Photo: Super Formula Lights
Yuto Nomura won all four races in Super Formula Lights’ fourth round of 2025 at Sportsland Sugo to build a gap at the top of the standings.
The Honda junior was the driver to beat throughout last weekend, starting with practice in which he led Kaylen Frederick by 0.248 seconds and the same gap covered second to sixth.
Next up was qualifying, and in Q1 took race one pole by 0.301s over Zachary David. He was just 0.024s faster than Yuki Sano, who had a 0.019s gap to Frederick.
Nomura had a 0.3s advantage again in Q2 for race two pole, with Sano denying David second by 0.002s. Esteban Masson was a further 0.059s behind, and quicker than Frederick by 0.001s.
Race one was bland, with Nomura making a great start and winning unopposed. Sano and Rikuto Kobayashi, from fifth, got up to second and third in the first corners but only Sano was near the leader’s pace. Masson overtook Frederick for fifth on lap two and the top 10 was settled.
Nomura had to cover the inside line at the start of race two, and exiting the opening corner David and Masson collided. Masson then went off at turn four, and David did one lap before retiring.
Thr safety car appeared on lap two, then released the field on lap seven. Nomura led home Sano again, and Yuga Furutani was promoted onto the podium by the lap one chaos while Kobayashi jumped to fourth.
Frederick lost two spots in the first two laps, and the only overtakes after that were outside the points positions.
Nomura also started from pole in race three, in which he built a 2.58s lead in the first six laps before Sano closed back in. It was down to 0.8s on lap 16 before Nomura responded, going a second clear before last-lap traffic meant Sano finished 0.5s behind.
Kobayashi had a slow start from third yet kept the position, and Yusuke Mitsui spun into the path of Kazuhisa Urabe exiting turn two yet both could continue and Mitsui came 0.135s shy of taking eighth from Reimei Ito.
Race four was a rescheduling of the Autopolis’s cancelled race three, and the front row was the same.
Sano jumped the start slightly and got on the inside of Nomura down the pit straight, and tried keeping his nose there into turn one. Nomura cut off the line though to stay ahead.
A five-second penalty ended Sano’s victory hopes, but by finishing 0.94s behind Nomura on-the-road he did enough to maintain second. They were 0.342s apart mid-race.
Furutani started and finished third, ahead of Mitsui.
Results round-up
Race 1 (26 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura B-MAX Racing 32m21.980s
2 Yuki Sano TOM’S +1.814s
3 Rikuto Kobayashi TOM’S +13.181s
4 Zachary David B-MAX Racing +14.202s
5 Esteban Masson TOM’S +14.962s
6 Kaylen Frederick B-MAX Racing +15.979s
7 Yusuke Mitsui Delightworks Racing +16.423s
8 Kazuhisa Urabe B-MAX Racing +21.837s
9 Yuga Furutani TOM’S +29.044s
10 Reimei Ito LM Corsa +31.092s
Pole: Nomura, 1m12.568s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 1m14.088s
Race 2 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 28m11.612s
2 Sano +1.173s
3 Furutani +7.168s
4 Kobayashi +8.195s
5 Mitsui +8.513s
6 Urabe +12.200s
7 Frederick +13.344s
8 Ito +18.637s
9 Nobuhiro Imada B-MAX Racing +42.918s
10 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +52.369s
P: Nomura, 1m12.554s
FL: Sano, 1m14.016s
Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 23m33.080s
2 Sano +0.504s
3 Kobayashi +5.675s
4 Masson +10.553s
5 David +13.021s
6 Frederick +13.603s
7 Furutani +14.369s
8 Ito +26.138s
9 Mitsui +26.273s
10 Imada +53.055s
FL: Nomura, 1m13.789s
Race 4 (19 laps)
1 Nomura 23m34.444s
2 Sano +5.940s
3 Furutani +6.882s
4 Mitsui +11.546s
5 Kobayashi +12.377s
6 Urabe +17.568s
7 Masson +18.100s
8 David +18.945s
9 Ito +20.745s
10 Frederick +21.624s
FL: Sano, 1m13.903s
Championship standings
1 Nomura 95 2 Sano 81 3 Kobayashi 48 4 Frederick 34 5 David 22 6 Masson 21 7 Furutani 21 8 Mitsui 14 9 Urabe 5 10 Ito 1