2021 Super Formula Championship

The 2021 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-ninth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the ninth under the moniker of Super Formula. Naoki Yamamoto entered the 2021 season as the defending drivers' champion.

Tomoki Nojiri won his first Super Formula Championship title.

Tomoki Nojiri took his first drivers' championship at the penultimate round at Motegi, while Team Impul took their first teams' championship since 2010 at the season finale.

Teams and drivers

edit

Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-414E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota RI4A engine.

Team Engine No. Driver Rounds
  TCS Nakajima Racing Honda 1   Naoki Yamamoto[1] All
64   Toshiki Oyu[2] All
  Kondo Racing Toyota 3   Kenta Yamashita[3] All
4   Yuichi Nakayama[4] 1–5
  Sacha Fenestraz[3] 6–7
  Docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda 5   Nirei Fukuzumi[2] All
6   Ukyo Sasahara[4] 1–2
  Tadasuke Makino[1] 3–7
  carrozzeria Team KCMG Toyota 7   Kazuto Kotaka[4] 1–5, 7
  Kamui Kobayashi[3] 6
18   Yuji Kunimoto[3] All
  Drago Corse with ThreeBond[5] Honda 12   Tatiana Calderón[1] 1–2, 6–7
  Koudai Tsukakoshi[6] 3–5
  NTT Communications ROOKIE Toyota 14   Kazuya Oshima[3] All
 
Red Bull Mugen Team Goh[a]
Team Mugen[2][a]
Honda 15   Hiroki Otsu[7] All
16   Tomoki Nojiri[2] All
  carenex Team Impul Toyota 19   Yuhi Sekiguchi[3] All
20   Ryō Hirakawa[3] 1–3, 5–7
  Mitsunori Takaboshi[8] 4
  Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota 36   Kazuki Nakajima[3] 1, 6
  Giuliano Alesi[9] 2–5, 7
37   Ritomo Miyata[3] All
  P.mu/CerumoINGING Toyota 38   Sho Tsuboi[3] All
39   Sena Sakaguchi[3] All
  B-Max Racing[2] Honda 51   Nobuharu Matsushita[10] 2–7

Team changes

edit
  • Team Mugen run one car, as the other car run together with Servus Japan under Team Goh. The team named Red Bull Mugen Team Goh.
  • Rookie Racing who previously operated by Cerumo, would run independently by themselves. The team get new title partner from NTT Communications, the team named NTT Communications ROOKIE.
  • Team Impul runs new sponsorship from Itochu as they will run under black gold colour. The team rebranded as carenex Team Impul.

Driver changes

edit

Mid-season changes

edit
  • Kamui Kobayashi: missed all but the sixth round at Motegi due to commitments in the WEC and IMSA. Kazuto Kotaka was his replacement.
  • Sacha Fenestraz missed the first five rounds because of visa issues. Yuichi Nakayama was his replacement.
  • Tadasuke Makino missed the first two rounds of the season due to a his recovery from meningitis. Ukyo Sasahara was his replacement.
  • Nobuharu Matsushita: joined B-Max Racing from the second round at Suzuka. He was initially denied an engine lease from Honda, after signing a factory racing contract with Nissan in the Super GT Series. This prevented him from racing in the opening round at Fuji. Honda would reverse their decision after Masaya Nagai replaced Hiroshi Shimizu as the Director of Motorsport at Honda.[12]
  • Kazuki Nakajima missed both Suzuka rounds, Autopolis, SUGO, and the fifth round at Motegi. Giuliano Alesi was his replacement.
  • Tatiana Calderon missed Autopolis, Sugo, and the fifth round at Motegi (was able to participate in the April Suzuka round because of local regulations with her licence, which is from the ACC, the Colombian ASN of the FIA, unlike the Japanese drivers, who have JAF licences). Koudai Tsukakoshi was her replacement for the third to the fifth round.
  • Ryo Hirakawa missed the SUGO round because he was tested TGR WEC car and not make in time for quarantine. Mitsunori Takaboshi covers for him.

Race calendar

edit

The provisional calendar was announced on 6 August 2020. After heavy disruptions to the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series returned to a more traditional schedule, with Suzuka Circuit hosting the season finale as it was usual.[13] On 12 April 2021, the organisation announced the cancellation of the Okayama round, which was due to be held in the first week of October. Instead, a second round at Motegi was confirmed.[14]

Round Circuit Date
1 Fuji Speedway 4 April
2 Suzuka International Racing Course 25 April
3 Autopolis 16 May
4 Sportsland SUGO 20 June
5 Twin Ring Motegi 29 August
6 17 October
7 Suzuka International Racing Course 31 October

Results

edit

Season summary

edit
Round Circuit Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning driver Winning team
1 Fuji Speedway   Tomoki Nojiri   Toshiki Oyu   Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
2 Suzuka International Racing Course   Nirei Fukuzumi   Hiroki Otsu   Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
3 Autopolis   Giuliano Alesi   Tomoki Nojiri   Giuliano Alesi Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S
4 Sportsland SUGO   Yuhi Sekiguchi   Tomoki Nojiri   Nirei Fukuzumi Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
5 Twin Ring Motegi   Tomoki Nojiri   Yuhi Sekiguchi   Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
6 Twin Ring Motegi   Hiroki Otsu   Toshiki Oyu   Hiroki Otsu Red Bull Mugen Team Goh
7 Suzuka International Racing Course   Nobuharu Matsushita   Tomoki Nojiri   Nirei Fukuzumi Docomo Team Dandelion Racing

Championship standings

edit
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

edit

Overall

edit
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ1 AUT[b] SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points
1   Tomoki Nojiri 11 12 5 6 11 53 3 86
2   Nirei Fukuzumi 3 Ret1 13 1 Ret 12 13 55
3   Yuhi Sekiguchi 17† 4 10 31 22 4 4 55
4   Ryō Hirakawa 4 2 Ret 4 Ret 2 46
5   Toshiki Oyu 22 103 7 2 6 14 112 41
6   Hiroki Otsu 16 5 6 10 10 11 5 38.5
7   Sena Sakaguchi 9 11 23 83 5 2 13 35.5
8   Nobuharu Matsushita 13 3 4 33 6 121 33.5
9   Tadasuke Makino 14 52 7 3 10 24
10   Ritomo Miyata 7 6 42 7 8 9 14 22
11   Giuliano Alesi 9 11 9 16 8 20
12   Ukyo Sasahara 53 3 18
13   Naoki Yamamoto 6 8 9 12 12 Ret2 9 13
14   Kenta Yamashita 12 12 11 14 15 8 6 8
15   Sho Tsuboi Ret 7 Ret 15 9 Ret 16 6
16   Kazuki Nakajima 11 7 4
17   Sacha Fenestraz 13 7 4
18   Yuji Kunimoto 8 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 15 3
19   Kazuya Oshima 10 15 8 18 Ret 11 17 2.5
20   Kamui Kobayashi 10 1
21   Mitsunori Takaboshi 11 0
22   Koudai Tsukakoshi 12 16 Ret 0
23   Yuichi Nakayama 14 14 15 Ret 13 0
24   Tatiana Calderón 13 17 Ret 19 0
25   Kazuto Kotaka 15 16 16† 17 14 18 0
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ1 AUT SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points

Teams' championship

edit
Pos Team No. FUJ SUZ1 AUT[b] SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points
1 carenex Team Impul 19 17† 4 10 3 2 4 4 88
20 4 2 Ret 11 4 Ret 2
2 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 5 3 Ret 13 1 Ret 12 1 86
6 5 3 14 5 7 3 10
3 Team Mugen 16 1 1 5 6 1 5 3 77
4 TCS Nakajima Racing 1 6 8 9 12 12 Ret 9 47
64 2 10 7 2 6 14 11
5 P.mu/CerumoINGING 38 Ret 7 Ret 15 9 Ret 16 37.5
39 9 11 2 8 5 2 13
6 Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S 36 11 9 1 9 16 7 8 37
37 7 6 4 7 8 9 14
7 Red Bull Mugen Team Goh 15 16 5 6 10 10 1 5 35.5
8 B-Max Racing 51 13 3 4 3 6 12 29.5
9 Kondo Racing 3 12 12 11 14 15 8 6 12
4 14 14 15 Ret 13 13 7
10 carrozzeria Team KCMG 7 15 16 16† 17 14 10 18 4
18 8 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 15
11 NTT Communications ROOKIE 14 10 15 8 18 Ret 11 17 2.5
12 Drago Corse with ThreeBond 12 13 17 12 16 Ret Ret 19 0
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ1 AUT SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points

Notes

edit
  1. ^ a b Car No. 15 entered as Red Bull Mugen Team Goh, and car No. 16 entered as Team Mugen
  2. ^ a b The race was stopped due to bad weather conditions after less than 75% of laps were completed. Therefore, half points were awarded.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "Honda junior Ren Sato gets Super Formula Lights and Super GT seats".
  2. ^ a b c d e f "2021 Season Honda Driver Line-Up". superformula.net. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Toyota names Super Formula drivers for 2021 season". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  4. ^ a b c "Kamui Kobayashi among absentees for Super Formula opener". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
  5. ^ "Michigami's Drago Corse squad returns to Super Formula grid". motorsport.com. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  6. ^ "2020 Rd.3 Entry List | Rd.3 Autopolis | Race Calendar 2021 | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  7. ^ a b "Otsu completes Mugen Super Formula line-up". Motorsport.com. 18 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Hirakawa to Miss Rd. 4 at SUGO". www.superformula.net. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Alesi named as Nakajima's Suzuka Super Formula replacement". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  10. ^ "B-Max Racing Teamが松下信治起用 第2戦より参戦決定". www.superformula.net (in Japanese). 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Baltas named on Super Formula entry list, set to miss Fuji". www.motorsport.com. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Super Formula: Honda boss explains Nobuharu Matsushita saga". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  13. ^ "Super Formula unveils seven-round 2021 calendar". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  14. ^ "Regarding the venue and schedule of the 6th round of the 2021 All Japan Super Formula Championship". www.superformula.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-04-12.
edit