2025 Super Formula Championship

The 2025 Japanese Super Formula Championship is the fifty-third season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the twelfth under the moniker of Super Formula. The season started in March at Suzuka Circuit and is due to be contested over 12 rounds in seven race weekends, ending in November at Suzuka.^[1]

2025 Super Formula Championship

Previous

2024

Next

2026

Feeder series:
Super Formula Lights
Formula Regional Japanese Championship

Sho Tsuboi (left) and Dandelion Racing (right) are the current Drivers' and Teams' Championship leaders, respectively.

Vantelin Team TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi entered the season as the defending champion.

The 2025 Super Formula Championship will be the last season for Kazuya Oshima, as after its conclusion, he will end his career after 13 seasons.^[2]

Teams and drivers

All teams use identical Dallara-built SF23 chassis with either Honda or Toyota engines. Every Honda-powered car uses a Honda HR-417E engine and every Toyota-powered car uses a Toyota TRD-01F engine. All teams compete with tyres supplied by Yokohama.

Entrant	Engine	No.	Driver name	Rounds
Vantelin Team TOM’S	Toyota	1	Sho Tsuboi[3]	1–8
		37	Sacha Fenestraz	1–8
Kondo Racing	Toyota	3	Kenta Yamashita[3]	1–8
		4	Zak O'Sullivan	1–8
Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	Honda	5	Tadasuke Makino[4]	1–8
		6	Kakunoshin Ohta[4]	1–8
Kids com Team KCMG	Toyota	7	Kamui Kobayashi[3]	1–2, 5–8
			Seita Nonaka	3–4
		8	Nirei Fukuzumi[3]	1–8
Hazama Ando Triple Tree Racing	Honda	10	”Juju”	1–8
ThreeBond Racing	Honda	12	Atsushi Miyake[4]	1–8
docomo business Rookie	Toyota	14	Kazuya Oshima[3]	1–8
Team Mugen	Honda	15	Ayumu Iwasa[4]	1–8
		16	Tomoki Nojiri[4]	1–8
Itochu Enex Wecars Team Impul	Toyota	19	Oliver Rasmussen	1–2, 5–8[a]
			Seita Nonaka	1–2
			Rikuto Kobayashi	3–4
		20	Mitsunori Takaboshi	1–8
KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC	Toyota	28	Kazuto Kotaka	1–8
		29	Hibiki Taira	1–5
			Seita Nonaka	6–8
Sanki Vertex Partners Cerumo・Inging	Toyota	38	Sena Sakaguchi[3]	1–8
		39	Toshiki Oyu[3]	1–8
San-Ei Gen with B-Max	Honda	50	Syun Koide	1–8
Ponos Nakajima Racing	Honda	64	Ren Sato[4]	1–8
		65	Igor Omura Fraga	1–8

Team changes

• The entry co-run by Inging Motorsport and Cerumo added another title sponsor alongside Vertex Partners, with Industrial manufacturer Sanki Shokai joining the series and the team competing under the name Sanki Vertex Partners Cerumo・Inging.^[5]

• TGM Grand Prix underwent substantial changes within its organization. The team ended its engine contract with Honda and instead became part of Toyota Gazoo Racing, joining Rookie Racing in serving as a Toyota junior team and receiving Toyota engines. The team is co-run by TGM and TOM'S, acquired a new title sponsor in telecommunications operator KDDI and entered the 2025 season under the name KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC.^[3][6]

• A new team entered the championship in Triple Tree Racing, established by Hideki Noda, former Formula One and father of Juju Noda. It uses Honda engines and is operated by motorsport management company 4Minutes. Construction company Hazama Ando was confirmed to be the entry's title sponsor, with the team running under the name Hazama Ando Triple Tree Racing.^[7]

• Red Bull ended their partnership with Team Mugen after seven years of cooperation.^[8]

• Team Impul added another title sponsor in Itochu's subsidiary company, used car dealer Wecars, with the team competing under the name Itochu Enex Wecars Team Impul.^[9]

Driver changes

• Nakajima Racing saw three-time series champion Naoki Yamamoto retire from the series after 15 seasons.^[10] The team promoted their reserve driver Igor Fraga, who spent 2024 competing in Super GT's GT300 class with Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage, to its Super Formula outfit.^[4]

• Team Impul have an all-new line up as 2016 series champion Yuji Kunimoto retired from the series after 14 seasons and neither of the four drivers who drove the No. 19 car in 2024 returned.^[11] The team signed Oliver Rasmussen, who came 19th in the WEC's Hypercar class with Jota Sport in 2024 and made his series debut, and NISMO works driver Mitsunori Takaboshi, who made his full-season debut after a one-off Super Formula appearance for Team Impul in 2021.^[3]

• B-Max Racing Team saw Iori Kimura leave the team after Honda ended its association with him. He joined Team Mach in the Super GT GT300 class, while B-Max promoted reigning Super Formula Lights champion Syun Koide from its outfit in that championship to replace him.^[12][13][4]

• TOM'S saw Ukyo Sasahara leave the series after five years and three full-time seasons to focus on his Super GT GT500 efforts with TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S. 2022 Super Formula runner-up Sacha Fenestraz returned to the series after a two-year stint in Formula E with Nissan to replace him.^[3]

• Kondo Racing replaced TGMGP-bound Kazuto Kotaka with former Williams Academy driver Zak O'Sullivan, who moved to Japan after coming 16th in Formula 2 with ART Grand Prix.^[3]

• Newly rebranded team TGMGP also took on two new drivers as Juju Noda and Hiroki Otsu both left the team following its switch from Honda to Toyota engines, with Noda switching to the new Triple Tree Racing team and Otsu electing to focus on his Super GT GT500 efforts with ARTA. Kazuto Kotaka joined the team after coming 14th with Kondo Racing in his second season in 2024. Hibiki Taira, who drove Team Impul's No. 19 car on four occasions in 2024, completed TGMGP's lineup on his full-time debut in the series.^[3]

• Juju Noda joined the new Triple Tree Racing team for her second season in the championship after finishing her debut season with TGM Grand Prix in 21st.^[7]

Mid-season changes

• Oliver Rasmussen was forced to withdraw from the first two rounds at Suzuka after suffering a back injury in a crash in free practice.^[14] Rasmussen's replacement for the two races was announced to be TGMGP's reserve driver Seita Nonaka, who came 3rd in Super Formula Lights with TOM'S and made his series debut.^[15][16]

• Kamui Kobayashi missed the Motegi double-header due to a calendar clash with the WEC's 6 Hours of Imola. Nonaka deputized once again after doing so for Team Impul at the Suzuka season opener.^[17] With Rasmussen still not cleared for competition after his crash at the opening round, Team Impul signed 2024 Super Formula Lights runner-up Rikuto Kobayashi to make his series debut in his place.^[18]

• Oliver Rasmussen returned for the third round at Autopolis after he recovered from his back injury.^[19]
• Toyota reevaluated the lineup of its TGMGP junior team after round five at Autopolis: reserve driver Seita Nonaka was promoted to one of the team's race seats, while Hibiki Taira was in turn demoted to serve as Toyota's reserve driver.^[20][21]

Race calendar

The provisional calendar was announced on 1 August 2024.^[1] All weekends except the ones at Autopolis and Sportsland Sugo will be double-headers, making this the longest calendar in Super Formula history. The series originally planned its first race outside Japan since 2004 with a round held at Inje Speedium.^[22] These plans, however, were cancelled in October 2024. It marked the second time that a planned round at Inje was cancelled.^[23]

Round	Circuit	Location	Date	Support bill	Map of circuit locations
1	Suzuka International Racing Course	Suzuka, Mie	8 March	Super Formula Lights Honda N-One Owner's Cup	Fuji Suzuka Sugo Autopolis Motegi
2			9 March
3	Mobility Resort Motegi	Motegi, Tochigi	19 April	Porsche Carrera Cup Asia All Japan Road Race Championship
4			20 April
5	Autopolis	Hita, Oita	18 May	Super Formula Lights Honda N-One Owner's Cup
6	Fuji Speedway	Oyama, Shizuoka	19 July	Kyojo Cup Porsche Carrera Cup Japan
7			20 July
8	Sportsland SUGO	Shibata, Miyagi	10 August	Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Honda N-One Owner's Cup
9	Fuji Speedway	Oyama, Shizuoka	11 October	Kyojo Cup Honda N-One Owner's Cup
10			12 October
11	Suzuka International Racing Course	Suzuka, Mie	22 November	Formula Regional Japanese Championship
12			23 November

Regulation changes

Double-header race weekends now have two 60-minute practice sessions on a Friday instead of a single 90-minute session. The rounds held at Autopolis and Sugo retain the format previously employed for single-race events, with 90 minutes of practice prior to qualifying on Saturday. Races held on Saturday are now run over a reduced distance of 165km, while races held on Sunday, including those held during the single-race weekends at Autopolis and SUGO, are run over 185km. These longer races no longer have a pre-determined pit window, while the shorter races retained the existing pit window.^[24]

A restriction on the teams' activity on race weekends was employed in order to prevent fatigue among staff members. Teams are now required to stop all work carried out in the paddock four hours after the end of the final session, although there are exemptions in cases of cars becoming seriously damaged in incidents.^[24]

Race results

Round	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	Suzuka International Racing Course	Tomoki Nojiri	Ayumu Iwasa	Kakunoshin Ohta	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
2		Tomoki Nojiri	Ren Sato	Tadasuke Makino	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
3	Mobility Resort Motegi	Tadasuke Makino	Sho Tsuboi	Tadasuke Makino	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
4		Kenta Yamashita	Sho Tsuboi	Kakunoshin Ohta	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
5	Autopolis	Tomoki Nojiri	Ayumu Iwasa	Sho Tsuboi	Vantelin Team TOM’S
6	Fuji Speedway	Tomoki Nojiri	Sho Tsuboi	Sho Tsuboi	Vantelin Team TOM’S
7		Sho Tsuboi	Kamui Kobayashi	Kakunoshin Ohta	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
8	Sportsland SUGO	Ayumu Iwasa	Ayumu Iwasa	Ayumu Iwasa	Team Mugen
9	Fuji Speedway
10
11	Suzuka International Racing Course
12

Championship standings

Scoring system

Race points

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	20	15	11	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Qualifying points

Position	1st	2nd	3rd
Points	3	2	1

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver SUZ1 MOT AUT FUJ1 SUG FUJ2 SUZ2 Points 1 Sho Tsuboi 4 2 4 Ret 1 12 31 4 95 2 Ayumu Iwasa 22 32 Ret 3 Ret 3 2 11 90 3 Kakunoshin Ohta 13 123 22 12 13 10 12 8 87 4 Tadasuke Makino 10 1 11 23 6 5 9 10 74 5 Tomoki Nojiri 71 41 9 10 21 21 12 15 57 6 Sacha Fenestraz 11 16 8 4 17 13 5 22 34 7 Sena Sakaguchi 6 15 6 5 5 7 11 53 33 8 Ren Sato 3 6 Ret 12 4 11 63 Ret 30 9 Igor Omura Fraga 18 5 33 9 8 9 18 6 30 10 Nirei Fukuzumi Ret 14 5 16 9 43 Ret 3 28 11 Kenta Yamashita 9 11 7 131 32 12 8 9 27 12 Kamui Kobayashi 5 9 73 22 4 19 21 13 Toshiki Oyu Ret 7 Ret 7 10 8 7 12 16 14 Kazuya Oshima 13 10 10 6 15 6 10 18 13 15 Zak O'Sullivan 8 22† 12 11 Ret 14 16 7 7 16 Seita Nonaka 17 19 11 8 19 Ret 16 3 17 Syun Koide 14 8 14 14 20 15 17 13 3 18 Mitsunori Takaboshi 12 20 15 19 11 17 14 11 0 19 Kazuto Kotaka Ret 18 18 15 12 18 15 14 0 20 Oliver Rasmussen WD WD 14 16 13 17 0 21 Hibiki Taira 15 17 13 Ret 16 0 22 Atsushi Miyake Ret 13 17 18 18 21 NC Ret 0 23 "Juju" 16 21 19 17 19 20 NC 20 0 24 Rikuto Kobayashi 16 Ret 0 Pos Driver SUZ1 MOT AUT FUJ1 SUG FUJ2 SUZ2 Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Did not enter (cell empty) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position Italics Fastest lap

Notes:

• † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Teams' championship

Pos	Driver	SUZ1		MOT		AUT	FUJ1		SUG	FUJ2		SUZ2		Points
1	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	1	1	1	1	6	5	1	8					149
		10	12	2	2	13	10	9	10
2	Team Mugen	2	3	9	3	2	2	2	1					128
		7	4	Ret	10	Ret	3	12	15
3	Vantelin Team TOM’S	4	2	4	4	1	1	3	2					122
		11	16	8	Ret	17	13	5	4
4	Ponos Nakajima Racing	3	5	3	9	4	9	6	6					58
		18	6	Ret	12	8	11	18	Ret
5	Kids com Team KCMG	5	9	5	8	7	4	4	3					50
		Ret	14	11	16	9	22	Ret	19
6	Sanki Vertex Partners Cerumo・Inging	6	7	6	5	5	7	7	5					48
		Ret	15	Ret	7	10	8	11	12
7	Kondo Racing	8	11	7	11	3	12	8	7					29
		9	22†	12	13	Ret	14	16	9
8	docomo business Rookie	13	10	10	6	15	6	10	18					13
9	San-Ei Gen with B-Max	14	8	14	14	20	15	17	13					3
10	Itochu Enex Wecars Team Impul	12	19	15	19	11	16	13	11					0
		17	20	16	Ret	14	17	14	17
11	KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC	15	17	13	15	12	18	15	14					0
		Ret	18	18	Ret	16	19	Ret	16
12	ThreeBond Racing	Ret	13	17	18	18	21	NC	Ret					0
13	Triple Tree Racing	16	21	19	17	19	20	NC	20					0
Pos	Driver	SUZ1		MOT		AUT	FUJ1		SUG	FUJ2		SUZ2		Points

Notes:

• † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Notes

1. Oliver Rasmussen entered the first double-header at Suzuka, but withdrew ahead of the first qualifying session after sustaining an injury in free practice. He was replaced by Seita Nonaka.