Suzuka Super Formula: Nakajima takes pole, Gasly eighth

In his first Super Formula qualifying session, Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly laid the initial benchmark in Q3 with a time of 1m36.930s, but dropped the down order as others improved on their final flyers.

Kunimoto, who will race in Toyota’s third car at Le Mans this year, was the first to dislodge Gasly from the top of the timesheets with a 1m35.997s, before Nakajima sealed pole with a 1m35.907s.

2013 Super Formula champion Naoki Yamamoto missed out on a front row spot by just 0.007s, while Hiroaki Ishiura was also just a further 0.014s behind in fourth place.

Real Racing’s Koudai Tsukakoshi was fifth place, but some way behind the top four.

Yuhi Sekiguchi was sixth fastest for Impul, while Andre Lotterer, who dominated the first Super Formula test at the same venue earlier this year, was only seventh.

Gasly will start his first race in the series alongside Lotterer on the fourth row of the grid, as he couldn't improve on his initial Q3 time.

Further back, Daisuke Nakajima was classified ninth, while Dandelion Racing returnee Takuya Izawa completed the top 10.

Felix Rosenqvist was the biggest casualty in Q1, the former European F3 champion resigned to 15th on the grid after crashing in the dying minutes of the session.

Former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi also failed to make it out of Q1, after aborting his final flyer, and will line up 18th.

Jann Mardenborough and Nick Cassidy will start their first Super Formula races from 12th and 14th respectively after dropping out in Q2.

Qualifying times:

Pos.	Driver	Team / Engine	Time	Delay
1	Kazuki Nakajima	TOM'S-Toyota	1'35.907
2	Yuji Kunimoto	Inging-Toyota	1'35.997	0.090
3	Naoki Yamamoto	Mugen-Honda	1'36.004	0.097
4	Hiroaki Ishiura	Inging-Toyota	1'36.018	0.111
5	Koudai Tsukakoshi	Real Racing-Honda	1'36.379	0.472
6	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Impul-Toyota	1'36.610	0.703
7	Andre Lotterer	TOM'S-Toyota	1'36.626	0.719
8	Pierre Gasly	Mugen-Honda	1'36.930	1.023
9	Daisuke Nakajima	Nakajima-Honda	1'36.801	0.894
10	Takuya Izawa	Dandelion-Honda	1'36.815	0.908
11	Narain Karthikeyan	Nakajima-Honda	1'36.888	0.981
12	Jann Mardenborough	Impul-Toyota	1'36.955	1.048
13	Kazuya Oshima	Team LeMans-Toyota	1'36.964	1.057
14	Nick Cassidy	Kondo-Toyota	1'37.139	1.232
15	Felix Rosenqvist	Team LeMans-Toyota	1'37.590	1.683
16	Tomoki Nojiri	Dandelion-Honda	1'37.687	1.780
17	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo-Toyota	1'37.714	1.807
18	Kamui Kobayashi	KCMG-Toyota	1'38.075	2.168
19	Takashi Kogure	B-MAX-Honda	1'38.306	2.399