Super Formula
Mugen adds second Super Formula entry, signs Sasahara
Ukyo Sasahara has been granted a last-minute reprieve to race in Super Formula this season as part of an expanded two-car Mugen team.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Mar 4, 2022, 3:53 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Sasahara had been left on the sidelines when Honda made its initial Super Formula line-up announcement back in January, having been passed over for a chance to race for Dandelion Racing in favour of Hiroki Otsu.
It was a similar story when new squad Team Goh announced its full line-up, as rookie Atsushi Miyake got the nod to join Ren Sato.
Read Also:
But on Friday, with mere days until the start of pre-season testing on Monday, Mugen announced that it will be reviving its second entry, the #15 car, having been originally planned to scale back to a single car in 2022.
Sasahara will therefore partner reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri as part of a two-car Mugen attack.
"First, I'd like to express my sincere thanks all of those who made it possible to compete full-time this year," said Sasahara. "Thank you very much.
"In order to show the kind of top-class performance worthy of this chance, I'll give my best every day working alongside the team and Nojiri, so I'd like to ask everyone involved and the fans to support me."
Sasahara previously contested a full season for Mugen in 2020 as a replacement for Red Bull junior Juri Vips, but could only manage 18th in the points with a best finish of seventh place, and was replaced by Otsu for 2021.
He then made two outings at the start of the season in place of an unwell Tadasuke Makino at Dandelion, scoring a podium at Suzuka, and spent the remainder of the season on reserve duties for the team.
Sasahara's #15 car will be engineered by Tomo Koike and sponsored by BH Auction, sporting a light blue livery.
Nojiri's #1 car meanwhile will return to a more traditional Mugen livery as used in recent years, after winning the title last year with a striking all-red paint job to pay tribute to Japan's healthcare workers during the pandemic.
Tomohiro Ichise continues as Nojiri's engineer following Mugen's split from Servus Japan, which will operate the all-new Goh outfit in 2022 having previously run the #15 side of the Mugen operation.
The announcement that Sasahara will race for Mugen this year effectively completes the 2022 Super Formula grid, as it's understood Mugen has leased its second car from fellow Honda team B-Max Racing.
It means that Nobuharu Matsushita will again be the sole B-Max driver on the grid this season.
2022 Super Formula grid:
Team/Engine No. Driver Mugen/Honda 1
Tomoki Nojiri
15
Ukyo Sasahara
Kondo Racing/Toyota 3 Kenta Yamashita 4 
Sacha Fenestraz Dandelion Racing/Honda 5 Tadasuke Makino 6 Hiroki Otsu KCMG/Toyota 7
Kamui Kobayashi
18
Yuji Kunimoto
Drago Corse/Honda 12 Nirei Fukuzumi Rookie Racing/Toyota 14
Kazuya Oshima
Impul/Toyota 19
Yuhi Sekiguchi
20
Ryo Hirakawa
TOM'S/Toyota 36
Giuliano Alesi
37
Ritomo Miyata
Inging/Toyota 38
Sho Tsuboi
39
Sena Sakaguchi
B-Max Racing/Honda 50
Nobuharu Matsushita
Goh/Honda 53
Ren Sato
55
Atsushi Miyake
Nakajima Racing/Honda 64
Naoki Yamamoto
65
Toshiki Oyu
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article KCMG adopts green-and-yellow livery for 2022 Super Formula season
Next article Super Formula reveals extensive next-gen testing plans
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Latest news
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 2 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe