2019 Super Formula Championship Explained

The 2019 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-seventh season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the seventh under the moniker of Super Formula. The season began on 21 April at Suzuka Circuit and ended on 27 October at the same location.^[1]

2019 marked the first season of the Dallara SF19 chassis package, while continuing the engine configuration of the preceding chassis.^[2]

Nick Cassidy clinched his first Driver's Championship title, after finishing ahead of reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto at the season finale at Suzuka.^[3] Docomo Team Dandelion Racing won their first Teams' Championship title since 2012, with Naoki Yamamoto and Nirei Fukuzumi driving for them.^[4]

Teams and drivers

Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-414E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota RI4A engine.

Team	Engine		Driver	Rounds
Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	Honda	1	Naoki Yamamoto^[5]	All
		5	Nirei Fukuzumi	All
Kondo Racing	Toyota	3	Kenta Yamashita	All
		4	Yuji Kunimoto	All
UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans	Toyota	7		1–5
			Yuichi Nakayama^[6]	6–7
		8	Kazuya Oshima	All
Team Mugen	Honda	15		1–3
			Patricio O'Ward^[7]	4–6
			Jüri Vips^[8]	7
		16	Tomoki Nojiri	All
	Honda	17		1
			Koudai Tsukakoshi^[9]	2–7
carrozzeria Team KCMG	Toyota	18	Kamui Kobayashi	All
Itochu Enex Team Impul	Toyota	19	Yuhi Sekiguchi	All
		20	Ryo Hirakawa	All
Vantelin Team TOM'S	Toyota	36	Kazuki Nakajima	All
		37	Nick Cassidy	All
JMS P.mu/cerumo・INGING	Toyota	38	Hiroaki Ishiura^[10]	All
		39	Sho Tsuboi	All
B-Max Racing with Motopark^[11]	Honda	50	Lucas Auer^[12]	All
		51	Harrison Newey^[13]	All
TCS Nakajima Racing	Honda	64		All
		65		All

Team changes

• German team Motopark will enter the championship in collaboration with the B-MAX Racing Team.^[11]

Driver changes

• Lucas Auer announce to joining Super Formula with B-MAX Motopark after Mercedes AMG shut down their DTM project.^[11] Former FIA European Formula Three Championship driver Harrison Newey was later confirmed in a second B-MAX car.^[13]
• 2018 champion Naoki Yamamoto moves to Team Dandelion Racing after eight seasons driving for Team Mugen. He is joined by Nirei Fukuzumi, who completed a partial season with Mugen in 2018 alongside FIA Formula 2.^[13] Nobuharu Matsushita leaves Team Dandelion after a single season, returning to Formula 2 with Carlin.
• Tomoki Nojiri moves from Team Dandelion to Team Mugen.^[13] He will be partnered by 2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship runner-up and two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Daniel Ticktum, who competed in two rounds for the team in 2018.^[12]
• Koudai Tsukakoshi leaves Real Racing's Super Formula team after six seasons. He is replaced by Tristan Charpentier, who raced in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship in 2018.^[13]
• Narain Karthikeyan and Takuya Izawa are replaced at Nakajima Racing by Formula 2 race winner Tadasuke Makino and former European and Japanese Formula Three driver Álex Palou. Karthikeyan will remain with the team in Super GT.^[13]
• 2018 series runner-up Nick Cassidy will move from Kondō Racing to Team TOM'S, replacing James Rossiter.^[10]
• 2016 champion Yuji Kunimoto will take Cassidy's place at Kondo Racing, after Toyota promoted 2018 Japanese F3 champion Sho Tsuboi to his former seat at Cerumo・INGING.^[10]
• Artem Markelov, a five-season veteran of the GP2 Series and FIA Formula 2 with Russian Time, joins Super Formula in the #7 Team LeMans, which in 2018 was driven by both Pietro Fittipaldi and Tom Dillmann.^[10]

Mid-season changes

• Tristan Charpentier left Real Racing after the first round. He had qualified two seconds off the pace in the first round and crashed heavily in the race. He was replaced by veteran racer Koudai Tsukakoshi for the rest of the season.
• Dan Ticktum left Team Mugen after the third round. He was dropped by the Red Bull Junior programme and subsequently lost his Super Formula drive.^[14] He was replaced by new Red Bull Junior, Patricio O'Ward for the remainder of the season. However, O'Ward was dropped prior to the final round from the Red Bull Junior Team and thus for the final round, the seat was filled by Estonian Jüri Vips.
• Yuichi Nakayama replaced Artem Markelov at the sixth round due to Markelov being called up to race for BWT Arden in the FIA Formula 2 Championship

Race calendar and results

The calendar with seven rounds was announced in August 2018.^{[1] [15]}

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	Suzuka Circuit	21 April	Tadasuke Makino	Álex Palou	Nick Cassidy	Vantelin Team TOM'S
2	Autopolis	19 May	Yuji Kunimoto	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Yuhi Sekiguchi	Itochu Enex Team Impul
3	Sportsland Sugo	23 June	Naoki Yamamoto	Lucas Auer	Naoki Yamamoto	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
4	Fuji Speedway	14 July	Álex Palou	Álex Palou	Álex Palou	TCS Nakajima Racing
5	Twin Ring Motegi	18 August	Álex Palou	Artem Markelov	Ryo Hirakawa	Itochu Enex Team Impul
6	Okayama International Circuit	29 September	Ryo Hirakawa	Kamui Kobayashi	Kenta Yamashita	Kondo Racing
7	Suzuka Circuit	27 October	Álex Palou	Nick Cassidy	Tomoki Nojiri	Team Mugen

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pole
Rounds 1-6	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1	1
Round 7	13	8	6	5	4	3	2	1	1

Driver standings:

Pos Driver SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ Points 1 Nick Cassidy 1 8 4 3 3 10 2 36 2 Naoki Yamamoto 2 2 1 11 9 7 5 33 3 Álex Palou Ret 6 13 1 4 4 19 26 4 Tomoki Nojiri 4 18 Ret 4 8 9 1 24 5 Kenta Yamashita 3 7 6 17 13 1 9 21 6 Kamui Kobayashi 9 10 2 6 2 18 12 19 7 Nirei Fukuzumi 11 5 5 9 5 Ret 3 18 8 Yuhi Sekiguchi Ret 1 10 8 15 13 4 16 9 Lucas Auer 7 11 3 Ret 7 5 11 14 10 Ryo Hirakawa Ret 14 11 12 1 12 8 12 11 Sho Tsuboi 5 12 Ret 2 17 11 10 12 12 Kazuki Nakajima Ret 13 12 5 16 2 14 12 13 Hiroaki Ishiura Ret 9 7 7 6 Ret 6 10 14 Kazuya Oshima 12 3 17 13 11 8 17 7 15 Harrison Newey Ret 17 Ret 16 19 3 20 6 16 Tadasuke Makino Ret 4 14 10 Ret 17 13 6 17 Yuji Kunimoto 6 16 8 15 10 16 15 5 18 Patricio O'Ward 14 14 6 3 19 Koudai Tsukakoshi 15 9 18 18 14 7 2 20 Dan Ticktum 8 Ret 15 1 21 Artem Markelov 10 Ret 16 19 12 0 22 Yuichi Nakayama 15 16 0 23 Jüri Vips 18 0 24 Tristan Charpentier Ret 0 Pos Driver SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ Points

Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Teams' Championship

Pos	Team	No.	SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	OKA	SUZ	Points
1	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	1	2	2	1	11	9	5	5	50
	5	11	5	5	9	5	Ret	3
2	Vantelin Team TOM'S	36	Ret	13	12	5	16	2	14	48
	37	1	8	4	3	3	10	2
3	TCS Nakajima Racing	64	Ret	6	13	1	4	4	19	28
	65	Ret	4	14	10	Ret	17	13
4	Itochu Enex Team Impul	19	Ret	1	10	8	15	13	4	27
		20	Ret	14	11	12	1	12	8
5	Team Mugen	15	8	Ret	15	14	14	6	18	25
		16	4	18	Ret	4	8	9	1
6	Kondo Racing	3	3	7	6	17	13	1	9	25
	4	6	16	8	15	10	16	15
7	JMS P.mu/Cerumo・INGING	38	Ret	9	7	7	6	Ret	6	22
	39	5	12	Ret	2	17	11	10
8	B-MAX Racing with Motopark	50	7	11	3	Ret	7	5	11	20
		51	Ret	17	Ret	16	19	3	20
9	carrozzeria Team KCMG	18	9	10	2	6	2	18	12	19
10	UOMO Sunoco Team LeMans	7	10	Ret	16	19	12	15	16	7
	8	12	3	17	13	11	8	17
11	Real Racing	17	Ret	15	9	18	18	14	7	2
Pos	Team	No.	SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	OKA	SUZ	Points

External links

• Japanese Championship Super Formula official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2019 Super Formula Tentative Schedule. August 18, 2018. November 14, 2018.
2. Web site: New Super Formula SF19 car completes first shakedown running. Thukral. Rachit. Autosport. June 16, 2018. November 14, 2018.
3. Web site: Suzuka Super Formula: Cassidy wins title in tense finale. Klein. Jamie. Motorsport.com. October 27, 2019. October 27, 2019.
4. Web site: Team Standings Race Calendar 2019 SUPER FORMULA Official Website. JP SUPER FORMULA. ja. 2019-10-27.
5. Web site: Honda to switch F2 racers Fukuzumi, Makino to Super Formula in 2019. Klein. Jamie. Autosport. 19 November 2018. 20 November 2018.
6. Web site: Markelov's replacement for Okayama announced. Thukral. Rachit. Motorsport.com. 24 September 2019.
7. Web site: O'Ward takes over Ticktum's Super Formula seat at Team Mugen. Benyon. Jack. Autosport. Motorsport Network. 30 June 2019. 30 June 2019.
8. Web site: Vips replaces O'Ward for Super Formula finale. Thukral. Rachit. Autosport. Motorsport Network. 18 October 2019. 19 October 2019.
9. Web site: Rookie Charpentier axed after one Super Formula race. Thukral. Rachit. Motorsport.com. 9 May 2019. 9 May 2019.
10. Web site: Markelov joins Super Formula as Toyota reveals 2019 drivers. Thukral. Rachit. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 7 February 2019. 7 February 2019.
11. Web site: Motopark confirms 2019 Super Formula move. Simmons. Marcus. Motorsport.com. 14 November 2019. 14 November 2018.
12. Web site: THE RED BULL JUNIOR TEAM AND THE HONDA FORMULA DREAM PROJECT. 5 December 2018. 5 December 2018.
13. News: Thukral . Rachit . Honda reveals details of Super Formula line-up shuffle . 11 January 2019 . . . 11 January 2019.
14. Web site: Red Bull drops Ticktum from junior programme. Mitchell. Scott. 8 June 2019. motorsport.com.
15. Web site: 2019 SUPER FORMULA: Series Calendar. superformula.net. 20 April 2019.