Qualifying report

Super Formula Suzuka II

Suzuka Super Formula: Nojiri storms to sixth pole of 2022

Newly-crowned Super Formula champion Tomoki Nojiri scored his sixth pole position of the 2022 season in the final qualifying session of the year at Suzuka.

Jamie Klein

Edited: Oct 31, 2022, 8:56 AM

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Tomoki Nojiri, TEAM MUGEN

Fresh from wrapping up his second title with a race to spare on Saturday, Nojiri topped his Q1 group with ease before going on to grab the top spot for Sunday's finale with a best lap of 1m36.003s in the Q2 pole shootout.

The Mugen driver's sixth pole of the year means he equals the modern-era benchmark set by Toranosuke Takagi in 2000 and Tsugio Matsuda in 2008. He has also matched Honda stablemate Naoki Yamamoto for the most poles among active Super Formula drivers on 13.

As on Saturday, TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata proved Nojiri's nearest opponent, missing out on his first career pole by a scant 0.040s.

Hiroki Otsu was the surprise package of the morning as the Dandelion driver, who only qualified 16th on Saturday, grabbed third spot ahead of the second Mugen car of Saturday winner Ukyo Sasahara and Sho Tsuboi (Inging).

Ryo Hirakawa (Impul) and Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing), who go into the final race of the year tied for second in the drivers' standings, will start sixth and seventh on the grid respectively.

Completing the top 10 were rookie Atsushi Miyake (Team Goh), Toshiki Oyu (Nakajima Racing) and Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion), who once again was fastest in his Q1 group only to slump in Q2.

Giuliano Alesi (TOM'S) made it out of Q1 for the first time since April's Fuji opener, but could only manage the 11th-fastest time in Q2.

After finishing on the podium on Saturday, Red Bull junior Ren Sato (Goh) blotted his copybook with a spin on his out lap in Q1, subsequently just missing out on a Q2 spot and qualifying in 14th place.

Kenta Yamashita's woes in the second Kondo Racing car continued as he was slowest of all in his Q1 segment, leaving him 19th on the grid ahead of Impul driver Yuhi Sekiguchi.

The final race of the Super Formula season begins at 2.30pm local time (GMT +9).

Suzuka Super Formula (Round 10) - Q2 results:

Cla # Driver Team Time Gap 1 1 Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen 1'36.003 2 37 Japan Ritomo Miyata Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 1'36.043 0.040 3 6 Japan Hiroki Otsu Japan Dandelion Racing 1'36.468 0.465 4 15 Japan Ukyo Sasahara Team Mugen 1'36.612 0.609 5 38 Japan Sho Tsuboi P.MU/CERUMO･INGING 1'36.669 0.666 6 20 Japan Ryo Hirakawa Team Impul 1'36.688 0.685 7 4 France Sacha Fenestraz Kondo Racing 1'36.735 0.732 8 55 Japan Atsushi Miyake Team Goh 1'36.738 0.735 9 65 Japan Toshiki Oyu TCS Nakajima Racing 1'36.746 0.743 10 5 Japan Tadasuke Makino Japan Dandelion Racing 1'36.789 0.786 11 36 France Giuliano Alesi Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 1'36.953 0.950 12 18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto KCMG 1'37.255 1.252 View full results

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