Tadasuke Makino breaking down in tears upon scoring his first victory at Autopolis must rank as one of the moments of the Super Formula season.
The Dandelion Racing driver used that breakthrough to mount a serious title challenge, picking up a second win at Motegi and emerging as Sho Tsuboi’s closest rival as he kept the title fight alive - barely - until the final race.
In Super GT, Makino proved his class again by leading Team Kunimitsu to the runner-up spot in the standings in the radical new Honda Civic Type R-GT's first year, often eclipsing his more experienced team-mate Naoki Yamamoto.
Dandelion boss Kiyoshi Muraoka on Makino’s breakthrough season
Ever since he arrived in Super Formula in 2019 after his one and only season in Formula 2 the year prior, Makino has had to watch his team-mates enjoy success while wondering if his turn would ever come.
First it was Alex Palou at Nakajima Racing in his rookie season, then Toshiki Oyu the following year with the same team. In 2021, as Makino moved to Dandelion Racing, Nirei Fukuzumi took his first victories. And then, last year, perhaps most gallingly of all, then-rookie Kakunoshin Ota also beat Makino to the punch of a first win.
Luckily for Makino, from the second half of 2023, Dandelion returned to being a force to be reckoned with at the front of the Super Formula field, and so it felt like only a matter of time before the curse would finally be lifted as that strong form carried over into the start of 2024.
Dandelion team principal Kiyoshi Muraoka credited Makino with Dandelion’s emergence from the doldrums last year, and this year he has been equally impressed with his de facto lead driver’s resolute determination and laser-like focus.
“When he has a target in mind, he definitely never gives up,” says Muraoka. “Even when things are not going well, he never loses sight of the goal. He is very conscious of the process he needs to follow and what he has to do to reach the target.”
Makino himself acknowledges that the breakthrough win at Autopolis, when it did finally arrive, allowed him to change his mindset. Having got that monkey off his back, he was able to reset his focus on the very different business of going about assembling a title challenge.
From that point onwards, Makino was never outside of the top five again, until the very final race of the year when a gamble on set-up in a bid to keep his title hopes alive went awry.
“It took him a long time to get the first win,” admits Muraoka. “At that time, I don’t think many people regarded him as a serious threat for the title, but he set himself that new target, and he followed the process with determination.
“He’s definitely become more relaxed, he’s calmed down, and the target shifted to fighting for the championship. I think the fact he got the win early in the season was important.”
