Iwasa takes maiden series win to ignite title fight

Ayumu Iwasa finally scored his maiden Super Formula victory in wet conditions at Sugo, revitalising his title bid in the process.

Red Bull Formula 1 reserve Iwasa led all 48 laps and survived three safety car restarts en route to a first win that was a year-and-a-half in the making.

It also means Iwasa is now Sho Tsuboi’s closest rival in the championship, with five points splitting the pair with four races remaining.

Sacha Fenestraz converted second on the grid into the same position at the finish, marking the first podium finish of his Super Formula comeback for TOM’S.

The Argentine driver challenged Iwasa at Turn 1 when the race got underway in earnest on lap 6 after the race started behind the safety car, but Fenestraz was firmly rebuffed and wasn’t able to get as close on the subsequent restarts.

Defending champion Tsuboi occupied third for much of the race after passing Sena Sakaguchi at Turn 1 immediately after the first restart, but fell victim to Nirei Fukuzumi at the same corner on the penultimate lap of the race.

KCMG driver Fukuzumi had started fifth, dropping behind Igor Fraga at the second restart on lap 15, and then taking another six laps to repass the Brazilian.

Fukuzumi then picked off Sakaguchi for fourth on lap 36 before grabbing an opportunity to pass Tsuboi as the latter wobbled and ran wide at the final corner.

Tsuboi had to be content with fourth ahead of Sakaguchi and Igor Fraga (Nakajima Racing).

Zak O’Sullivan scored the best result of his rookie campaign for Kondo Racing in seventh, passing Tadasuke Makino early on and then holding position until the end.

O’Sullivan came under attack from Makino’s Dandelion Racing team-mate Kakunoshin Ohta in the closing stages, but hung on as Ohta ran wide at Turn 1 on the final lap.

Three points for Ohta, who started 16th, means he now sits eight points behind Tsuboi in the title race, with Makino, who slipped to 10th behind Kenta Yamashita in the second Kondo car, now 21 points adrift in fourth.

Tomoki Nojiri endured a nightmare race from 11th on the grid, ending up 15th, a result that means he now trails Tsuboi in the standings by 38 points.

With the wet conditions meaning pitstops were not mandatory, only a handful of drivers took the gamble of changing tyres, with none of them scoring points.

Kamui Kobayashi was the only driver to try changing to slicks, but the move backfired as the Toyota World Endurance Championship star started to haemorrhage time to his rivals. He finally ended up 19th, over a minute down on Iwasa.

Super Formula – Sugo race results