The 2022 Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship Round 4 Qualifying session was held on May 21st at Autopolis International Racing Course situated in Oita Prefecture where Tomoki Nojiri won his 3rd consecutive pole position this season and his 10th overall pole position in the Super Formula Championship series.

QF P.P Tomoki Nojiri(TEAM MUGEN)

Although during the first half of the free practice session held in the morning of Saturday there were still wet patches on the track due to the previous day’s showers, the track quickly dried and by the afternoon the weather had improved to the point where there was even sunshine. The knock-out-based Qualifying session quicked off at 14:50 to determine the starting grid for the final race to be held the following day. The Q1 was contested by two groups of cars with each session lasting 10 minutes. 11 cars at Qualifying 1 group A and 10 cars at Qualifying 1 group B.
The top six cars from each group, a total of 12 cars advanced to the following seven-minute Q2 to determine the grid sequence for the race.

QF P.3 Tadasuke Makino(DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING)

At Qualifying 1-A, among the knocked-out drivers were Giuliano Alesi (Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S), winner of this race last year, Naoki Yamamoto (TCS NAKAJIMA RACING), and several other drivers. Rookie Atsushi Miyake (TEAM GOH) finished 5th, and Tadasuke Makino (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), who had run off track in the morning’s Free Practice, made a determined attack and finished on top of group A. In the B group, Round 3 winner Nobuharu Matsushita (B-Max Racing Team) was eliminated and current ranking leader Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN) overpowered the rest to take the top position in the group B.

QF P.2 Ritomo Miyata(Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S)

At Q2, after a five-minute interval post Q1, Tomoki Nojiri, who has won pole position at the last two consecutive races, was able to once again show his speed and determination, winning the Pole Position here at Autopolis, and for the third consecutive race.

The Rd 4 final race is to be held tomorrow, 22 May (Sun) here at Autopolis from 14:30.