The 2019 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-seventh season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the seventh under the moniker of Super Formula. The season began on 21 April at Suzuka Circuit and ended on 27 October at the same location.[1]
2019 marked the first season of the Dallara SF19 chassis package, while continuing the engine configuration of the preceding chassis.[2]
Nick Cassidy clinched his first Driver's Championship title, after finishing ahead of reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto at the season finale at Suzuka.[3] Docomo Team Dandelion Racing won their first Teams' Championship title since 2012, with Naoki Yamamoto and Nirei Fukuzumi driving for them.[4]
Teams and drivers
Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-414E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota RI4A engine.
| Team | Engine | No. | Driver | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | Honda | 1 | Naoki Yamamoto[5] | All |
| 5 | Nirei Fukuzumi[5] | All | ||
| Kondo Racing | Toyota | 3 | Kenta Yamashita[6] | All |
| 4 | Yuji Kunimoto[6] | All | ||
| UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans | Toyota | 7 |  Artem Markelov[6] | 1–5 |
| Yuichi Nakayama[7] | 6–7 | |||
| 8 | Kazuya Oshima[6] | All | ||
| Team Mugen | Honda | 15 |  Dan Ticktum[8] | 1–3 |
 Patricio O'Ward[9] | 4–6 | |||
 Jüri Vips[10] | 7 | |||
| 16 | Tomoki Nojiri[5] | All | ||
| Real Racing | Honda | 17 |  Tristan Charpentier[11] | 1 |
| Koudai Tsukakoshi[12] | 2–7 | |||
 carrozzeria Team KCMG | Toyota | 18 | Kamui Kobayashi[6] | All |
| Itochu Enex Team Impul[6] | Toyota | 19 | Yuhi Sekiguchi[6] | All |
| 20 | Ryo Hirakawa[6] | All | ||
| Vantelin Team TOM'S | Toyota | 36 | Kazuki Nakajima[6] | All |
| 37 |  Nick Cassidy[6] | All | ||
| JMS P.mu/cerumo・INGING | Toyota | 38 | Hiroaki Ishiura[6] | All |
| 39 | Sho Tsuboi[6] | All | ||
| B-Max Racing with Motopark[13] | Honda | 50 |  Lucas Auer[8] | All |
| 51 | Harrison Newey[11] | All | ||
| TCS Nakajima Racing | Honda | 64 |  Álex Palou[11] | All |
| 65 | Tadasuke Makino[5] | All |
Team changes
Driver changes
- Lucas Auer announce to joining Super Formula with B-MAX Motopark after Mercedes AMG shut down their DTM project.[13] Former FIA European Formula Three Championship driver Harrison Newey was later confirmed in a second B-MAX car.[11]
- 2018 champion Naoki Yamamoto moves to Team Dandelion Racing after eight seasons driving for Team Mugen. He is joined by Nirei Fukuzumi, who completed a partial season with Mugen in 2018 alongside FIA Formula 2.[11] Nobuharu Matsushita leaves Team Dandelion after a single season, returning to Formula 2 with Carlin.
- Tomoki Nojiri moves from Team Dandelion to Team Mugen.[11] He will be partnered by 2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship runner-up and two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Daniel Ticktum, who competed in two rounds for the team in 2018.[8]
- Koudai Tsukakoshi leaves Real Racing's Super Formula team after six seasons. He is replaced by Tristan Charpentier, who raced in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship in 2018.[11]
- Narain Karthikeyan and Takuya Izawa are replaced at Nakajima Racing by Formula 2 race winner Tadasuke Makino and former European and Japanese Formula Three driver Álex Palou. Karthikeyan will remain with the team in Super GT.[11]
- 2018 series runner-up Nick Cassidy will move from Kondō Racing to Team TOM'S, replacing James Rossiter.[6]
- 2016 champion Yuji Kunimoto will take Cassidy's place at Kondo Racing, after Toyota promoted 2018 Japanese F3 champion Sho Tsuboi to his former seat at Cerumo・INGING.[6]
- Artem Markelov, a five-season veteran of the GP2 Series and FIA Formula 2 with Russian Time, joins Super Formula in the #7 Team LeMans, which in 2018 was driven by both Pietro Fittipaldi and Tom Dillmann.[6]
Mid-season changes
- Tristan Charpentier left Real Racing after the first round. He had qualified two seconds off the pace in the first round and crashed heavily in the race. He was replaced by veteran racer Koudai Tsukakoshi for the rest of the season.[12]
- Dan Ticktum left Team Mugen after the third round. He was dropped by the Red Bull Junior programme and subsequently lost his Super Formula drive.[14] He was replaced by new Red Bull Junior, Patricio O'Ward for the remainder of the season.[9] However, O'Ward was dropped prior to the final round from the Red Bull Junior Team and thus for the final round, the seat was filled by Estonian Jüri Vips.
- Yuichi Nakayama replaced Artem Markelov at the sixth round due to Markelov being called up to race for BWT Arden in the FIA Formula 2 Championship
Race calendar and results
The calendar with seven rounds was announced in August 2018.[1][15]
| Round | Circuit | Date | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | Winning Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suzuka Circuit | 21 April | Tadasuke Makino | Álex Palou | Nick Cassidy | Vantelin Team TOM'S |
| 2 | Autopolis | 19 May | Yuji Kunimoto | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Itochu Enex Team Impul |
| 3 | Sportsland Sugo | 23 June | Naoki Yamamoto | Lucas Auer | Naoki Yamamoto | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing |
| 4 | Fuji Speedway | 14 July | Álex Palou | Álex Palou | Álex Palou | TCS Nakajima Racing |
| 5 | Twin Ring Motegi | 18 August | Álex Palou | Artem Markelov | Ryo Hirakawa | Itochu Enex Team Impul |
| 6 | Okayama International Circuit | 29 September | Ryo Hirakawa | Kamui Kobayashi | Kenta Yamashita | Kondo Racing |
| 7 | Suzuka Circuit | 27 October | Álex Palou | Nick Cassidy | Tomoki Nojiri | Team Mugen |
Championship standings
Drivers' Championship
- Scoring system
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pole |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rounds 1-6 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Round 7 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
- Driver standings
|
Bold – Pole |
Teams' Championship
| Pos | Team | No. | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT | OKA | SUZ | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 50 |
| 5 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 5 | Ret | 3 | |||
| 2 | Vantelin Team TOM'S | 36 | Ret | 13 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 14 | 48 |
| 37 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 2 | |||
| 3 | TCS Nakajima Racing | 64 | Ret | 6 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 28 |
| 65 | Ret | 4 | 14 | 10 | Ret | 17 | 13 | |||
| 4 | Itochu Enex Team Impul | 19 | Ret | 1 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 13 | 4 | 27 |
| 20 | Ret | 14 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 8 | |||
| 5 | Team Mugen | 15 | 8 | Ret | 15 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 25 |
| 16 | 4 | 18 | Ret | 4 | 8 | 9 | 1 | |||
| 6 | Kondo Racing | 3 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 25 |
| 4 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 16 | 15 | |||
| 7 | JMS P.mu/Cerumo・INGING | 38 | Ret | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | Ret | 6 | 22 |
| 39 | 5 | 12 | Ret | 2 | 17 | 11 | 10 | |||
| 8 | B-MAX Racing with Motopark | 50 | 7 | 11 | 3 | Ret | 7 | 5 | 11 | 20 |
| 51 | Ret | 17 | Ret | 16 | 19 | 3 | 20 | |||
| 9 | carrozzeria Team KCMG | 18 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 12 | 19 |
| 10 | UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans | 7 | 10 | Ret | 16 | 19 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 7 |
| 8 | 12 | 3 | 17 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 17 | |||
| 11 | Real Racing | 17 | Ret | 15 | 9 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Pos | Team | No. | SUZ | AUT | SUG | FUJ | MOT | OKA | SUZ | Points |
References
External links
- Japanese Championship Super Formula official website (in English)
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