Fresh from wrapping up his second title with a race to spare on Saturday, Nojiri topped his Q1 group with ease before going on to grab the top spot for Sunday's finale with a best lap of 1m36.003s in the Q2 pole shootout.
The Mugen driver's sixth pole of the year means he equals the modern-era benchmark set by Toranosuke Takagi in 2000 and Tsugio Matsuda in 2008. He has also matched Honda stablemate Naoki Yamamoto for the most poles among active Super Formula drivers on 13.
As on Saturday, TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata proved Nojiri's nearest opponent, missing out on his first career pole by a scant 0.040s.
Hiroki Otsu was the surprise package of the morning as the Dandelion driver, who only qualified 16th on Saturday, grabbed third spot ahead of the second Mugen car of Saturday winner Ukyo Sasahara and Sho Tsuboi (Inging).
Ryo Hirakawa (Impul) and Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing), who go into the final race of the year tied for second in the drivers' standings, will start sixth and seventh on the grid respectively.
Completing the top 10 were rookie Atsushi Miyake (Team Goh), Toshiki Oyu (Nakajima Racing) and Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion), who once again was fastest in his Q1 group only to slump in Q2.
Giuliano Alesi (TOM'S) made it out of Q1 for the first time since April's Fuji opener, but could only manage the 11th-fastest time in Q2.
After finishing on the podium on Saturday, Red Bull junior Ren Sato (Goh) blotted his copybook with a spin on his out lap in Q1, subsequently just missing out on a Q2 spot and qualifying in 14th place.
Kenta Yamashita's woes in the second Kondo Racing car continued as he was slowest of all in his Q1 segment, leaving him 19th on the grid ahead of Impul driver Yuhi Sekiguchi.
The final race of the Super Formula season begins at 2.30pm local time (GMT +9).
Suzuka Super Formula (Round 10) - Q2 results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Tomoki Nojiri |
Team Mugen | 1'36.003 | |
| 2 | 37 | Ritomo Miyata |
Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S | 1'36.043 | 0.040 |
| 3 | 6 | Hiroki Otsu |
Dandelion Racing |
1'36.468 | 0.465 |
| 4 | 15 | Ukyo Sasahara |
Team Mugen | 1'36.612 | 0.609 |
| 5 | 38 | Sho Tsuboi |
P.MU/CERUMO･INGING | 1'36.669 | 0.666 |
| 6 | 20 | Ryo Hirakawa |
Team Impul | 1'36.688 | 0.685 |
| 7 | 4 |  Sacha Fenestraz |
Kondo Racing | 1'36.735 | 0.732 |
| 8 | 55 | Atsushi Miyake |
Team Goh | 1'36.738 | 0.735 |
| 9 | 65 | Toshiki Oyu |
TCS Nakajima Racing | 1'36.746 | 0.743 |
| 10 | 5 | Tadasuke Makino |
Dandelion Racing |
1'36.789 | 0.786 |
| 11 | 36 | Giuliano Alesi |
Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S | 1'36.953 | 0.950 |
| 12 | 18 | Yuji Kunimoto |
KCMG | 1'37.255 | 1.252 |
| View full results | |||||
