Koyama, Lomko get TOM'S Super Formula Lights test chances

Koyama and Lomko will both share the #37 TOM'S car as they vie for a full-time drive in the Super Formula support category during the two-day test next Tuesday and Wednesday, while Koyama will also share the #36 machine with one of the team's 2022 regulars, Yuga Furutani.

Seita Nonaka and Hibiki Taira, who are already confirmed to be staying in Super Formula Lights for next season, will pilot the #35 and #38 cars respectively, with TOM'S Super Formula driver Ritomo Miyata also entered in both cars.

Toyota has announced that Koyama will remain a part of its domestic junior stable next year but did not specify which category she will race in.

The ex-W Series driver is also understood to be a candidate for a drive in SUPER GT's GT300 class.

 

Russian driver Lomko meanwhile is looking to Japan to further his career after finishing second in this year's Euroformula Open series, which uses the same Dallara F320 car as Super Formula Lights.

Elsewhere, B-Max Racing has no fewer than 11 drivers entered for the test spread across seven cars.

These include three of the five drivers it ran in a private two-day test last week at Okayama: American Bryce Aron, Spaniard David Vidales and Brazilian-Japanese driver Igor Fraga.

Aron and Vidales will both get a car to themselves for the test, while Fraga will share a cockpit with Formula Regional Japan race winner Ryunosuke Sawa.

Also among B-Max's drivers for the test are Raoul Hyman, who is expected to race for the team in Super Formula as part of his HPD scholarship prize for winning the Formula Regional Americas series, and Honda junior Yusuke Mitsui.

Ex-Formula 2 racer Lirim Zendeli, who was the fourth international driver for B-Max at Okayama, is absent from the entry list, suggesting he may have dropped out of contention for a 2023 drive.

On the other hand, Iori Kimura, who did not take part in B-Max's Okayama test, is entered in the team's Honda-backed #50 car in an apparent boost to his chances of staying in Super Formula Lights for a second season.

 

Driving the #50 machine at Okayama was Japanese F4 champion Shun Koide, whose name is absent from the Suzuka entry list.

However, Honda-affiliated team Toda Racing has not named either of the drivers that will share its solo #2 car, and it's possible Koide could be one of them.

Last year's series runner-up Kakunoshin Ota, who drove for Toda at Okayama, was also missing from the entry list.

Suzuka test entry list (December 6-7):