2023 Super Formula Championship

The 2023 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the fifty-first season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the eleventh under the moniker of Super Formula. It started in April 2023 and was contested over seven weekends, comprising nine races. Tomoki Nojiri entered the season as the two-time and defending series champion.

TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata won the Drivers' Championship at the final race, ahead of Liam Lawson, who became Rookie of the Year while his Mugen Team won the Teams' Championship.

Teams and drivers

All teams used identical Dallara-built SF23 chassis. 2023 was the first season for this new chassis. The SF23 was constructed from Bcomp bio-composite material aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 75 percent, and featured updated aerodynamic features aimed at reducing turbulent air and promoting more wheel-to-wheel racing. Series tyre supplier Yokohama Rubber debuted a new "carbon neutral racing tyre" made from 33 percent recycled and renewable raw materials. Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-417E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota TRD-01F engine.

Team changes

• KCMG have a new title sponsor with Daycare Kids Com which has been the major sponsor for the team, the team would run under Kids Com Team KCMG.
• Red Bull left Team Goh and moved its sponsorship efforts to Lawson's Team Mugen entry. The loss of this sponsorship left Team Goh in doubts whether they would be able to continue their participation in the championship for 2023. Servus Japan, the organization behind the team, later announced that the team would relaunch as TGM Grand Prix and confirmed that they would run two cars in 2023.
• After two seasons running one car, B-Max Racing expanded to two cars for this season.
• ThreeBond, who have been main sponsors for the Drago Corse team, acquired the team's entry and rebranded as ThreeBond Racing.

Driver changes

• 2022 Super Formula Lights champion Kazuto Kotaka was promoted to Super Formula as one of Kondō Racing's two drivers. Kotaka, who drove most of the 2021 season for KCMG, replaced Sacha Fenestraz, who left the series to drive for Nissan in Formula E.
• Raoul Hyman was awarded a Honda Super Formula scholarship for winning the 2022 Formula Regional Americas Championship title, and drove for B-Max Racing.
• FIA Formula 2 driver and Red Bull junior Liam Lawson made his Super Formula debut, replacing Ukyo Sasahara at Team Mugen. Sasahara later agreed to become the development driver for Super Formula's Toyota-powered research and development vehicle.
• 2022 Super Formula Lights runner-up Kakunoshin Ohta was promoted to Super Formula and made his debut with Dandelion Racing, replacing Hiroki Otsu, who did not return to the series.
• 2022 Rookie of the Year winner Ren Sato moved to Nakajima Racing to replace Toshiki Oyu. His Team Goh teammate Atsushi Miyake left the series.
• The newly rebranded team TGM Grand Prix signed Toshiki Oyu and rookie Cem Bölükbaşı, who competed in Formula 2 in 2022. Bölükbaşı was the first Turkish driver to race in the series.

Mid-season

• Tomoki Nojiri was absent from the fourth round at Autopolis after being diagnosed with a pneumothorax. He was replaced by Hiroki Otsu, who came 9th in the standings with Team Dandelion in 2022. Nojiri returned to competition from round five onwards.
• After disappointing results in his second full-time season, Team TOM'S decided to replace Giuliano Alesi after round 5. His seat was filled by Ukyo Sasahara, who came sixth in 2022 driving for Team Mugen.
• Toshiki Oyu suffered from a broken collarbone during training ahead of round 6. Hiroki Otsu once again stepped in as a replacement driver.
• After suffering a heavy crash in the Super GT race at Sportsland SUGO, Naoki Yamamoto was diagnosed with a damaged vertebrae and spinal cord. He missed the Suzuka double-header during his recovery. Hiroki Otsu was the replacement driver for the third time this season.
• Ahead of the final Suzuka weekend, TGM Grand Prix announced that Toshiki Oyu would not be competing in the double-header, with Riki Okusa as the replacement driver making his Super Formula debut.

Race calendar

The provisional calendar was announced on 8 August 2022. After three weekends were made to double-header events in 2022, the season opener and finale were both announced to have two races again.

Race results

Season report

First half

The 2023 Super Formula Championship began with a double-header at Fuji Speedway. Mugen's defending champion Tomoki Nojiri took pole position for the first race. His debuting teammate Liam Lawson started third, with the TGM of Toshiki Oyu between them until Lawson moved up into second. He then pitted on lap 21, with Nojiri following one lap later. A slightly quicker stop for Lawson together with his tyres already being up to temperature meant he took the lead. Lawson then built a gap and became the first driver to win on debut in Super Formula history. The podium was completed by Impul's Ryō Hirakawa, who had started seventh and pitted late in the race to climb up the order, but a late safety car meant the race finished under caution, so he was unable to make full use of his new tyres.

Nojiri also took pole position for the second race of the weekend, but a great start by Oyu saw him take the lead into turn three. Most cars pitted shortly after a safety car on lap ten, where Nojiri profited of his pit box position as Oyu had to let him by before being allowed back into the fast lane. Oyu tried once to retake the lead, but then struggled for pace, allowing INGING's Sho Tsuboi to take second place, before dropping further down and finishing last. Lawson initially finished third, but was hit with a five-second time penalty for holding up other cars when he tried building a gap to Nojiri at the pit entry when Mugen double-stacked their cars. This promoted Kondō's Kenta Yamashita onto his first podium in three years. Nojiri left Fuji as the championship leader, 14 points ahead of his teammate Lawson.

Next came the season's first visit to Suzuka, where Oyu claimed pole position. He held on to his lead as Lawson moved from eighth on the grid into fourth, and then past Nojiri into third. Most of the leaders then pitted, but Oyu waited until lap 19, resulting in him coming out directly in front of Nojiri. The pair fought through the opening corners, before Nojiri rear-ended Oyu, forcing both cars into retirement. TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata and Hirakawa stopped under the ensuing safety car, thereby coming out third and fourth. Their fresher tyres allowed them to take the fight to the leaders, with Miyata eventually ending up in the lead and winning the race ahead of Tsuboi, and Hirakawa passing Lawson for third. Nojiri still maintained his championship lead, but now Miyata was second, four points behind.

The fourth round at Autopolis began with Tsuboi on pole position. Lawson in second initially lost position to INGING's Sena Sakaguchi, but stopped earlier than the other frontrunners, which allowed him to get past both INGING cars. Miyata was the only other frontrunner yet to pit and did so as Oyu and Sakaguchi crashed to bring out a timely safety car. Lawson and Tsuboi were both still able to stay in front of Miyata, but Lawson had by far the oldest tyres. A perfect restart allowed him to build a gap as Miyata tried to get past Tsuboi. He did so with three laps to go, but by then Lawson was far enough ahead to secure the win. Nojiri had to miss the weekend due to a pneumothorax, allowing Lawson to take the standings lead, four points from Miyata, with Tsuboi a further seven points behind.

Oyu took another pole position a month later at Sportsland Sugo. He led Miyata at the start as Tsuboi and Lawson slotted in behind them. Oyu then started struggling for pace, allowing Miyata to take the lead on lap twelve. Tsuboi followed through as Oyu lost control of his car and crashed. Split strategies meant some drivers stopped early and other stayed out, with the former strategy clearly materializing to be the better one: Dandelion's Tadasuke Makino was the first driver to pit, which saw him take third place. Miyata and Nojiri also stopped early and ended the race first and second, while Tsuboi and Lawson were among the last cars to stop, having stayed out hoping for another safety car. Both unable to make the podium, while Miyata's win saw him take a twelve-point championship lead over Lawson.

Second half

The championship returned to Fuji Speedway to kick off the second half of the season. Makino beat Lawson to pole position and kept his lead at the start. Lawson pressured Makino, but was unable to pass him on the road. He then pitted a lap earlier than the leader and once again used his warmed up tyres to take first place, just as he did against Nojiri in the first race of the season. As the race stayed green until the end, the drivers who delayed their stop, led by KCMG's Naoki Yamamoto, were also no problem for him. In the end, he had built a four-second gap and won comfortably. Miyata had started fifth and passed Nakajima Racing's Ren Sato for third on lap 31 to hold on to his championship lead by a single point. Nojiri only came eighth, and Tsuboi failed to finish inside the points.

Mobility Resort Motegi played host for round seven, and Nojiri was back on pole position. Dandelion's Kakunoshin Ohta qualified second, but stalled at the start. This saw Lawson aggressively challenge Nojiri for the lead into turn two, with the New Zealander running wide over the kerbs, spinning across the track, hitting Makino and Impul's Yuhi Sekiguchi and sending both cars airborne. A red flag interruption followed, with Makino being airlifted to hospital. He was able to avoid major injuries. After the restart, the race remained relatively uneventful, with Nojiri leading the pack home after a slow pitstop cost his nearest challenger Hirakawa any chance of victory. Oyu came third, while Miyata in fourth retook the championship lead. Lawson's car was repaired during the stoppage, but he could only manage 13th place and now trailed Miyata by eight points.

The final double header at Suzuka began with Nojiri taking a crucial pole position to earn three more points and move past Lawson, who could only qualify seventh. The race began with Ohta moving past Makino for third, before being stopped for a massive crash between Sasahara and Nakajima Racing's Hiroki Otsu into 130R. Otsu was trying to move down the inside of Sasahara, which resulted in both cars hitting the barrier at high speed. Sasahara's car was flung into the catch fence, which tore the car in half. The chassis landed on the other side of the track near Degner 1. Both drivers miraculously avoided grave injuries, although Sasahara suffered a concussion. The damage to the barriers was to severe to restart the race and half points were awarded. This saw Lawson drop further back in the title fight, while Nojiri closed up to 6.5 points behind Miyata.

Lawson took pole position for the final race of the season to minimize his gap to Miyata to twelve points. The odds still remained stacked against him, even more so after he lost the lead to Ohta at the start. Miyata moved into third, capitalizing on Nojiri losing momentum after also trying to move past Lawson. Miyata put pressure on Lawson, but knew he would not have to force the move to take the title. Ohta pitted later than his rivals, came out in front and spent the rest of the race fending off Lawson before eventually taking his maiden win. Miyata came home three seconds behind Lawson, his third place more than enough to secure his first Super Formula title. Nojiri could only manage fourth after a longer first stint waiting for a safety car and therefore lost second in the standings to Lawson by half a point.

Miyata drew focus from the Nojiri-Lawson rivalry, and earned strong points with which the TOM'S driver took the title. Still, Lawson had a strong rookie campaign, tackling most obstacles with relative ease—were it not for the overambitious move on Nojiri in Motegi that would prove critical in his title campaign. Notably, Nojiri had to fight not only on-track, but also off-track, as he had to recover from the pneumothorax that cost him the chance to compete at Autopolis. Considering his physical condition, Nojiri had a remarkable season and came close to a third successive title.

Championship standings

Race points

Qualifying points

Drivers' championship

Teams' championship

Notes

External links