Ohta wins in thrilling three-way Super Formula battle at Fuji

Kakunoshin Ohta brought Sho Tsuboi’s Super Formula winning streak at Fuji to an end by scoring his third victory of 2025 in a thrilling second race on Sunday.

Ohta came out on top of a pulsating three-way battle against both Tsuboi and Ayumu Iwasa to give Dandelion Racing its first victory at the Toyota-owned track since 2008, and revitalise his championship bid.

It was the first time that Tsuboi has failed to win a race at Fuji since joining TOM’S at the start of last year.

Reigning champion Tsuboi grabbed his first pole of the season in qualifying, with Ohta lining up alongside, and the pair traded positions twice on the first lap as Ohta grabbed the advantage heading into Turn 1, only to be passed again by Tsuboi at the Turn 13 right-hander.

That was how the order remained up front for the opening part of the 41-lap race, with Ohta able to stay within a second of Tsuboi as the lead pair distanced themselves from the field.

Iwasa ran fifth early on behind Toshiki Oyu and Ren Sato before becoming the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap eight, which would prove crucial when the safety car was called on lap 19 after Seita Nonaka’s TGM car lost a wheel and stopped on-track.

The safety car prompted Tsuboi and Ohta to pit along with all those that hadn’t yet stopped, but Iwasa was able to narrowly beat Tsuboi to the safety car line.

When the race resumed on lap 25, Iwasa hung on to the lead against Tsuboi despite being on older tyres, with Ohta keeping the pressure on the TOM’S driver.

After Iwasa kept the lead in a side-by-side battle with Tsuboi on lap 30, Ohta was able to take advantage to pass Tsuboi for second place at Turn 3 on the next lap.

Red Bull Formula 1 test driver Iwasa held firm in the lead for two more laps before Ohta made the decisive move of the race on lap 33 at Turn 1.

Ohta finally pulled away to the tune of 7.1 seconds to claim his sixth career Super Formula win, and his first at Fuji, as Iwasa was forced to settle for second again.

Third place for Tsuboi behind Iwasa means he maintains the lead of the standings with five races to go, with a reduced advantage of three points over Ohta.

Kamui Kobayashi claimed his best result of the season in fourth for KCMG after passing Sato’s Nakajima Racing machine after the restart.

A five-second time penalty for Sato, for going off behind the safety car, dropped him to sixth behind the second TOM’S machine of Sacha Fenestraz.

Oyu was seventh for Inging ahead of Kondo Racing’s Kenta Yamashita, while the second Dandelion car of Tadasuke Makino was a disappointing ninth.

It means Makino now trails Tsuboi by 13 points, slipping to third in the standings behind Ohta.

Iwasa’s Mugen team-mate Tomoki Nojiri likewise endured a day to forget, qualifying 12th after losing his best lap in Q2 and finishing in the same position, one place ahead of Team Impul’s Oliver Rasmussen.

Zak O’Sullivan (Kondo Racing) completed a miserable weekend in 16th, while Igor Fraga (Nakajima Racing) was 18th after having to pit for a second time after making contact with Oyu behind the safety car.

Super Formula Fuji race two results