Suzuka Super Formula: Nojiri stretches points lead with pole

Mugen Honda driver Nojiri topped morning practice and his Q1 segment before posting a 1m36.352s in the Q2 shootout to take his second pole of the season and the ninth of his career, as well as his first at the Japanese Grand Prix venue.

The three bonus points boosts his total to 41, putting him five clear of Ryo Hirakawa, who could only manage a lowly 12th on the grid.

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Nojiri's closest rival in Q2 was Kondo Racing man Kenta Yamashita, who missed out a first pole since his rookie season in 2017 by a scant 0.075s to book a spot on the front row.

Sacha Fenestraz made it a two-three for Kondo, continuing the Toyota squad's improved recent form, ahead of Ritomo Miyata (TOM'S) in fourth and surprise package Yuji Kunimoto (KCMG).

Next-best of the Honda runners after Nojiri was Tadasuke Makino in fifth for Dandelion Racing, followed by Suzuka pre-season test pacesetter Sho Tsuboi (Inging) and Hiroki Otsu in the second Dandelion car.

Nobuharu Matsushita was only ninth for B-Max Racing, having taken pole on Super Formula's previous visit to Suzuka last October, while Naoki Yamamoto (Nakajima Racing), Kamui Kobayashi (KCMG) and a surprisingly out-of-sorts Hirakawa (Impul) completed the order in Q2.

Both of Team Goh's rookie drivers, who had impressed at Fuji earlier this month, were eliminated in Q1, with Red Bull junior Ren Sato set to start Sunday's race in 15th and Atsushi Miyake 21st and last.

Likewise falling at the first hurdle were TOM'S driver Giuliano Alesi, who will start 17th at the track where he made his Super Formula debut a year ago, and Fuji poleman Ukyo Sasahara (Mugen), who was caught up behind Kunimoto's KCMG car and will line up 19th as a result.

Super Formula's Suzuka race is set to get underway at 2.30pm local time (GMT +9) on Sunday.

UPDATE: Kunimoto dropped from fifth to eighth after being hit with with a three-place grid penalty for blocking Sasahara in Q1.

Q2 results (Before Kunimoto's penalty):

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	1	Tomoki Nojiri	Team Mugen	1'36.352
2	3	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo Racing	1'36.427	0.075
3	4	Sacha Fenestraz	Kondo Racing	1'36.535	0.183
4	37	Ritomo Miyata	Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S	1'36.557	0.205
5	18	Yuji Kunimoto	KCMG	1'36.626	0.274
6	5	Tadasuke Makino	Dandelion Racing	1'36.675	0.323
7	38	Sho Tsuboi	P.MU/CERUMO･INGING	1'36.910	0.558
8	6	Hiroki Otsu	Dandelion Racing	1'37.000	0.648
9	50	Nobuharu Matsushita	B-Max Racing Team	1'37.037	0.685
10	64	Naoki Yamamoto	TCS Nakajima Racing	1'37.113	0.761
11	7	Kamui Kobayashi	KCMG	1'37.123	0.771
12	20	Ryo Hirakawa	Team Impul	1'37.172	0.820
View full results