Photo: Super Formula Lights
Syun Koide extended his Super Formula Lights points lead at Okayama.
Koide was quickest in practice, setting a 1m22.765s in FP2 to lead B-MAX Racing team-mate Kaylen Frederick by 0.356 seconds in the combined classification from the three sessions.
Qualifying played out in a similar fashion, with a 1m21.671s in Q1 earning Koide his third pole of the season by a sizeable 0.68s. Frederick pipped TOM’S driver Rikuto Kobayashi to second by 0.084s, and his team-mate Seita Nonaka was 1.075s back in fourth.
Q2 was a slower session, which Koide also ended up on top on. He set a 1m22.122s on his final lap, beating Frederick by 0.261s. Kobayashi was 0.396s off pole in third, and team-mate Yuga Furutani was fourth fastest.
Koide dominated race one, winning the 25-lap encounter by five seconds while Frederick spent the first half of it running in second with Kobayashi in his mirrors but never actually close enough to pressure him for position.
After lap one there was no overtaking in the top 10, although there was a change of position on lap 12 as B-MAX Racing’s Rin Arakawa retired from sixth place. The safety car appeared two laps later, then released the field on lap 16.
The gaps opened up again, although when Kobayahi went wide exiting the last corner on lap 17 he caused the field to briefly bunch up behind him. It took a few laps to get back into Frederick’s mirrors, where he remained for the rest of the race.
Race two took place on a wet track, and there was lots of wheelspin off the line. Frederick pushed hard on lap one and was able to pass Koide just before the safety car was summoned due to two drivers retiring. Nonaka also passed Furutani for fourth before racing was neutralised.
Racing resumed on lap five, and Nonaka made a diving move on Kobayashi mid-lap but ended up punting him out and sending his own car into the gravel. He could not rejoin, and the safety car returned.
The next restart was on lap nine, and Frederick sprinted away on the slippy track surface. On lap 13 of 17, Koide began closing back in on Frederick and was right on his tail a lap later. Meanwhile Toda Racing’s Souta Arao passed OTG Motor Sports’ Reimei Ito for fifth.
Frederick lapped up the pressure to hold off Koide by 1.19s for his first SF Lights win.
Koide started on pole for race three, by which point a dry line has formed, and won again.
Nonaka came under immense pressure for fourth on lap one, as Arao passed Nakamura for fifth. Furutani lost ground on lap two, dropping from seventh to ninth.
Kobayashi kept Frederick’s runner-up spot in his sights, but the pair had no answer to Koide who romped to a sixth victory of 2024 by 5.27s.
The field bunched up behind Frederick late on, and he locked up under pressure, but nobody changed position.
Results round-up
Race 1 (25 laps)
1 Syun Koide B-MAX Racing 37m35.403s
2 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +5.034s
3 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +5.792s
4 Seita Nonaka TOM’S +8.669s
5 Jin Nakamura TOM’S +9.539s
6 Souta Arao Toda Racing +10.657s
7 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +12.353s
8 Reimei Ito OTG Motor Sports +14.354s
9 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +42.645s
10 Makoto Fujiwara B-MAX Racing +49.346s
Pole: Koide, 1m21.671s
Fastest lap: Koide, 1m24.035s
Race 2 (17 laps)
1 Frederick 30m05.835s
2 Koide +1.190s
3 Furutani +5.044s
4 Nakamura +7.282s
5 Arao +8.303s
6 Ito +2.535s
7 Rin Arakawa B-MAX Racing +12.401s
8 “Dragon” +46.797s
9 Fujiwara +1m07.410s
Ret Kobayashi
P: Koide, 1m22.122s
FL: Arao, 1m23.718s
Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Koide 25m39.671s
2 Frederick +5.270s
3 Kobayashi +5.963s
4 Nonaka +7.362s
5 Arao +7.988s
6 Nakamura +10.636s
7 Ito +11.743s
8 Arakawa +15.308s
9 Furutani +28.684s
10 “Dragon” +51.351s
FL: Koide, 1m24.658s
Championship standings
1 Koide 87 2 Nonaka 54 3 Nakamura 48 4 Frederick 43 5 Kobayashi 43 6 Arakawa 34 7 Arao 23 8 Furutani 23 9 Ito 1 10 Dragon 0