2016 Super Formula Championship

The 2016 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-fourth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the fourth under the name of Super Formula. Hiroaki Ishiura started his 2015 Championship defense when the season began on 24 April, and ended after seven rounds on 30 October.^[1]

2016 Super Formula Championship

Previous

2015

Next

2017

Support series:
All-Japan Formula Three

The series changed tyre supplier from Bridgestone to Yokohama.^[2]

Teams and drivers

All teams were Japanese-registered and used the Dallara SF14 spec-racer chassis. Eight cars were powered by Honda's HR-414E engine, with the other 11 cars using Toyota's RI4A engine.

Team	No.	Driver	Engine	Rounds
P.mu/cerumo・INGING[3]	1	Hiroaki Ishiura[3]	Toyota RI4A	All
	2	Yuji Kunimoto[3]		All
Kondō Racing[3]	3	James Rossiter[4]	Toyota RI4A	All
	4	William Buller[4]		All
SUNOCO Team LeMans[3]	7	Narain Karthikeyan[3]	Toyota RI4A	All
	8	Kamui Kobayashi[3]		All
Real Racing[5]	10	Koudai Tsukakoshi[5]	Honda HR-414E	All
	11	Takuya Izawa[5]		All
Team Mugen[5]	16	Naoki Yamamoto[5]	Honda HR-414E	All
KCMG[3]	18	Yuichi Nakayama[3]	Toyota RI4A	All
ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul[3]	19	João Paulo de Oliveira[3]	Toyota RI4A	All
	20	Yuhi Sekiguchi[6]		All
Drago Corse[5]	34	Takashi Kogure[5]	Honda HR-414E	All
Vantelin Team TOM'S[3]	36	André Lotterer[3]	Toyota RI4A	All
	37	Kazuki Nakajima[3]		All
Docomo Team Dandelion Racing[5]	40	Tomoki Nojiri[5]	Honda HR-414E	All
	41	Stoffel Vandoorne[5]		All
Nakajima Racing[5]	64	Daisuke Nakajima[5]	Honda HR-414E	All
	65	Bertrand Baguette[5]		All

Race calendar and results

A provisional calendar for the 2016 season was released on 10 December 2015.^[1] The 7 rounds of the 2016 Super-Formula Championship were held over 7 months from April through October, with a 7 week long summer hiatus through June to mid-July. All events were held on premier, natural terrain road racing circuits in Japan. Thus far, no events on the Super Formula calendar have been held on super-speedway ovals or on city street circuits.

The Autopolis round was cancelled on May 29 due to damage caused by the Kumamoto earthquake.^[7] However, on July 15, it was decided that Okayama would take its place at the same date, holding a double-header round.^[8]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1		Suzuka Circuit	24 April	Naoki Yamamoto	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Naoki Yamamoto	Team Mugen
2		Okayama International Circuit	29 May	Hiroaki Ishiura	Kamui Kobayashi	Hiroaki Ishiura	P.mu/cerumo・INGING
3		Fuji Speedway	17 July	Stoffel Vandoorne	Kazuki Nakajima	João Paulo de Oliveira	ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul
4		Twin Ring Motegi	21 August	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Kamui Kobayashi	Yuhi Sekiguchi	ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul
5	R1	Okayama International Circuit	10 September	Kazuki Nakajima	Kazuki Nakajima	Stoffel Vandoorne	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
	R2		11 September	Tomoki Nojiri	Hiroaki Ishiura	Yuji Kunimoto	P.mu/cerumo・INGING
6		Sportsland SUGO	25 September	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Yuhi Sekiguchi	ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul
7	R1	Suzuka Circuit	30 October	Hiroaki Ishiura	André Lotterer	Yuji Kunimoto	P.mu/cerumo・INGING
	R2			Hiroaki Ishiura	Narain Karthikeyan	Stoffel Vandoorne	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pole
Rounds 1–4, 6	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1	1
Round 5	5	4	3	2.5	2	1.5	1	0.5	1
Round 7	8	4	3	2.5	2	1.5	1	0.5	1

Driver standings

Pos Driver SUZ OKA† FUJ MOT OKA SUG SUZ Points 1 Yuji Kunimoto 2 6 Ret 4 2 1 15 1 6 33 2 André Lotterer 7 8 4 2 12 4 5 2 2 30 3 Yuhi Sekiguchi 14 13 3 1 13 9 1 18 8 28.5 4 Stoffel Vandoorne 3 12 Ret 6 1 7 6 17 1 27 5 Hiroaki Ishiura 11 1 6 3 7 3 16 3 3 27 6 Kazuki Nakajima 12 17 2 7 19 2 4 5 16 22 7 João Paulo de Oliveira 10 19 1 Ret 8 5 Ret 8 4 15.5 8 Naoki Yamamoto 1 5 Ret 8 10 6 14 19 Ret 15.5 9 Tomoki Nojiri 9 4 13 Ret 4 16 3 4 Ret 14.5 10 James Rossiter 6 9 5 5 9 10 8 12 15 12 11 Koudai Tsukakoshi 5 2 8 12 5 11 11 11 12 11 12 Daisuke Nakajima Ret 7 DNS 10 6 12 2 10 10 10.5 13 Takashi Kogure 4 15 12 11 11 14 7 7 9 8 14 Narain Karthikeyan Ret 16 7 Ret 3 Ret 12 15 14 5 15 Bertrand Baguette 8 14 14 Ret 14 18 9 6 5 4.5 16 Takuya Izawa Ret 3 11 14 16 8 13 16 Ret 3.5 17 Kamui Kobayashi 16 18 10 9 18 17 17 9 7 1 18 Yuichi Nakayama 13 10 9 15 17 13 Ret 14 11 0 19 William Buller 15 11 Ret 13 15 15 10 13 13 0 Pos Driver SUZ OKA FUJ MOT OKA SUG SUZ Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Teams' Championship

Pos Team No. SUZ OKA† FUJ MOT OKA SUG SUZ Points 1 P.mu/cerumo・INGING 1 11 1 6 3 7 3 16 3 3 54 2 2 6 Ret 4 2 1 15 1 6 2 VANTELIN Team TOM'S 36 7 8 4 2 12 4 5 2 2 51 37 12 17 2 7 19 2 4 5 16 3 ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul 19 10 19 1 Ret 8 5 Ret 8 4 42 20 14 13 3 1 13 9 1 18 8 4 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 40 9 4 13 Ret 4 16 3 4 Ret 36.5 41 3 12 Ret 6 1 7 6 17 1 5 Nakajima Racing 64 Ret 7 DNS 10 6 12 2 10 10 15 65 8 14 14 Ret 14 18 9 6 5 6 Team Mugen 16 1 5 Ret 8 10 6 14 19 Ret 14.5 7 Real Racing 10 5 2 8 12 5 11 11 11 12 14.5 11 Ret 3 11 14 16 8 13 16 Ret 8 Kondō Racing 3 6 9 5 5 9 10 8 12 15 12 4 15 11 Ret 13 15 15 10 13 13 9 Drago Corse 34 4 15 12 11 11 14 7 7 9 8 10 SUNOCO Team LeMans 7 Ret 16 7 Ret 3 Ret 12 15 14 6 8 16 18 10 9 18 17 17 9 7 11 KCMG 18 13 10 9 15 17 13 Ret 14 11 0 Pos Team No. SUZ OKA† FUJ MOT OKA SUG SUZ Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

^† Half points were awarded at the first Okayama round as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.

References

1. "16年Sフォーミュラの日程発表。WECとの重複避ける". as-web.jp. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
2. "Engine Manufacturer Testing and Rookie Driver Tryouts". Super Formula. Japan Race Promotion Inc. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
3. "Toyota GAZOO Racing Outlines 2016 Motorsports Activities". Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota Motor Corporation. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
4. "Kondo Racing Super Formula 2016 participation". Kondō Racing. Kondo Racing. 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
5. "Honda 2016 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
6. "Itochu Enex Team Impul Line-up". Impul. Itochu Enex Team Impul. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
7. "Round5 AUTOPOLIS Round Cancelled" (PDF). Japan Race Promotion Inc. Super Formula official website. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
8. "「２０１６年 全日本スーパーフォーミュラ選手権第５戦」岡山国際サーキット開催のご案内" [2016 All-Japan Super Formula Championship: Information on the 5th round at Okayama] (PDF). Japan Race Promotion Inc. (in Japanese). Super Formula official website. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.

External links

• Japanese Championship Super Formula official website (in English)