Nirei Fukuzumi scored a long-awaited first Super Formula victory for Rookie Racing as he beat Ayumu Iwasa in a thrilling finish to Sunday’s second race at Suzuka.
Fukuzumi took a maiden pole for the one-car team owned by Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, edging out reigning champion Iwasa by 0.160 seconds, and controlled the race from the front until making his mandatory pitstop on lap 22 of 31.
But in the second stint, Fukuzumi would have to contend with both Iwasa and points leader Kakunoshin Ohta as the three engaged in a fierce battle until the chequered flag.
Iwasa had made his stop on lap 21, and crucially was able to pass Ohta – who pitted in unison with Fukuzumi – while the Dandelion Racing driver was still getting his tyres up to temperature.
That freed up Iwasa to challenge Fukuzumi, and when the Team Mugen driver used the Overtake System to set up a move on the back straight approaching 130R on lap 27, he appeared on track for a first win of the season.
However, with Iwasa entering the OTS cooldown period, it gave Fukuzumi the chance to launch a counter-attack exiting the chicane and heading into Turn 1 on the next lap and regain the advantage.
Nirei Fukuzumi, NTT docomo business ROOKIE
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Two laps later, Iwasa tried to force a move at the same location but found himself rebuffed, and had to turn his attention to defending from Ohta, who had started ninth after having his best qualifying lap deleted for a track limits infringement.
But with Ohta unable to pass Iwasa, the order of the top three remained unchanged, Fukuzumi hanging on by 0.240s and the top three split by six tenths at the finish.
It marks Fukuzumi’s third Super Formula win and his first since 2021, coming in just his third race since replacing the now-retired Kazuya Oshima at Rookie Racing.
Behind the leading trio, Sena Sakaguchi continued his strong start to the season with fourth place for Cerumo/Inging, passing the TOM’S car of Sho Tsuboi in the closing stages.
Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion) scored his first points of the year in sixth place, although he had qualified third and ran second in the early stages after passing Iwasa following an early safety car period before becoming the first to pit on lap eight.
Sacha Fenestraz (TOM’S) backed up his Saturday win with seventh ahead of Nakajima Racing duo Igor Fraga and Ren Sato, while Kamui Kobayashi delivered TGM Grand Prix its first point of the year with a late stop en route to 10th.
Ayumu Iwasa, TEAM MUGEN AUTOBACS
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Luke Browning (Kondo Racing) tried a similar strategy, pitting on the antepenultimate lap, but ended up out of the points in 14th.
Zak O’Sullivan (Team Impul) was a lowly 20th after contact with Syun Koide (ThreeBond Racing) at the chicane on the first lap tipped him into a spin and forced him to pit for a change of front wing, with Toshiki Oyu (Cerumo/Inging) also getting caught out in the resulting melee.
Debris from that episode prompted the one and only safety car period of an otherwise relatively incident-free race.
Super Formula Suzuka – Race 2 results
RACE2
All Stats
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