Sho Tsuboi has called for an overhaul of Super Formula’s engine regulations amid what he believes is a widening gap in performance between Toyota and Honda.
The 2024 champion, who drives for the Toyota-powered TOM’S team, said in the wake of this month’s Sugo round that he feels it is time for series promoter JRP to take action to address the perceived power advantage enjoyed by the Honda runners.
Since last season, Honda teams have tended to dominate qualifying, with six out of eight poles so far this year and five lockouts of the top-three grid positions.
While Sacha Fenestraz and Nirei Fukuzumi have won races with Toyota power in 2026, only Fukuzumi’s first win at Suzuka came in a straight fight against Honda, with his Sugo triumph only possible due to a huge stroke of fortune with the safety car.
Tsuboi, who finished seventh in that race, believes things are now so bad that Toyota teams and drivers now stand no chance of beating their Honda counterparts on level terms.
“It feels like since last year it has become a lot tougher for us, but I would say the gap [to Honda] has become even worse this year,” Tsuboi told Autosport.
“I would say it has now reached the stage of the Toyota drivers having our own ‘Toyota championship’, where we just can’t properly compete with the Hondas. Even with the overtake system, we simply could not overtake [at Sugo].
Toyota drivers are racing in their own championship this year, according to Tsuboi
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
“Engine development is frozen by regulation, so theoretically there shouldn’t be any change in the gap. I don’t know if Honda has become faster or Toyota has become slower, but I think all of us drivers can feel the gap is bigger now.
“Most years, the gap during the summer months is small enough that we can make up for it by other means, and then in the winter it gets tougher again. But this year, it’s already so difficult in the summer, I can’t imagine how it will be when it gets cold again.
“It’s something that I think is well understood by JRP, and I think they need to take immediate action to allow us drivers to race properly with each other on a level playing field.”
Super Formula’s two-litre turbocharged engine formula dates back to 2014, but Toyota has not introduced a new engine since the current TRD 01F unit (previously known as the Biz 01F) in 2019, while Honda’s design, the Mugen-tuned HR-417E, was first used in 2017.
Tsuboi went on to suggest the championship should allow engine development in set periods, and said he could accept if Toyota still lost out to Honda in such a scenario.
“I think it would be good if we had three or four-year cycles where developments can only be introduced once in that time,” he said.
Tsuboi is pushing Super Formula for an engine rules rethink
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
“Of course, there have been times in the past when Toyota has had the upper hand, and people understood that was the case, but I personally think we need to have properly-defined rules cycles that last three or four years.
“I accept the Toyota engine is behind, and if the balance never changes, that’s one thing, but what I can’t accept is the gap getting wider [while development is not permitted].
“If we had three-year periods where Toyota had the advantage, and then Honda had the advantage, then it’s down to the ability of both manufacturers to develop their engines, and if we get gaps arising because of that, then it’s totally fine.
“The only alternative would be for everyone to use the same engine. But sticking to these rules given the situation is nonsense in my opinion.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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