Kobayashi tops Super Formula Lights test as 2025 calendar revealed

Photo: Super Formula Lights

TOM’S driver Rikuto Kobayashi led Super Formula Lights’ post-season test at Suzuka this week.

There was only six hours of scheduled track action, with a 90-minute session in the morning followed by another in the afternoon on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kobayashi, 2024 SF Lights runner-up, topped the cold opening session with his penultimate lap and was quickest by 0.229 seconds.

He set a 1m51.248s to lead the way, with Yusuke Mitsui in second for Delightworks Racing. Established by gaminy company Delightworks, the 2024 Formula Regional Japanese Championship season was the team’s first ever racing campaign. It will stay in that paddock next year, and has FRJC podium-finisher Yugo Iwasawa as a development driver. The team is yet to announce an expansion into SF Lights.

The only other driver within a second of the pace was 2023 Eurocup-3 champion and 2024 European Le Mans Series GT3 class runner-up Esteban Masson, who was 0.383s slower than team-mate Kobayashi and caused red flags after a crash at Degner Curve that ruled him out of the rest of testing.

Yuga Furutani (TOM’S) and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Reimei Ito (OTG Motor Sports) were split by 0.009s in fourth and fifth, and B-MAX Racing’s reigning SF Lights champion Syun Koide was 1.331s behind in sixth.

Kobayashi lowered the pace to 1m50.401s on Tuesday afternoon, again setting his best lap towards the conclusion of his time on track. He had a sizeable 0.867s advantage over Souta Arao (Delightworks) in second and 1.43s to Furutani in third. Denied that position by 0.003s was Kaylen Frederick (B-Max), who had crashed at turn two in the morning.

Also within two seconds of what would be the test’s fastest lap were unbeaten FRJC star Yuki Sano (TOM’S), GB3 race-winner James Hedley (B-Max) and Ito.

Kobayashi continued to be the driver to beat on Wednesday morning, and laptimes were slower despite drivers racking up more mileage than previously.

A 1m50.905s put Kobayashi on top, and he again left it very late to post the benchmark lap. He was 0.774s faster than Sano, while Ito, Frederick and Furutani all lapped in the 1m51s – meeting their expectations of being closer to Kobayashi. However Ito’s crash at Degner meant the session ended under red flag conditions.

Kobayashi made it a clean sweep in the afternoon, a 1m50.511s putting him 0.812s ahead of Toda Racing’s Kazuhisa Urabe who is a Toyota junior and FRJC podium-finisher.

Furutani completed a top three covered by 0.982s, Sano was a further 0.042s behind in fourth and Frederick was fifth.

Also testing were Honda’s Japanese Formula 4 champion Yuto Nomura, Euroformula race-winner Jakob Bergmeister (another Degner crasher) and 57-year-old 1998 Super GT champion and Super Formula runner-up Masami Kageyama (who was 1994 SF Lights runner-up).

The test followed the announcement of the 2025 calendar, with three-race rounds at Suzuka (March 7-9), Autopolis (May 16-18), Okayama (June 20-22), Sportsland SUGO (August 29-31), Fuji Speedway (September 5-7) and Twin Ring Motegi (November 28-30). Only the first two rounds will support Super Formula.

Test results