Tomoki Nojiri put himself in the thick of the Super Formula title battle with victory at Motegi, as Liam Lawson ended up out of the points in 13th following a spin that triggered a first-lap pile-up and red flag.
Red Bull junior Lawson spun on the opening lap after running wide at the exit of Turn 2 while battling with Nojiri for the lead, with Tadasuke Makino and Yuhi Sekiguchi both going airborne in the ensuing mayhem.
The result gives Ritomo Miyata, who finished fourth, an eight-point lead over Lawson in the standings, with Nojiri a further two points adrift in third heading into the final races at Suzuka in October.Polesitter Nojiri faced a stern challenge from Mugen team-mate Lawson at the start, with the Kiwi having jumped to second after front-row starter Kakunoshin Ota stalled on the grid.
The red flag was immediately deployed, with images showing Sekiguchi’s car landing upside down at the right-hand side of the track. When the race got underway again after two laps behind the safety car, Nojiri held on to the lead, with Toshiki Oyu holding second for TGM after taking advantage of the first-lap chaos to move up from fourth on the grid.
From there on, the only obstacle in Nojiri’s way was Impul driver Hirakawa, who had been circulating just a few seconds behind him before his pitstop and had a chance to overcut him while he circulated the track on cold tyres. Hirakawa also survived a half-spin on his way to second after Naoki Yamamoto had tried to pass him at Turn 11 in an incident that caused terminal damage to the Nakajima Racing driver’s car.
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