2017 Super Formula Championship
The 2017 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-fifth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the fifth under the moniker of Super Formula. Yuji Kunimoto was the defending series champion.[1]
Hiroaki Ishiura won his second Driver's Championship in three years, finishing only half a point ahead of Pierre Gasly after the final round was cancelled due to Typhoon Lan. The Cerumo INGING team won their second successive Team Championship.
Teams and drivers
[edit]Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-414E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota RI4A engine.
| Manufacturer | Engine | No. | Driver | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 P.mu/cerumo・INGING[2]
|
Toyota | 1 | Yuji Kunimoto[2]
|
All |
| 2 | Hiroaki Ishiura[2]
|
All | ||
| Kondō Racing[2]
|
Toyota | 3 |  Nick Cassidy[2]
|
All |
| 4 | Kenta Yamashita[2]
|
All | ||
| SUNOCO Team LeMans[2]
|
Toyota | 7 |  Felix Rosenqvist[3]
|
All |
| 8 | Kazuya Oshima[2]
|
All | ||
| Real Racing[4]
|
Honda | 10 | Koudai Tsukakoshi[4]
|
All |
| Team Mugen[4]
|
Honda | 15 |  Pierre Gasly[5]
|
All |
| 16 | Naoki Yamamoto[4]
|
All | ||
 KCMG[2]
|
Toyota | 18 | Kamui Kobayashi[2]
|
All |
| Itochu Enex Team Impul[2]
|
Toyota | 19 | Yuhi Sekiguchi[2]
|
All |
| 20 |  Jann Mardenborough[6]
|
All | ||
| Vantelin Team Tom's[7]
|
Toyota | 36 |  André Lotterer[2]
|
All |
| 37 | Kazuki Nakajima[2]
|
All | ||
| Docomo Team Dandelion Racing[4]
|
Honda | 40 | Tomoki Nojiri[4]
|
All |
| 41 | Takuya Izawa[4]
|
All | ||
| B-MAX Racing Team[8]
|
Honda | 50 | Takashi Kogure[4]
|
All |
| TCS Nakajima Racing[9]
|
Honda | 64 | Daisuke Nakajima[4]
|
All |
| 65 |  Narain Karthikeyan[4]
|
All |
Driver changes
[edit]- Leaving Super Formula
- Stoffel Vandoorne will leave the series to compete in Formula One with McLaren.[10]
- Bertrand Baguette will leave the series to compete in Super GT Series.
- Yuichi Nakayama is replaced at the single car KCMG team by Kamui Kobayashi.
- Joao Paulo de Oliveira, 2010 Formula Nippon champion, leaves after seven seasons with Team Impul and ten in the series.
- Entering Super Formula
- 2016 GP2 Series champion, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso reserve driver Pierre Gasly moved to Super Formula with Team Mugen. He replaced Daniil Kvyat at Scuderia Toro Rosso from the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, but skipped the 2017 United States Grand Prix to finish the Super Formula season.
- Nick Cassidy and Kenta Yamashita, the 2015 and 2016 Japanese Formula 3 champions, join the series with Kondo Racing, replacing James Rossiter and William Buller.
- GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough makes his series debut with Team Impul.
- 2015 European F3 champion Felix Rosenqvist joins the series. He is joined at Team LeMans by Kazuya Oshima, making his full-time return to Super Formula for the first time since 2012.
Race calendar
[edit]| Round | Circuit | Date | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | Winning Team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suzuka Circuit | 23 April | Kazuki Nakajima
|
Koudai Tsukakoshi
|
Kazuki Nakajima
|
Vantelin Team Tom's | |
| 2 | R1 | Okayama International Circuit | 27 May | Yuhi Sekiguchi
|
Felix Rosenqvist
|
André Lotterer
|
Vantelin Team Tom's |
| R2 | 28 May | Hiroaki Ishiura
|
Kamui Kobayashi
|
Yuhi Sekiguchi
|
Itochu Enex Team Impul | ||
| 3 | Fuji Speedway | 9 July | Yuji Kunimoto
|
Felix Rosenqvist
|
Hiroaki Ishiura
|
P.mu/cerumo・INGING | |
| 4 | Twin Ring Motegi | 20 August | Kenta Yamashita
|
Koudai Tsukakoshi
|
Pierre Gasly
|
Team Mugen | |
| 5 | Autopolis | 10 September | Tomoki Nojiri
|
Jann Mardenborough
|
Pierre Gasly
|
Team Mugen | |
| 6 | Sportsland SUGO | 24 September | Nick Cassidy
|
Hiroaki Ishiura
|
Yuhi Sekiguchi
|
Itochu Enex Team Impul | |
| 7 | R1 | Suzuka Circuit | 22 October | André Lotterer
|
Races cancelled due to Typhoon Lan[11] | ||
| R2 | Jann Mardenborough
| ||||||
| Source:[12] | |||||||
Championship standings
[edit]Drivers' Championship
[edit]- Scoring system
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pole | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rounds 1, 3-6 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Round 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Round 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
- Driver standings
|
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Teams' Championship
[edit]| Pos | Team | No. | SUZ | OKA | FUJ | MOT | AUT | SUG | SUZ | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P.mu/cerumo・INGING | 1 | 3 | 10 | 9 | Ret | 15 | 5 | 4 | C | C | 47.5 |
| 2 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | C | C | |||
| 2 | Team Mugen | 15 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | C | C | 43.5 |
| 16 | 2 | 5 | 8 | Ret | 13 | Ret | 18 | C | C | |||
| 3 | Vantelin Team TOM's | 36 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | Ret | 10 | C | C | 41 |
| 37 | 1 | 9 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 3 | C | C | |||
| 4 | SUNOCO Team LeMans | 7 | 11 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | C | C | 34.5 |
| 8 | Ret | 15 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 15 | C | C | |||
| 5 | ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul | 19 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 1 | C | C | 27.5 |
| 20 | 18 | 6 | 17 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 17 | C | C | |||
| 6 | KCMG | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 7 | C | C | 16.5 |
| 7 | Kondo Racing | 3 | 17 | 3 | 11 | Ret | 5 | Ret | 19 | C | C | 12.5 |
| 4 | 14 | 7 | 6 | Ret | 6 | 13 | 11 | C | C | |||
| 8 | DOCOMO Team Dandelion Racing | 40 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 12 | C | C | 6 |
| 41 | 8 | 14 | Ret | 6 | Ret | 15 | 8 | C | C | |||
| 9 | Real Racing | 10 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 16 | C | C | 3 |
| 10 | TCS Nakajima Racing | 64 | 7 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 17 | C | C | 2 |
| 65 | 13 | 17 | 13 | 14 | Ret | Ret | 13 | C | C | |||
| 11 | B-MAX Racing Team | 50 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 14 | C | C | 0 |
| Pos | Team | No. | SUZ | OKA | FUJ | MOT | AUT | SUG | SUZ | Points | ||
References
[edit]- ^ "Suzuka Super Formula: Kunimoto takes title, Vandoorne wins final race". October 30, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Toyota GAZOO Racing Outlines 2017 Motorsports Activities". Toyota Motor Corporation. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
- ^ van Leeuwen, Andrew (1 March 2017). "Rosenqvist scores LeMans Super Formula seat". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Honda 2017 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ^ Chokhani, Darshan (13 February 2017). "Gasly confirmed at Mugen for 2017 Super Formula season". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ^ "Itochu Enex Team Impul Line-up". Impul. Itochu Enex Team Impul. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ "Red Bull closing on Super Formula deal for Gasly". 6 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
While the TOM'S line-up of Kazuki Nakajima and Andre Lotterer is set to remain unchanged
- ^ "B-MAX RACING TEAM、2017年からスーパーフォーミュラに参戦！ ドライバーは協議中 (B-MAX RACING TEAM, fought from 2017 to super formula! The driver is under discussion)". 27 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- ^ "Red Bull in talks to place Gasly in Super Formula". 4 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
One of the teams Red Bull has held discussions with about running Gasly is understood to be Nakajima Racing, which ran Daisuke Nakajima and Bertrand Baguette in this year's championship.
- ^ "Vandoorne to partner Alonso at McLaren in 2017 as Button steps back". 3 September 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- ^ Thukrai, Rachit (21 October 2017). "Gasly denied Super Formula title shot as finale cancelled". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "SUPER FORMULA Official Website".
External links
[edit]- Japanese Championship Super Formula official website (in English)