Photo: Fotospeedy
Danish Formula 4 race-winner Juju Noda will race in Euroformula this year for her family’s Noda Racing team.
Led by her father Hideki, who in his career raced in Formula 1, IndyCar and Super Formula, Noda Racing has run Noda through much of her single-seater career.
She started off in Japan, and raced Formula 3 cars in her home country aged 13 in a competition called Formula U17.
Age restrictions meant she had to step down to F4 when she started racing abroad, with Danish F4 being her primary programme through 2020 and ’21. She won on her series debut and came sixth in the shortened three-round 2020 season, then was seventh the year after.
Noda was chosen to race in the Formula Regional-spec W Series in 2022, and scored once. During the year she also raced a FRegional car in the Austrian F3 Cup, which she has returned to for 2023 in the Dallara 320 car that Euroformula uses. The opening Austrian F3 Cup round was held at Mugello last month, and she made the podium.
Now Noda will campaign her car in Euroformula itself, having been evaluating the series over winter and also contesting pre-season testing, and Noda Racing will operate from a base in Italy.
“This decision is a huge challenge and a big step in my career, I am looking forward to it,” said Noda. “I know I will learn and improve so much by competing against superfast and experienced drivers. I just want to do my best, improve and have fun.
She added: “This year, I really feel things are going in the right direction.”
Her father commented: “Juju will be up against a top-level team [Motopark] that enters six cars and has won three of the last four championships. A real challenge for a small, one-car team can like us, but Juju has already shown us in the past how she can go above and beyond and achieve the impossible.”
The Euroformula grid is now up to six cars. Motopark has three drivers, while BVM Racing and Effective Racing are – like Noda Racing – competing as one-car teams.
Jesús Pareja, CEO of Euroformula organiser and promoter GT Sport, added:
“Having Juju in the Euroformula is a great opportunity for us and for her as well.
“Juju is a real challenger, a young woman from Japan with great potential. We are very happy to welcome her to our series, it means a lot to us as well as to her, and we will be rooting for Juju to succeed. ”