Super Formula Fuji: Tsuboi charges back to end four-year win drought

Sho Tsuboi ended a Super Formula victory drought dating back to 2020 with a first win of the season for TOM'S in Sunday’s fourth round at Fuji Speedway.

Tsuboi had started from fourth and slipped to fifth on the opening lap, but showed overwhelming race pace to claw his way back into contention and eventually beat Toshiki Oyu by a commanding margin of 7.1 seconds.

Leaving his mandatory pit stop late, Tsuboi cycled to the front as second-placed Oyu pitted on lap 13 of 41 and early leader and polesitter Nirei Fukuzumi did so on lap 14.

Tsuboi waited until lap 28 to make his stop, coming out behind not only Oyu but also early stoppers Tomoki Nojiri and Tadasuke Makino, as a slow pit stop from the KCMG crew meant Fukuzumi slid down the order.

But Tsuboi was immediately on the attack with the benefit of fresher tyres, passing Makino and Nojiri in quick succession at the end of lap 30 and then closing down race leader Oyu at a rate of over one second a lap after that.

What appeared to be an inevitable pass for the lead came on the run down to Turn 3 as Tsuboi slipped ahead of Oyu’s Inging machine before the braking zone.

Tsuboi’s victory marked his first since joining TOM’S from Inging at the start of this season and his third in total, and came on the same day his wife Aimi Saito triumphed in the supporting all-female Kyojo Cup race.

Oyu held on for second, clinching his first podium since leaving Honda to join Toyota this year, while Nojiri completed the podium for Team Mugen.

Nojiri’s team-mate and nearest title rival Ayumu Iwasa endured a disastrous race, bogging down from second on the grid to drop down to 13th on the opening lap.

The Red Bull junior elected to leave his pit stop until almost the last moment possible in case of a safety car, but a caution never materialised and he finished out of the points in 11th.

Watch: Round 4: Fuji Highlights

It means Nojiri has stretched his championship lead out to 9.5 points at the mid-point of the season, with Tsuboi now his nearest rival in second.

Fukuzumi fought his way back ahead of Makino in the closing stages to salvage fourth, having taken KCMG’s first-ever Super Formula pole position on Saturday.

Fifth for Dandelion Racing’s Makino has moved him ahead of Iwasa into third place in the drivers’ standings, 14 points behind Nojiri.

Yuji Kunimoto scored Team Impul’s best result of the season so far in sixth place ahead of Nakajima Racing’s Ren Sato and Kamui Kobayashi in the second KCMG car.

Completing the top 10 were Impul substitute Hibiki Taira, who scored his first-ever points in Super Formula, and Naoki Yamamoto for Nakajima Racing.

Sena Sakaguchi was an early retirement, his Inging machine grinding to a halt on the opening lap, while Kakunoshin Ota in the second Dandelion car was a non-starter after suffering terminal problems on the grid.

Super Formula Fuji - Race results:

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	S. Tsuboi Vantelin Team TOM'S	36		41	59'40.841				20
2	T. Oyu Vertex Partners Cerumo - INGING	39		41	+7.162 59'48.003	7.162			15
3	T. Nojiri Team Mugen	16		41	+10.832 59'51.673	3.670			11
4	N. Fukuzumi Team KCMG	8		41	+11.642 59'52.483	0.810			8
5	T. Makino Dandelion Racing	5		41	+13.536 59'54.377	1.894			6
6	Y. Kunimoto ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	20		41	+16.180 59'57.021	2.644			5
7	R. Sato PONOS Nakajima Racing	65		41	+17.352 59'58.193	1.172			4
8	K. Kobayashi Team KCMG	7		41	+19.949 1:00'00.790	2.597			3
9	H. Taira ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL	19		41	+20.918 1:00'01.759	0.969			2
10	N. Yamamoto PONOS Nakajima Racing	64		41	+22.378 1:00'03.219	1.460			1
11	A. Iwasa Team Mugen	15		41	+31.199 1:00'12.040	8.821
12	U. Sasahara Vantelin Team TOM'S	37		41	+31.657 1:00'12.498	0.458
13	K. Yamashita Kondo Racing	3		41	+33.863 1:00'14.704	2.206
14	H. Ohtsu TGM Grand Prix	55		41	+36.234 1:00'17.075	2.371
15	I. Kimura San-Ei Gen with B-Max	50		41	+42.289 1:00'23.130	6.055
16	K. Oshima docomo business ROOKIE	14		41	+43.011 1:00'23.852	0.722
17	K. Kotaka Kondo Racing	4		41	+44.594 1:00'25.435	1.583
18	A. Miyake ThreeBond Racing	12		41	+45.315 1:00'26.156	0.721
19	J. Noda TGM Grand Prix	53		41	+1'16.860 1:00'57.701	31.545
dnf	S. Sakaguchi Vertex Partners Cerumo - INGING	38		0						Retirement
dnf	K. Ohta Dandelion Racing	6		0						Retirement
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