Suzuka Super Formula: Matsushita beats Nojiri for maiden win

Reigning champion Nojiri dominated the majority of the race from pole position, with the Mugen Honda driver's advantage over the rest of the field peaking at well over 10 seconds early in the 31-lap contest.

But the tide started shifting slowly when both Tadasuke Makino and Matsushita dispatched front row starter Kenta Yamashita in quick succession on laps 7 and 9 respectively, and set about chasing Nojiri for the victory.

By lap 15 Makino had brought the gap to Nojiri down to seven seconds, with Matsushita following him closely behind in third place.

Matsushita made multiple attempts at passing Makino for second, but the Dandelion driver was able to resist his advances each time and just about hold on to position.

However, just four laps from the finish, Matsushita was finally able to pull off a move over Makino into the final chicane, allowing him to chase after Nojiri for victory.

The 28-year-old wasted no time in closing the gap to the championship leader, reducing his lead from three seconds to 1.5s in the span of a single lap.

On the penultimate lap, Matsushita went around the outside of Nojiri into Turn 1, making the move stick to clinch a maiden victory in Japan’s premier single-seater series for himself and the B-Max Racing team.

Nojiri eventually finished five seconds off the lead in second, albeit with an enhanced 16-point lead in the championship, with Makino completing an-all Honda podium in third, matching his career-best result.

Sacha Fenestraz had a fairly lonely race en route to fourth, the Kondo driver not having the pace to fight for a podium position after being jumped by Matsushita and Makino on the opening lap.

KCMG secured a double points finish with Kamui Kobayashi leading home teammate Yuji Kunimoto in fifth after the team elected to use team orders to allow the former to chase after Fenestraz for fourth.

Fuji Race 1 winner Ryo Hirakawa completed an impressive recovery drive from 12th on the grid to finish seventh at the flag, having dropped down to 14th in the early stages of the race.

The Toyota Hypercar driver pulled off some great moves in the wet to limit the damage to his title hopes, passing a struggling Toshiki Oyu for seventh on lap 19 at the final chicane.

Oyu continued to tumble down the order in the final part of the race, allowing Nakajima Racing teammate Naoki Yamamoto to bag his first points of the season in ninth behind the second Dandelion car of Hiroki Otsu.

The list of points scorers was completed by Red Bull junior Ren Sato (Team Goh).

A minority of drivers elected to make a pitstop in a race where tyre change was not mandatory, with Yamashita the highest-place driver to do so en route to 16th.

Having dropped outside the podium positions early on after starting from the front row, Yamashita dived into the pits at the end of lap 11 for a fresh set of wet tyres. 

But that strategy backfired when a Kondo mechanic dropped the jacks before the front-right tyre was bolted on properly, costing him crucial time and leaving him tumbling down the pack.

Suzuka Super Formula - Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	50	Nobuharu Matsushita	B-Max Racing Team	31
2	1	Tomoki Nojiri	Team Mugen	31	5.053
3	5	Tadasuke Makino	Dandelion Racing	31	8.113
4	4	Sacha Fenestraz	Kondo Racing	31	18.419
5	7	Kamui Kobayashi	KCMG	31	21.894
6	18	Yuji Kunimoto	KCMG	31	44.604
7	20	Ryo Hirakawa	Team Impul	31	46.381
8	6	Hiroki Otsu	Dandelion Racing	31	47.809
9	64	Naoki Yamamoto	TCS Nakajima Racing	31	51.564
10	53	Ren Sato	Team Goh	31	52.487
11	19	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Team Impul	31	53.087
12	39	Sena Sakaguchi	P.MU/CERUMO･INGING	31	1'03.453
13	65	Toshiki Oyu	TCS Nakajima Racing	31	1'13.308
14	15	Ukyo Sasahara	Team Mugen	31	1'17.697
15	36	Giuliano Alesi	Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S	31	1'18.337
16	3	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo Racing	31	1'19.426
17	12	Nirei Fukuzumi	ThreeBond Drago CORSE	31	1'28.460
18	37	Ritomo Miyata	Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S	31	1'28.956
19	14	Kazuya Oshima	docomo business ROOKIE	31	1'30.411
20	38	Sho Tsuboi	P.MU/CERUMO･INGING	30	1 Lap
21	55	Atsushi Miyake	Team Goh	25	6 Laps
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