Naoki Yamamoto earns third Super Formula title, Tsuboi wins

With poleman Tomoki Nojiri suffering a slow pitstop and later retiring with a puncture, Yamamoto only needed to be fifth and ahead of main rival Ryo Hirakawa to win the title.

And that's exactly what the Dandelion Racing driver did after coming out on top of a thrilling duel with Impul rival Hirakawa which raged for most of the race.

Yamamoto therefore becomes the first three-time champion in Japan's premier single-seater category since Satoshi Motoyama, and the first title-winner for the Dandelion team - which he joined last year - since Richard Lyons in 2004.

He also becomes the first driver to win both the SUPER GT and Super Formula crowns in the same year for a second time, following his first 'double' in 2018.

Yamamoto ended up two points clear of Hirakawa in the final rankings, while victory put Tsuboi level with Nick Cassidy for third in the standings, 12 points down.

How the race unfolded

Nojiri lost the lead immediately as Tsuboi got a better launch off the line from second on the grid, while Nobuharu Matsushita dived up the inside at Turn 1 to grab second.

Yamamoto meanwhile settled into fourth behind fellow Honda man Nojiri, as Hirakawa moved up to sixth and then picked off Ukyo Sasahara for fifth. That's how the order out front remained until the start of the pitstop phase, as Nojiri pulled out a small lead over Matsushita.

Nojiri was first to blink at the start of the pit window on lap 10, but lost around four seconds relative to his rivals with a slow tyre change.

Hirakawa was next of the front-runners to come in on lap 14, followed by Matsushita and Yamamoto one lap later and then Tsuboi on lap 16.

Tsuboi and Matsushita rejoined comfortably ahead of the delayed Nojiri, who now had to contend with pressure from the Nakajima Racing car of Toshiki Oyu.

Yamamoto meanwhile filtered back into the pack behind Oyu, and Hirakawa was able to make use of his warmer tyres from pitting one lap earlier to pass around the outside at 100R.

But at the start of lap 17, Yamamoto was able to draft ahead of Hirakawa along the start/finish straight and complete the move exiting Turn 1.

Sasahara enjoyed a brief spell out in front before making his stop on lap 20, which promoted Cassidy - up from the very back of the grid - into the lead.

TOM'S man Cassidy at this stage had around 28s in hand over net leader Tsuboi, and managed to extend that to 31s before Nojiri stopped at the hairpin with a front-left puncture.

That prompted Cassidy to pit, although there was no safety car period as Nojiri parked up on the inside of the track and out of harm's way, and he rejoined in sixth between title protagonists Yamamoto and Hirakawa.

After briefly appearing to try and wave through Hirakawa, Cassidy went on the attack and passed Yamamoto into Turn 3 with an aggressive move that earned him a black-and-white flag.

Up front, Tsuboi was having to contend with Oyu, who managed to pass Matsushita for second place into Turn 1 at the start of lap 34.

However, Oyu could never quite get close enough to Tsuboi to attempt a move, as the Inging driver narrowly held on for a second win of the year by just 0.687s.

Matsushita held on for third place and his first Super Formula podium, while Cassidy came up only seven tenths shy of the B-Max driver after his late charge.

Hirakawa had managed to close back up on Yamamoto in the closing stages, and a pass at that stage of proceedings would have been enough for him to claim the title.

But the Impul driver was powerless to find a way past and had to settle for sixth place, suffering his second title defeat at Fuji in the space of three weeks.

Sasahara scored his first points of the season for Mugen in seventh, followed by Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing), Kazuki Nakajima (TOM'S) and Kenta Yamashita (Kondo).

Hiroaki Ishiura (Inging) concluded what is expected to be his final Super Formula race 12th, a place ahead of Nakajima Racing debutant Hiroki Otsu.

Tatiana Calderon (Drago Corse) had to start from the pits after a clutch problem on the dummy grid and ended up 17th and a lap down at the finish.

Yuhi Sekiguchi (Impul) was a non-starter after his Toyota engine blew during warm-up, while Charles Milesi (B-Max) spun during the formation lap and likewise didn't start.

Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	39	Sho Tsuboi	JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING	40
2	65	Toshiki Oyu	TCS Nakajima Racing	40	0.687
3	50	Nobuharu Matsushita	Buzz Racing with B-Max	40	1.522
4	1	Nick Cassidy	Vantelin Team TOM'S	40	2.268
5	5	Naoki Yamamoto	DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	40	6.361
6	20	Ryo Hirakawa	ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	40	7.550
7	15	Ukyo Sasahara	Team Mugen	40	8.541
8	4	Sacha Fenestraz	Kondo Racing	40	24.737
9	36	Kazuki Nakajima	Vantelin Team TOM'S	40	25.360
10	3	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo Racing	40	25.785
11	7	Kamui Kobayashi	carrozzeria Team KCMG	40	29.569
12	38	Hiroaki Ishiura	JMS P.mu/cerumo-INGING	40	30.496
13	64	Hiroki Otsu	TCS Nakajima Racing	40	30.966
14	14	Kazuya Oshima	ROOKIE Racing	40	40.493
15	18	Yuji Kunimoto	carrozzeria Team KCMG	40	41.319
16	6	Nirei Fukuzumi	DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	40	1'03.943
17	12	Tatiana Calderon	ThreeBond Drago CORSE	39	1 Lap
18	16	Tomoki Nojiri	Team Mugen	28	12 Laps
19	51	Charles Milesi	Buzz Racing with B-Max	0
20	19	Yuhi Sekiguchi	ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	0
View full results