Kobayashi（Mobility Chukyo TOM'S 320 TGR-DC）

Following the qualifying for Rd 16 the Super Formula Lights drivers reviewed their car set-ups, resulting in a slightly different the line-up on the grid for Rd 17 qualifying, with Jin Nakamura putting his Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC claiming his second pole position of the season. Shun Koide (HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING) moved up two places from his previous qualifying result to claim another front-row position.

The third was secured by Seita Nonaka (PONOS Racing TOM’S 320 TGR-DC) who had taken his first career pole position for the previous race, with Rikuto Kobayashi (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S 320 TGR-DC) as a fellow second-row starter.

Start of Round.17

■The start sees significant changes in order

In front of a large crowd of fans the formation lap of Rd 17 started at 8:20am on Sunday under cloudy skies with lower air and track temperatures than the previous day. At the start unexpected drama immediately unfolded as Nonaka and Kobayashi each made a superb getaway from the second-row to ease past Nakamura and Koide, and Nonaka grabbed the lead into turn one while the front-row sitters were struggling to get up to speed.

Koide became bottled up behind the three TOM’S cars despite having come into this race on fresh tires, whereas Yuga Furutani (Deloitte. HTP TOM’S 320) took advantage of his fresh tires to move up to fifth after passing Souta Arao (HFDP WITH TODA RACING) before closing in on Koide.

Once posting a fastest lap on lap two Nonaka proceeded to open up a healthy buffer over a pack of five cars with Kobayashi heading Nakamura, Koide, Furutani and Arao.
On lap five Furutani overtook Koide to take fourth spot, forming TOM’S-dominated top four.

Just after that a ten second post-race time penalty was handed down to Nonaka – who had built a three-second lead thus far – for his jump start. This meant it could put him out of the points depending on how much he would be able to multiply his lead for the remaining laps.

Nobuhiro Imada（JMS RACING with B-MAX）

■TOM'S dominates 1-2-3-4

With Nonaka’s performance still attracting attention battle over the runner-up spot between Kobayashi and Nakamura, and that over fifth between Koide and Arao intensified towards the end of the race. After several overtaking attempts Arao finally got ahead of Koide at Turn one on lap 11.

Nonaka eventually extended his advantage over Arao in fifth to more than 10 seconds when he crossed the line ahead of Kobayashi, Nakamura and Furutani, and was classified fourth after the penalty was counted.

As a result, Kobayashi recorded his first win since Rd 11 Fuji, delivering TOM’S first 1-2-3-4 since Rd 12 at Sugo in 2022.

Nonaka’s result sees him close the gap to Koide in the standings to 17 points as the B-MAX driver finished sixth behind Arao.

In master class, Makoto Fujiwara (TEAM DRAGON 324) led the very early part of the race, but would be caught up by a pack of the other three cars and overtaken by Nobuhiro Imada (JMS RACING TEAM) on lap four.

Staying well out of a close scrap fought behind between DRAGON and Yasuhiro Shimizu (GNSY 324) and fending off a late charge from DRAGON Imada maintained his lead to snatch his first win since Rd 7 Sugo after several races where he had been out of contention for victory.

• Rikuto Kobayashi（Mobility Chukyo TOM'S 320 TGR-DC）
• Souta Arao（HFDP WITH TODA RACING）
• Top3 drivers of Round.17

• Syun Koide（HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING）
• Podium of Round.17
• Yuga Furutani（Deloitte. HTP TOM’S 320）

• Nobuhiro Imada（JMS RACING with B-MAX）
• Battle of Master Class
• Kaylen Frederick（Pilot ONE Racing with B-MAX）