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Yusuke Mitsui beats Umegaki to take second win with lights-to-flag victory
Yusuke Mitsui（DELiGHTWORKS）Rd 3 of the 2026 Japanese Super Formula Lighs series started at 2:35pm in dry conditions as the last race of the Fuji Speedway race weekend.
According to the finishing order in Rd 1 Yusuke Mitsui driving DELiGHTWORKS claimed pole position for Rd3 with Kiyoshi Umegaki (in Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC SFL) as fellow front row sitter.
The second row was secured by the Rd 2 winner Evan Giltaire (ART Grand Prix with B-MAX) and Kazuhisa Urabe (DELiGHTWORKS), while the third row was secured by Oscar Wurz (PONOS RACING TOM'S TGR-DC SF) and Rintaro Sato (B-MAX ENGINEERING 324).
Start of Round.3■Lead battle once again fought by Mitsui and Umegaki as in Rd 1
Mitsui got away strongly to retain his lead while Giltaire got a sluggish start in third place, allowing Urabe to pass him and seeing Wurz get alongside, but managed to hold on.
Wurz was fifth, followed by Kotaro Shimbara (HFDP WITH B-MAX RACING) who improved his position on the opening lap, and Tokiya Suzuki (Mobility Chukyo TOM’S TGR-DC2 SFL).
The early stages saw Mitsui and Umegaki fighting lead scrap, followed by a pack with Urabe heading Giltaire and Wurz. The race looked to unfold just like the opening round when Giltaire closed in on Urabe at TGR on lap four trying to overtake.
However, Urabe firmly defended the third position, with Giltaire ending up suffering an off, instead, and even allowing Wurz to pass him.
Behind the lead two Urabe headed a pack of four cars for the next two laps, only to run off the track when Wurz dived down his inside at TGR on lap seven.
On lap eight Giltaire overtook Wurz to take back the third spot, leaving Wurz, Urabe, Shimbara and Suzuki in this order to scrap for fourth place.
Yusuke Mitsui（DELiGHTWORKS）■Nobuhiro Imada takes first master class win of the season
Battles continued to break out in various places of the track in the closing stages. Umegaki closed in on Mitsui at TGR on lap 10, but Mitsui held on to the lead. In a battle over third spot Suzuki passed Shimbara for sixth.
After fending off Umegaki on lap 10 Mitsui steadily extended his lead, ending up 1.488secs ahead of Umegaki at the flag to grab his second win. The podium had the same line-up as in the opening round as Giltaire placed third. Wurz, Urabe and Suzuki rounded the top six.
Master class initially looked set to be effectively a duel between Nobuhiro Imada (JMS RACING TEAM) and DRAGON (B-MAX ENGINEERING 324), but Ken Alex (BUZZ RACING) subsequently joined them after a late start.
DRAGON was overtaken by Imada and then by Alex on lap seven, but Alex spun and dropped back on lap nine, bringing the battle back to the one-to-one duel.
Imada proceeded to control the pace thereafter to take his first class win of he season. As a result, the master class had three different winners during the Fuji weekend.
