The final day of the season was blessed from the morning hours with a beautiful sunshine over Suzuka Circuit. First up was the replacement race for Round 10 at 9:50 a.m., which originally had to get cancelled due to inclement weather. Since qualifying already took place last month at Fuji Speedway, the starting grid got used for the replacement race. Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) was starting on pole, sharing the front row with Fraga. After securing the 2025 Rookie of the Year Award in yesterday’s Round 11, the Brazilian driver was hungry for his first victory. Due to the shorter distance of 19 laps, there were was no pit stop obligation, meaning the race was all about the pace and tire management alone.
The moment of the race happened directly at the start, when Fraga’s reaction as the lights went out was a fraction of a second faster than Makino’s. He immediately put himself alongside Makino to pull off an outstanding overtake on the outside of the first corner to take the lead. The polesitter followed his fellow Honda-powered driver closely by putting in the fastest lap of the race (1:38.600) on the second lap. However, Fraga was able to control the lead, even increasing the gap to over 2.2 seconds at times. Behind them, Kakunoshin Ohta (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING) showed a good pace, shortening the distance between him and his teammate Makino at times while fending off yesterday’s polesitter Iwasa.
Despite everyone’s efforts, the top 8 positions wouldn’t change anymore until the end of the race. After thrilling 19 laps, former Gran Truism World Champion Fraga crossed the finish line in first, scoring a maiden win in his fabulous rookie season. It was the first victory for a Brazilian driver since Joao Paulo de Oliveira in 2016 and the first for PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING since the 2022 season.
Saturday’s Round 11 winner Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN) took the checkered flag in 5th, fending off a late-race charge by Ren Sato (PONOS NAKAJIMA RACING). Championship leader Sho Tsuboi (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) came under pressure by Toshiki Oyu (SANKI VERTEX PARTNERS CERUMO･INGING) about halfway through the race, but wouldn’t give in to secure the 7th position at the end of the 19-lap sprint. After gaining one position in the race, Nirei Fukuzumi (Kids com Team KCMG) finished P9. The final points-scoring position went to Kazuya Oshima (docomo business ROOKIE), who moved up two positions since the start.
By finishing on the podium, both Ohta (107 points) and Makino (107 points) overtook Iwasa (104 points) in the standings, being level on points while also reducing the gap to championship leader Tsuboi (116.5 points) to only 9.5 points. The situation ahead of the final race Sunday afternoon couldn’t have been any more thrilling.
And thriller is exactly the word how to describe the 24th JAF Grand Prix Suzuka. Following the inspiring words by Her Highness Princess Yohko of Mikasa, the 31-lap race started at 14:30 p.m. Similar to yesterday, it was a dash to the first corner between Iwasa, Nojiri and Sato, who had a rocket start coming from P3 on the grid, overtaking Nojiri in the first corner and almost making a move on Iwasa. Nojiri on the other hand got stuck, dropping down to P5 in the process. In the back, Tsuboi found himself in a hairy situation, when he had to briefly go off track, dropping down to P9. With no pit window for the mandatory pit stop in place for Round 12, Nojiri, Zak O’Sullivan (KONDO RACING), who welcomed the British ambassador Julia Longbottom earlier that day, and Kamui Kobayashi (Kids com Team KCMG) were the first to come in a the end of the opening lap.
VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S immediately reacted, ordering Tsuboi to come into the pits himself just one lap later. The strategy worked, as Tsuboi came out ahead of Nojiri. However, with the latter’s Yokohama ADVAN tires already up to temperature, he closed the gap to Tsuboi immediately. A close battle between the two ensued, as Tsuboi tried his utmost to keep Nojiri behind him. By the end of the lap, Nojiri successfully made a move in the Astemo Chicane. But Tsuboi didn’t give up and immediately set himself alongside Nojiri again on the main straight. As they were heading side by side into the first corner, Fenestraz came out of the pits, forcing Nojiri to pull out of the duel.
Realising Tsuboi’s undercut threat, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING called Ohta in for his mandatory four-tire stop at the end of lap 6. As he rejoined the track, the gap was large enough to stay ahead of Tsuboi despite the initial disadvantage of the colder tires on the outlap. On lap 7, Iwasa was pitting from the lead with Fraga in his tow. While Iwasa managed to stay ahead of Ohta, Fraga had to let the latter pass while successfully fending off a hard pushing Tsuboi.
The situation in the pits became even more intense when the safety car had to roll out for the only time in the race following an accident between Seita Nonaka (KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC) and Oyu in the Astemo Chicane. Sato, Makino and Fukuzumi immediately reacted and came into the pits, as they would’ve otherwise been in danger to fall all the way to the back since about half of the field already pitted at that point. Sato and Makino managed to stay ahead of Fraga while Fukuzumi rejoined the track in front of Tsuboi.
At the restart on lap 15, the running order of the top 10 was Iwasa, Ohta, Sato, Makino, Fraga, Fukuzumi, Tsuboi, Kenta Yamashita (KONDO RACING), Nojiri and Syun Koide (San-Ei Gen with B-Max). Almost like a carbon copy of the start of Sunday morning’s Round 10 race start, it was once again Fraga who overtook Makino on the outside of turn 1 to take P4. Likewise, Sato increased the pressure on Ohta — and successfully took P2 from the title contender on lap 17. Meanwhile Makino wanted his revenge on Fraga, starting multiple attacks in the following laps on the outside of turn 1, but without any success, as the Rookie of the Year managed to fend him off.
Come lap 21, Sato managed to close the gap to Iwasa down to 0.5 seconds while Tsuboi’s title hopes were further fading when the 2024 champion lost P7 to Sena Sakaguchi (SANKI VERTEX PARTNERS CERUMO･INGING). The final laps turned into a cat and mouse game between Iwasa and Sato, who pretty much had the same seconds of OTS (Overtake System) left. By the end of the 31-lap thriller, Iwasa withstood Sato’s pressure by a mere 0.731 seconds, crossing the finish line for the second time this season in first place, winning both the 24th JAF Grand Prix Suzuka and the 2025 SUPER FORMULA championship. With tears in his eyes he thanked his team on the radio during his emotional cooldown lap. As the sun was slowly setting behind the circuit, a happy Iwasa lifted both the Princess Yohko Cup, presented by Her Highness Princess Yohko of Mikasa, as well as the Drivers’ Champion trophy.
Ohta finished in third after reporting that something felt off with his car during the final laps. Following his maiden victory on Sunday morning, Fraga took the checkered flag in 4th ahead of Makino. After gaining multiple positions in the race, Fukuzumi and Sakaguchi came home in P6 and P7 respectively. Tsuboi finished the final race of the season in 8th, fending off a late race charge by Koide, who secured his second-best finish of the season on P9. After starting from the front row and pitting at the end of the opening lap, Nojiri completed the top 10 with the final points-scoring position.
Oshima finished his final career race in P18. During the final ceremony on the podium in front of the fans, he received a bouquet of flowers from former two-time champion and fellow Toyota partner Hiroaki Ishiura.
Iwasa won his first Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship title with a total of 124 points ahead of runner-up Tsuboi (119.5 points). Ohta (118 points) and Makino (113 points) ended the season in third and fourth position while also securing the Team Championship for the Kyoto Prefecture-based DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING squad. Fraga cemented his strong rookie season (77.5 points) in 6th, one position behind two-time champion Nojiri (94.5 points).
The 2025 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship season ended with a total spectator number of 263.900 people. During the Friday press conference, the JAPAN RACE PROMOTION (JRP) officially confirmed the schedule for the 2026 season, which will kick off on April 3-5 at Mobility Resort Motegi in Tochigi Prefecture. Before then, the annual rookie test will take place at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture on December 10-12, 2025.
