Has Honda’s super-sub blown his best shot at redemption?

Otsu hadn’t even planned to be at Autopolis until a sudden call at around 4pm on Friday afternoon. With Tomoki Nojiri out of action after being diagnosed with a collapsed lung earlier that day, Team Mugen was in need of a substitute.

With minutes to spare, Otsu caught the last available flight to Kumamoto, the city that sits to the west of Autopolis, just over an hour away by car. His seat was provided by Dandelion Racing, the team he drove for in 2022, and his previous stint in a Red Bull-liveried Mugen car in 2021 meant the title-winning outfit was able to provide his old overalls for the occasion.

Things started promisingly with fourth in practice on Saturday morning, with Otsu lapping respectably compared to pacesetter and team-mate Liam Lawson. But in Q1 later that day, it all went pear-shaped - Otsu pushed just a tiny bit too hard through Turns 8 and 9, the long left-hander and right-hand flick in the second sector, and spun into the barriers.

The red flags flew and Otsu had to start from the back of the grid - and that meant, barring a miracle, there was no way he was going to realistically challenge for an eye-catching result. In the end, from 22nd and last, he could only make his way as far as 14th by the chequered flag.

Given that his replacement at Dandelion this season, rookie Kakunoshin Ota, has failed to impress in the first part of the season, being dropped into Nojiri’s #1 machine was the ideal chance for Otsu to prove to his Honda bosses that he deserves another look.

A similar thing happened with Ukyo Sasahara when he was called up by Dandelion to replace the unwell Tadasuke Makino in early 2021. It’s probably not a stretch to say that the podium finish Sasahara scored at Suzuka was what allowed him to land a drive at Mugen last year and score two wins, even if he ultimately left Honda at the end of the year.

By contrast, Otsu will find himself looking back on a huge opportunity missed, with the race offering no real chance to recover from his qualifying mistake.

“Qualifying was everything,” admitted Otsu speaking post-race to Motorsport.com. “I had been studying Nojiri’s on-boards from last year and his set-up, but the car behaved differently to last year and I wasn’t able to react to the temperature changing. 

 

“If I didn’t make the mistake in qualifying, and if I had made it to Q2 and started high up, I think there was a big chance to be on the podium, so I have big regrets. I was on the limit, but I thought, ‘maybe I can go a bit faster’, as I was hungry to set a good time. Maybe there was some pressure driving the #1 car, but I just went beyond my limits.”

Otsu actually made as good a start as he could have hoped for from last, gaining six places on the opening lap and then grabbing another place on the second lap to run 15th. But that’s as far as he would progress until the start of the pitstop phase, and his choice to go long didn’t end up paying dividends either as he pitted behind the late safety car. He even let through his early-stopping team-mate Liam Lawson, who went on to win the race.

“After letting Lawson go, [Sena] Sakaguchi, who was on newer tyres, came up behind me,” said Otsu. “But in the end I was about as fast as him, so considering the difference in tyre mileage, the pace was strong, so it was all about not being able to qualify well.”

It’s not clear whether Otsu will get another shot in Super Formula this year. Despite his illness, Nojiri was well enough to be at the track virtually all weekend and support the Mugen squad, so it seems likely he will be fit to drive in the next round at Sugo next month.

As the Honda reserve driver, Otsu would theoretically be first in line should any of the other teams in the brand’s stable need a stand-in this year. But to get another chance with the title-winning Mugen team, which offered the ideal platform to launch a comeback bid, seems doubtful.

“Being able to drive this weekend stirred a lot of emotions in me, and it just made my determination to compete in this series even stronger,” said Otsu. “In order to be able to do that, I want to do everything I can at the moment and make use of it for next time.”