Dandelion Racing extended its winning streak in Super Formula as Kakunoshin Ohta led another one-two finish for the Honda-powered team at Motegi on Sunday.
Ohta was the major beneficiary of a first-lap safety car period that prompted the majority of the field to pit immediately and clear their mandatory stops, having started second on the grid behind poleman Kenta Yamashita.
Kondo Racing’s Yamashita, who took pole by a huge margin of over half a second, led a train of 13 cars into the pits, but a slower stop allowed Ohta to get the jump.
Shortly afterwards Yamashita slowed with a loose right-rear tyre, trundling back to the pits with his hopes of a first victory since 2019 ruined.
At the head of the field, Ohta’s Dandelion team-mate Tadasuke Makino led a group of seven drivers who stayed out, which also included Ayumu Iwasa’s Team Mugen car.
With no choice but to try and go as long as possible on his first set of tyres, Makino made it as far as lap 23 of 37 before coming in for fresh rubber, with Iwasa going five laps longer.
That put Ohta back into a comfortable lead, while Makino slipped behind first-lap stoppers Sacha Fenestraz, Sena Sakaguchi and Kazuya Oshima before quickly picking off all three drivers once his new tyres were up to temperature.
After clearing Fenestraz for a net second on lap 27, Makino faced a deficit of 12 seconds to Ohta, but the latter was able to manage his pace on older rubber to perfection.
In the end, 4.6 seconds separated the pair, as Dandelion celebrated its second consecutive one-two finish but with its drivers in the opposite order to Saturday’s opener.
Iwasa meanwhile was able to make use of his strong race pace to grab third, overcutting Fenestraz to put the frustration of his DNF on Saturday behind him.
TOM’S driver Fenestraz hung on for fourth place, leading home Sakaguchi’s Inging machine, Oshima’s Rookie Racing car and Toshiki Oyu in the second Inging car.
KCMG driver Seita Nonaka, deputising for Kamui Kobayashi, was an impressive eighth place after passing Saturday podium finisher Igor Fraga, who could only manage ninth for Nakajima Racing.
Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen) fended off Zak O’Sullivan (Kondo) for the final point in 10th as his difficult start to the season continued, while Yamashita finished 13th.
Sho Tsuboi (TOM’S) was among the minority of drivers not to pit on the first lap, and was running third until clutch trouble forced him to slow, ultimately leaving the reigning champion multiple laps down at the finish.
Ohta’s win puts him back in the lead of the drivers’ standings on 61 points, one point clear of Makino, while Iwasa moves back up to third on 41 points with eight races remaining.
