Kakunoshin Ohta extended his Super Formula points lead by charging from 13th on the grid to deny Zak O’Sullivan a first series victory in Saturday’s first race at Fuji.
O’Sullivan scored a sensational maiden pole position in the morning on a wet track, Team Impul’s first for four years, leading an unusual order at the sharp end of the grid ahead of Toshiki Oyu and Williams Formula 1 reserve driver Luke Browning.
Amid the looming threat of further rain, O’Sullivan maintained his position at the head of the field in the opening stages as Dandelion Racing pair Tadasuke Makino and Ohta began to climb the order from eighth and 13th on the grid respectively.
By the time Makino passed Browning for third, O’Sullivan was already three seconds to the good, and when Ohta pitted from fourth place on lap 20 of 41, having also demoted Browning, O’Sullivan’s lead was out to five seconds.
At the same time, Makino passed Oyu for second and began closing on O’Sullivan before the Briton came in for his mandatory stop on lap 23.
O’Sullivan initially maintained the advantage over Ohta, but such was the effect of the undercut that the championship leader was able to pounce at the start of lap 25, using the advantage of his Honda engine to blast into the lead.
Zak O’Sullivan, TEAM IMPUL
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
While a combination of quicker pace in sector three and having almost all of his 200-second Overtake System (OTS) allocation in tact allowed O’Sullivan to stay close for several laps, it soon became clear the British driver was fighting a losing battle.
In the end, O’Sullivan fell 1.5 seconds shy of a first victory, although he still came away with his first top-three finish and a first podium for Impul since 2023.
Makino meanwhile left his stop until lap 29, resuming in a net third, and was unable to do anything about Ohta and O’Sullivan up ahead.
Despite finishing on the podium, Makino was visibly distraught about his defeat to team-mate Ohta in parc ferme and was too upset to give an interview.
Oyu finished fourth for Inging, while Syun Koide surged through from 15th on the grid to match his best-ever Super Formula finish in fifth for ThreeBond Racing, passing the Nakajima Racing machine of Igor Fraga in the closing stages after a late stop.
Browning had to be content with eighth for Kondo Racing behind Sena Sakaguchi in the second of the Inging machines.
Kakunoshin Ohta, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Defending champion Ayumu Iwasa started down in 22nd after a disastrous qualifying session, and could only recover as far as 10th in the race for a solitary point.
With both Nirei Fukuzumi and Sacha Fenestraz failing to score, Team Mugen driver Iwasa retains second in the standings, but now trails Ohta by 34.5 points.
Two more races at Fuji follow on Sunday, with a shorter sprint race in the morning, the replacement for the cancelled Autopolis round in April, followed by a second full-distance race in the afternoon.
Tomoki Nojiri – who stalled his Mugen car on the grid on his way to 24th and last – will take that race from pole ahead of Makino and Ohta, with Iwasa starting sixth.
Neither O’Sullivan nor Browning were able to progress from their Q1 groups and will start 17th and 22nd respectively.
Super Formula Fuji – Race 1 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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