Kakunoshin Ohta has extended his lead in the Super Formula championship after an impressive race from the 13th position on the grid to prevent Zak O’Sullivan from securing his first victory in the series during the first race held on Saturday at Fuji.
O’Sullivan started the day with a spectacular pole position on a wet track, the first for Team Impul in four years. He led the grid in an unexpected order, followed by Toshiki Oyu and Formula 1 reserve driver Luke Browning.
Despite the threat of more rain during the race, O’Sullivan maintained the lead during the early laps, while the Dandelion Racing drivers, Tadasuke Makino and Ohta, started to climb positions from eighth and 13th respectively.
When Makino overtook Browning to move into third, O’Sullivan had already established a three-second advantage. By the time Ohta made his pit stop from fourth place on lap 20, O’Sullivan had increased his lead to five seconds.
At the same time, Makino managed to pass Oyu and began to close the gap to O’Sullivan, who entered the pits for his mandatory stop on lap 23. Although O’Sullivan initially maintained an advantage over Ohta, the latter was able to regain the position on lap 25, taking advantage of the power of his Honda engine.
O’Sullivan tried to keep up the pace, but it soon became clear that he was in a losing battle. Ultimately, O’Sullivan crossed the finish line 1.5 seconds behind Ohta, although he achieved his first podium appearance, marking a historic result for Impul since 2023.
Makino, who had extended his pit stop until lap 29, could do nothing to counter the attack from Ohta and O’Sullivan in front of him. Despite finishing on the podium, Makino expressed his disappointment at having lost to Ohta.
Oyu completed the race in fourth position with Inging, while Syun Koide made a magnificent comeback from 15th position to finish fifth with ThreeBond Racing. Browning had to settle for eighth place with Kondo Racing.
The defending champion, Ayumu Iwasa, started from 22nd position after a disastrous qualifying and could only recover to tenth, thus achieving a solitary point, while Iwasa remains second in the standings, 34.5 points behind Ohta.
Competition at Fuji will continue on Sunday with two more races: a sprint race in the morning, a substitute for the canceled round at Autopolis in April, followed by a second full-length race in the afternoon. Tomoki Nojiri, who finished last on the grid, will start from pole in the next race ahead of Makino and Ohta, while Iwasa will start from sixth position. O’Sullivan and Browning, for their part, will start from 17th and 22nd place respectively.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
