Photo: Japanese F4
Japanese Formula 4 has had to postpone the fourth round of its 2024 season, which was due to take place at Suzuka this weekend, due to an extreme weather event.
Typhoon No. 10 (named since it is the 10th such event of the meteorological season) formed in the sea south of Japan and a combination of factors including strong northerly winds has sent it in the direction of the country. Although it then slowed once it approached land, it then headed a in north-easterly direction and therefore led to Suzuka being in its path.
The circuit was monitoring the typhoon closely, providing multiple updates per day until at 16:00 local time on Wednesday afternoon the circuit decided to cancel this weekend’s racing activities.
It has already been decided that the Super GT event that Japanese F4 was on the support bill of will be rescheduled to December 7/8, although Japanese F4 itself is yet to confirm whether it will also race on that weekend.
The next Japanese F4 round takes place at Sportsland SUGO on September 21/22, with further events in October and November. Honda juniors Ryota Horachi and Yuto Nomura are currently one-two in the championship, with Drago Corse’s Hironobu Shimizu best of the rest.
Typhoon No. 10 is the second extreme weather to disrupt Japanese F4’s schedule, as back in 2016 there were a series of earthquakes under Kumamoto which led to a round at Autopolis in May being cancelled and its races added to other events.