Photo: Japanese F4
Honda junior Yuto Nomura clinched the Japanese Formula 4 title with his fifth successive win in the final round at Suzuka.
In his second season in the series after previously racing in French F4, Nomura took the points lead off teammate Ryota Horachi when he started his winning streak at Autopolis in October, before he then opened up a 41-point advantage with a hat-trick at Motegi.
It was Horachi who claimed a double pole position in qualifying, where he was 0.272 seconds faster than Nomura, but it was Nomura who made the better getaway at the start of race one to take the lead while Horachi went side-by-side with Yuki Sano through the opening corners and ultimately fell to third.
Nomura established a lead of around 0.7s in the early laps before the safety car was required after “Dragon” spun into the gravel at 130R on lap four of 11. The race restarted on lap 8, but an incident at the hairpin involving two more independents class drivers, Isao Nakashima and “Kentaro”, brought the safety car straight back out.
One lap remained at the restart, with Nomura doing enough to beat Sano by 0.606s and secure the title with a race to spare.
Horachi completed the podium, with Kotaro Shimbara fourth ahead of Tosei Moriyama while Rintaro Sato took sixth after a last-lap side-by-side battle with teammate Kento Omiya, who locked up and went off at the Casio Triangle, falling to 11th.
In race two, Horachi held the lead at the start as Nomura challenged him around the outside of the first corner, while Shimbara got the better of Moriyama in a battle for third and soon began pressuring Nomura.
The safety car was deployed on lap two after Omiya spun into the gravel in the S Curves out of eighth place.
Kageyama Racing driver Shimbara, who returned to Japanese F4 this year after a year out, immediately attacked Nomura at the restart and was past for second place before even turning in for the first corner.
Behind, there was a crash that put Ryo Shirasaki, Hironobu Shimizu and Kazuhisa Urabe into the gravel on the outside of turn one, bringing the safety car out once more.
Just three laps remained at the restart and Shimbara instantly pressured Horachi, who responded to win by 2.198s. However, Horachi was later disqualified when his car was found to be underweight, handing Shimbara his maiden win.
Shimbara – recently selected together with Sato as a winner of the Honda Racing School scholarship for 2025 – had already done enough to take third place in the final standings away from Toyota junior Sano, who was ultimately classified fifth in the last race.
Results round-up
Race 1 (11 laps)
1 Yuto Nomura HFDP 30m20.390s
2 Yuki Sano TGR-DC RS +0.606s
3 Ryota Horachi HFDP +0.990s
4 Kotaro Shimbara Kageyama Racing +1.675s
5 Tosei Moriyama Helm Motorsports +2.308s
6 Rintaro Sato Ponos Racing +3.557s
7 Hironobu Shimizu Drago Corse +3.764s
8 Ryo Shirasaki Bionic Jack Racing +4.341s
9 Kiyoshi Umegaki TGR-DC RS +5.013s
10 Rio Shimono Dr. Dry Racing Team +5.778s
Pole: Horachi, 2m06.737s
Fastest lap: Nomura, 2m07.705s
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Shimbara 29m56.659s
2 Nomura +1.387s
3 Moriyama +1.926s
4 Umegaki +3.100s
5 Sano +4.042s
6 R Sato +4.558s
7 Tokiya Suzuki TGR-DC RS +4.879s
8 Kenta Kumagai OTG Motor Sports +5.308s
9 Itsuki Sato Drago Corse +6.412s
10 Shota Sakai TGM Grand Prix +6.590s
P: Horachi, 2m06.775s
FL: Moriyama, 2m08.198s
Championship standings
1 Nomura 236 2 Horachi 167 3 Shimbara 153 4 Sano 147 5 Moriyama 99 6 Shimizu 97 7 Umegaki 78 8 R Sato 70 9 Kento Omiya 68 10 Suzuki 47