Mugen man Nojiri set the fastest time of 1m24.529s at the end of the Q2 pole shootout to shade TOM'S Ritomo Miyata by 0.269 seconds in a repeat of the front row from Round 2 at Fuji Speedway.
It means Mugen maintains its 100% record of poles in Super Formula this year - Ukyo Sasahara was on pole for the Fuji opener, with Nojiri monopolising the top spot since then - while Nojiri now has 19 points in hand over his nearest rival in the championship standings Ryo Hirakawa.
Dandelion Racing's Tadasuke Makino looked like the driver to beat heading into Q2, as he topped his group in Q1 with on a 1m24.418s, faster than the eventual pole position time.
However, come the pole shootout, Makino could only manage a 1m24.803s to go third-fastest, a scant 0.005s behind Miyata.
Sasahara was fourth-fastest in the second Mugen entry ahead of impressive rookie Atsushi Miyake (Team Goh), who made it four Honda-powered cars in the top five.
Practice pacesetter Sacha Fenestraz was next up in sixth, followed by Kondo Racing team-mate Kenta Yamashita, Hirakawa (Team Impul), Yuji Kunimoto (KCMG) and Hiroki Otsu (Dandelion).
Completing the order in Q2 were Inging's Sena Sakaguchi and Red Bull junior Ren Sato (Goh).
Last year's Autopolis winner Giuliano Alesi (TOM'S) was among those to drop out in Q1, managing only the ninth-fastest time in his group to end up a lowly 17th on the grid.
He'll be joined towards the back by Suzuka victor Nobuharu Matsushita (B-Max), who is set to line up 20th having been slowest of all in the other Q1 segment, apparently failing to set a representative lap.
Nakajima Racing's woes continued with Toshiki Oyu and three-time champion Naoki Yamamoto ending up 18th and 21st respectively, albeit Oyu faces a grid drop for an unauthorised engine change.
Watch this weekend's Autopolis Super Formula round on Motorsport.tv (available worldwide except Japan). Click here for more information.
Super Formula Autopolis - Qualifying results
Q2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tomoki Nojiri | Team Mugen | 3 | 1'24.529 | |
| 2 | Ritomo Miyata | Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S | 4 | 1'24.798 | 0.269 |
| 3 | Tadasuke Makino | Dandelion Racing | 3 | 1'24.803 | 0.274 |
| 4 | Ukyo Sasahara | Team Mugen | 3 | 1'24.901 | 0.372 |
| 5 | Atsushi Miyake | Team Goh | 3 | 1'24.964 | 0.435 |
| 6 |  Sacha Fenestraz | Kondo Racing | 3 | 1'24.966 | 0.437 |
| 7 | Kenta Yamashita | Kondo Racing | 3 | 1'24.987 | 0.458 |
| 8 | Ryo Hirakawa | Team Impul | 3 | 1'25.350 | 0.821 |
| 9 | Yuji Kunimoto | KCMG | 3 | 1'25.368 | 0.839 |
| 10 | Hiroki Otsu | Dandelion Racing | 3 | 1'25.408 | 0.879 |
| 11 | Sena Sakaguchi | P.MU/CERUMO･INGING | 3 | 1'25.422 | 0.893 |
| 12 | Ren Sato | Team Goh | 3 | 1'25.429 | 0.900 |
| View full results | |||||
Q1B
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomoki Nojiri | Team Mugen | 6 | 1'24.724 | |
| 2 | Sena Sakaguchi | P.MU/CERUMO･INGING | 5 | 1'25.038 | 0.314 |
| 3 | Kenta Yamashita | Kondo Racing | 4 | 1'25.085 | 0.361 |
| 4 | Hiroki Otsu | Dandelion Racing | 4 | 1'25.106 | 0.382 |
| 5 | Ritomo Miyata | Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S | 4 | 1'25.245 | 0.521 |
| 6 | Ren Sato | Team Goh | 5 | 1'25.350 | 0.626 |
| 7 | Kamui Kobayashi | KCMG | 6 | 1'25.404 | 0.680 |
| 8 | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Team Impul | 6 | 1'25.480 | 0.756 |
| 9 | Toshiki Oyu | TCS Nakajima Racing | 6 | 1'26.297 | 1.573 |
| 10 | Nobuharu Matsushita | B-Max Racing Team | 3 | 1'27.950 | 3.226 |
| View full results | |||||
Q1A
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tadasuke Makino | Dandelion Racing | 4 | 1'24.418 | |
| 2 | Ukyo Sasahara | Team Mugen | 5 | 1'24.691 | 0.273 |
| 3 | Sacha Fenestraz | Kondo Racing | 5 | 1'24.886 | 0.468 |
| 4 | Ryo Hirakawa | Team Impul | 5 | 1'25.159 | 0.741 |
| 5 | Atsushi Miyake | Team Goh | 5 | 1'25.195 | 0.777 |
| 6 | Yuji Kunimoto | KCMG | 5 | 1'25.265 | 0.847 |
| 7 | Sho Tsuboi | P.MU/CERUMO･INGING | 3 | 1'25.290 | 0.872 |
| 8 | Kazuya Oshima | docomo business ROOKIE | 2 | 1'25.339 | 0.921 |
| 9 | Giuliano Alesi | Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S | 4 | 1'25.567 | 1.149 |
| 10 | Nirei Fukuzumi | ThreeBond Drago CORSE | 5 | 1'25.735 | 1.317 |
| 11 | Naoki Yamamoto | TCS Nakajima Racing | 5 | 1'25.739 | 1.321 |
| View full results | |||||
