Sho Tsuboi took a step nearer to the Tremendous Components title in Saturday’s opening spherical of the ultimate weekend at Suzuka with a second-place end behind a dominant Kakunoshin Ota.
From pole place, Dandelion Racing driver Ota was by no means headed over the course of the 31-lap race interrupted by two security automotive durations, beating Tsuboi by 4.5 seconds in a closing three-lap showdown following the ultimate restart.
Tsuboi certified solely fifth, one place behind nearest title rival Tadasuke Makino, however his path to second place was eased by Ayumu Iwasa stalling on the grid from second after which Ren Sato shedding a wheel throughout his pitstop.
The TOM’S driver crucially managed to overcut Makino by pitting a lap later, hanging on to what turned a web second place on his outlap on chilly tyres.
Though Tsuboi was by no means quick sufficient to threaten Ota at both of the next two security automotive restarts, Makino was equally unable to clear his championship rival.
It means Tsuboi takes a snug 18.5-point benefit over Makino into the ultimate spherical of the season, with 23 factors left up for grabs.
Sho Tsuboi, VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S
Picture by: Masahide Kamio
Tomoki Nojiri’s hopes of a 3rd Tremendous Components title ended on Saturday because the Mugen driver completed fifth after struggling to a dismal 14th on the grid.
That was after a purple flag within the first phase of qualifying that left Nojiri together with his lowest grid slot since 2020, and though he made sturdy progress throughout the race, it wasn’t sufficient to maintain himself throughout the essential 23-point window of Tsuboi.
Sena Sakaguchi scored his greatest results of the season in fourth for Inging forward of Nojiri, who handed Nirei Fukuzumi’s KCMG automotive for fifth after the ultimate restart.
Naoki Yamamoto was seventh within the surviving Nakajima Racing automotive in his penultimate Tremendous Components begin, whereas the factors scorers had been accomplished by Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing), a recovering Iwasa (Mugen) and Toshiki Oyu (Inging).
Solely 14 vehicles noticed the chequered flag in one of many extra attritional races of current reminiscence, with Juju Noda briefly operating tenth at one stage earlier than slipping to twelfth.
That was after an altercation at Spoon Curve between Ukyo Sasahara and Kazuya Oshima, as Sasahara tried to move across the exterior solely to lose management, spin and hit his rival.
That prompted the second security automotive interval, whereas the primary warning was the results of Hibiki Taira’s wheel coming off exiting the pits and bouncing on to the race monitor.
Kamui Kobayashi was 14th and final for KCMG after selecting up a drive-through penalty for rear-ending Kazuto Kotaka and a five-second sanction for a separate incident with Noda.