The 2024 Super Formula Lights Championship was the fifth Super Formula Lights Championship season, after the Japanese Formula 3 Championship was rebranded following the end of the 2019 season.
Syun Koide, driving for B-Max Racing Team, won the Drivers' Championship with two races to spare, while TOM's, the team of runner-up Rikuto Kobayashi, won the Teams' Championship. Ryuji "Dragon" Kumita, driving for his eponymous Team Dragon, became Masters' Winner for the first time since 2020 when his closest competitor Nobuhiro Imada, the Masters' Winner in every season since 2020, did not enter the final round.
After being a multi-engine championship throughout all of its history, dating back to 1979, this changed in 2024 with the introduction of a spec Toyota engine developed by TOM'S and based on the Toyota GR Yaris three cylinder 1.6-litre turbo engine.[1] This change coincided with the introduction of a new chassis, the Dallara 324, after four years of using the Dallara 320, and with a change of tyre supplier from Yokohama to Kumho.[2] [3]
|
B-Max Racing Team saw its six-car operation split up into four different entries: The No. 4 and No. 8 cars were run under the "JMS Racing Team" and "GNSY Racing" banners respectively, the No. 13 and No. 30 cars were fielded under the "Team Dragon" guise and the No. 1 and No. 50 remained under the B-Max Racing Team name.
Rn-sports left the championship after having competed in every Super Formula Lights season.
Super GT GT300 team LM corsa made their series debut at Okayama and Motegi.[6]
ALBIREX Racing Team returned to Super Formula Lights for the final two rounds after last competing there in 2021.[7]
Reigning Teams' Champion B-Max Racing Team signed two new drivers in its core program under the B-Max name. 2023 champion Iori Kimura stepped up to the teams' Super Formula outfit, with his seat in the No. 50 car filled by Syun Koide, who departed Toda Racing after coming third in his debut season with the team.[8] The No. 1 car was driven by Kaylen Frederick, who made his debut in Japan after coming 21st with ART Grand Prix in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship, while Igor Fraga and David Vidales left the championship after coming fourth and ninth in 2023, respectively. Fraga focused on his reserve driver duties for PONOS Nakajima Racing in Super Formula and his Super GT program with Arnage Racing, while Vidales joined AF Corse for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.[9] [10] Togo Suganami and Takashi Hata, who did three and four rounds with the team in 2023 respectively, did not return.
The two cars under the Team Dragon banner were piloted by B-Max Team Owner "Dragon" and Rin Arakawa, who embarked on a part-time campaign after coming sixth in the previous year's F4 Japanese Championship.[11] Arakawa shared the car with Masters' Class driver Makoto Fujiwara, the 2023 F4 Japanese Championship Independent Cup champion. In B-Max Racings two other satellite entries, Nobuhiro Imada continued to pilot the No. 4 car, albeit under the JMS Racing Team name, and Yasuhiro Shimizu, who last raced in the Super GT GT300 Class in 2011, joined GNSY Racing.[11]
TOM'S signed two Toyota juniors in 2023 F4 Japanese champion Rikuto Kobayashi and runner-up Jin Nakamura. Both rookies replaced last season's runner-up Hibiki Taira, who continued driving in the Super GT series' GT300 class with INGING, and Enzo Trulli, who joined Easy Race in the Italian GT Sprint Championship.
Souta Arao took over Syun Koide's former seat at Toda Racing, returning to Japan after a stint in GB3 with Hitech Pulse-Eight, where he came 17th.[12]
Makoto Fujiwara took over the No. 13 Dragon Racing car from round 2 onwards, and Rin Arakawa switched to B-Max Racing as the team entered a third car from that round on.[13]
Former Japanese F4 and Super GT driver Reimei Ito competed with Super GT team LM corsa at the rounds at Okayama and Motegi, with both driver and team making their series debut.[6]
Tsubasa Iriyama, who raced with ALBIREX Racing Team for 2020 and 2021, returned to the series for the final two rounds, while Rin Arakawa left B-Max Racing and the series ahead of the round at Suzuka.[7]
Togo Suganami returned to the series where he came sixth in a part-time campaign in 2023 to replace Nobuhiro Imada at JMS Racing Team for the final round. Rin Arakawa meanwhile returned to Team Dragon, the team he drove for at Autopolis at the start of the year, in place of Makoto Fujiwara.[14]
The calendar for the 2024 season was announced on 24 November 2023. It once again consisted of eighteen races held over six weekends at six circuits. Four of the events supported the parent Super Formula Championship.[15] When the Super Formula season finale was brought forwards by two weeks, the Super Formula Lights amended its calendar accordingly.[16] The season opener, scheduled to be held over the last weekend in April at Mobility Resort Motegi, was cancelled two weeks prior to the event after issues with the new spec engine in combination with the new Dallara chassis arose. The first round was initially rescheduled to December, before being changed again to late November to avoid a clash with Super GT.[17] [18]
| Round | Circuit | Date | Supporting | Map of circuit locations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R4 | Autopolis, Hita | 18 May | Super Formula Championship Honda N-One Owner's Cup | |
| R5 | 19 May | ||||
| R6 | |||||
| 2 | R7 | Sportsland Sugo, Murata | 22 June | Super Formula Championship Honda N-One Owner's Cup | |
| R8 | 23 June | ||||
| R9 | |||||
| 3 | R10 | Fuji Speedway, Oyama | 20 July | Super Formula Championship Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Kyojo Cup | |
| R11 | |||||
| R12 | 21 July | ||||
| 4 | R13 | Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka | 14 September | Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86/BRZ Cup SuperKart Okayama International Series Roadster Party Race N Zero Yaris | |
| R14 | 15 September | ||||
| R15 | |||||
| 5 | R16 | Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka | 9 November | Super Formula Championship | |
| R17 | 10 November | ||||
| R18 | |||||
| 6 | R1 | Mobility Resort Motegi, Motegi | 30 November | TCR Japan Touring Car Series | |
| R2 | 1 December | ||||
| R3 | |||||
Points were awarded as follows:
Masters' Class
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Only a teams' best finishing driver was eligible for points.
| Pos | Driver | AUT | SUG | FUJ | OKA | SUZ | MOT | Points | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 | R1 | R2 | R3 | |||
| 1 | TOM'S | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 143 |
| 2 | B-Max Racing Team | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 124 |
| 3 | Toda Racing | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 43 |
| 4 | Team Dragon | 3 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 17 |
| 5 | LM corsa | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | JMS Racing Team | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | Ret | Ret | DNS | 11 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 0 |
| 7 | ALBIREX Racing Team | 8 | Ret | 8 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | GNSY Racing | 10 | Ret | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | Ret | 12 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 0 |
| Pos | Driver | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Points |
| AUT | SUG | FUJ | OKA | SUZ | MOT | |||||||||||||||
