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Australia

The 2017 Japanese Super Formula Championship Series final round and 16th JAF Grand Prix Suzuka

As Super Formula Championship approach the final round, the battle for the championship remains very tight

Pierre Gasly, Team Mugen

Pierre Gasly, Team Mugen

Pierre Gasly, Team Mugen
Hiroaki Ishiura, Cerumo Inging
Pole sitter Nick Cassidy, Kondo Racing
Nick Cassidy, Kondo Racing
Felix Rosenqvist, Team LeMans
Felix Rosenqvist, Team LeMans
Yuhi Sekiguchi, Team Impul
Daisuke Nakajima, Nakajima Racing
Takuya Izawa, Dandelion Racing
Koudai Tsukakoshi, Real Racing
Yuji Kunimoto, Cerumo Inging
Pierre Gasly, Team Mugen
Kenta Yamashita, Kondo Racing
Pierre Gasly, Team Mugen
Hiroaki Ishiura, Cerumo Inging
Kenta Yamashita, Kondo Racing, Felix Rosenqvist, Team LeMans

Japan Race Promotion Inc. today announced details of “The 2017 Japanese Super Formula Championship Series Final Round and 16th JAF Grand Prix Suzuka” scheduled to take place on October 21-22 at the Suzuka Circuit International Racing Course (length = 5.807km) in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

Round 7 is a two-race format. Qualifying sessions will be held on Saturday, followed by two championship races of different distances on Sunday. Race 1 will be run over 19 laps of the Suzuka Circuit and Race 2 will be run over 36 laps of the same course. With the two-race format, drivers usually receive half the normal number of points in each race, but in the final round, three bonus points are also awarded to the winner of each race, setting the stage for an exciting competition that could see some shocking moves in the driver standings depending on the results.

As Super Formula Championship approach the final round, the battle for the championship remains very tight. Hiroaki Ishiura (P.Mu/Cerumo・Inging) still holds the top position in the driver’s standings, but rookie Pierre Gasly (Team Mugen), who has won two races this season and has been on the podium for the last three races, currently sits second in the standings just 0.5 points behind Ishiura. Chasing the top two are Felix Rosenqvist (Sunoco Team Lemans) and Yuhi Sekiguchi (Itochu Enex Team Impul), with all four drivers still with a real chance of being crowned the 2017 series champion. In addition, a maximum of 18 points are available in the final round, putting a number of strong drivers within reach of current leader Ishiura, including Kazuki Nakajima (Vantelin Team Tom's), Andre Lotterer (Vantelin Team Tom's) and Kamui Kobayashi (KCMG Elyse). Those drivers are likely to attack aggressively from the first qualifying session to close the 18-point gap.

Japanese Super Formula Championship Series could see the first ever Super Formula driver to win the championship in their debut year if either Pierre Gasly or Felix Rosenqvist end the season at the top of the standings. Round 7 is also likely to attract considerable attention because of Pierre Gasly, who made his F1 debut in the Malaysian Grand Prix with the Scuderia Toro Rosso team and will miss out of the United States Grand Prix do to his participation in the Super Formula Round 7 series finale.

Entry List

 

DRIVER

DATE OF BIRTH

PLACE OF BIRTH

ENTRANT

MANAGER

ENGINE

1

Yuji Kunimoto

12 September 1990

Kanagawa, Japan

P.MU / CERUMO・INGING

Yuji Tachikawa

TOYOTA

RI4A

2

Hiroaki Ishiura

23 April 1981

Tokyo, Japan

3

Nick Cassidy

19 August 1994

New Zealand

KONDO RACING

Masahiko Kondo

TOYOTA

RI4A

4

Kenta Yamashita

3 August 1995

Chiba, Japan

7

Felix Rosenqvist

7 November 1991

Sweden

SUNOCO TEAM LEMANS

Tatsuya Kataoka

TOYOTA

RI4A

8

Kazuya Oshima

30 April 1987

Gunma, Japan

10

Koudai Tsukakoshi

20 November 1986

Tochigi, Japan

REAL RACING

Katsutomo Kaneishi

HONDA

HR-417E

15

Pierre Gasly

7 February 1996

France

TEAM MUGEN

Nagataka Tezuka

HONDA

HR-417E

16

Naoki Yamamoto

11 July 1988

Tochigi, Japan

18

Kamui Kobayashi

13 September 1986

Hyogo, Japan

KCMG

Ryuji Doi

TOYOTA

RI4A

19

Yuhi Sekiguchi

29 December 1987

Tokyo, Japan

ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL

Kazuyoshi Hoshino

TOYOTA

RI4A

20

Jann Mardenborough

9 September 1991

United Kingdom

36

Andre Lotterer

19 November 1981

Germany

VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S

Nobuhide Tachi

TOYOTA

RI4A

37

Kazuki Nakajima

11 January 1985

Aichi, Japan

40

Tomoki Nojiri

15 September 1989

Ibaraki, Japan

DOCOMO TEAM

DANDELION RACING

Kiyoshi Muraoka

HONDA

HR-417E

41

Takuya Izawa

1 June 1984

Tokyo, Japan

50

Takashi Kogure

1 August 1980

Gunma, Japan

B-MAX RACING TEAM

Ryuji Kumita

HONDA

HR-417E

64

Daisuke Nakajima

29 January 1989

Aichi, Japan

TCS NAKAJIMA RACING

Satoru Nakajima

HONDA

HR-417E

65

Narain Karthikeyan

14 January 1977

India

Super Formula Championship Series

 

 

 

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