#tomoki nojiri

[betatauris]

I CANT DO THIS

[visualvocabulary33]

[ryo-hirakawa]

we (non-japanese watchers of superformula) need to put some respect on tomoki's name bc bro is fighting for a title despite missing a round due to PNEUMOTHORAX. if he was at 100% health the other guys would barely be in this title fight like...when they call him the undisputed champion it is serious

[nick-cassidy]

btw super formula has a double header finale this weekend, liam lawson is 8 points behind current title leader ritmo miyata

[recentanimenews]

Gundam Breaker Battlogue Web Anime to Start Streaming Worldwide on October 19

    The official website for the forthcoming six-chapter web anime Gundam Breaker Battlogue has announced that it will start streaming worldwide on October 19, 2021. It will be streamed on the Gundam franchise's official YouTube channel "Gundam Channel" in Japan, and on Gundam.info overseas.

  The anime Gundam Breaker Battlogue is produced as part of the "Gundam Breaker Battlogue Project," which aims to further strengthen the linkage between the Gundam plastic models and the "Gundam Breaker" series inspired by them. It features the project's original mobile suits and characters from the Gundam Breaker Mobile smartphone game app and the Gundam Breaker 3 PlayStation4/PlayStation Vita game.

  Also, it was announced that the anime's theme song "Breaking Blazing" is performed by three-member Japanese rock band Mr.FanTastiC. Ahead of the digital release on October 20, the song's teaser music video is now streamed on YouTube.

    "Breaking Blazing" teaser MV:

    Mr.FanTastiC artist photo:

      "Gundam Breaker Battlogue" key visual:

    PV:

    Main staff:

  Planning and Production: Sunrise

Original Story: Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino

Director: Masami Ohbari

Screenplay: Yuichiro Kitaoka (Repton), Hajime Mayumi (Repton)

"Gundam Breaker 3 Character Design: Yuriko Senba

"Gundam Breaker Mobile" Character Design: taiki

Character Design: Kenichi Onuki, Tamari Toida

Mechanical Design: Kunio Okawara, Kanetake Ebikawa, Kotaro Ando (Studio GS), Kyoryu, Kyoshi Takigawa, Naohiro Washio

Chief Mechanical Animator: Shinya Kusumegi 

Art Director: Kenta Masuda

Color Designer: Hiroyasu Kanemitsu

CG Director: Yuki Murozono

Director of Photography: Daichi Nogami

Editing: Yukiko Nojiri

Sound Director: Hitoshi Akitagawa

Planning Cooperation: NAMCO BANDAI Entertainment, BANDAI SPIRITS, Sotsu

    Main voice cast:

  Satsukino Misa: Yuka Iguchi

Fudou Ryusei: Kensho Ono

Miyama Sana: Takahashi Rie

Eisen Touma: Tomoki Ono

Kadomatsu: Tomokazu Sugita

    Source: "Gundam Breaker Battlogue" official website

  ©SOTSU, SUNRISE

  By: Mikikazu Komatsu

[tattlepress]

Sho Tsuboi stays on top as Super Formula's Suzuka test ends

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/sports/racing/sho-tsuboi-stays-on-top-as-super-formulas-suzuka-test-ends/

Sho Tsuboi stays on top as Super Formula's Suzuka test ends

The Inging Toyota driver, who caused a surprise by topping the timesheets on Monday, was once again the driver to beat, setting a best time of 1m35.769s during the two-hour morning session.

That was almost exactly three tenths slower than his best time from Monday, with the reduced pace due in part to somewhat higher temperatures on a clear, sunny day at the Japanese Grand Prix venue.

Nakajima Racing’s Toshiki Oyu, who paced last December’s post-season test at Suzuka, was second-quickest and the only other driver to break into the 1m35s, 0.169s off the pace of Tsuboi.

Yuhi Sekiguchi was third-fastest for defending teams’ champion Impul, ahead of Dandelion newcomer Hiroki Otsu, three-time champion Naoki Yamamoto (Nakajima) and the second Impul car of Ryo Hirakawa.

Much like on Monday, the bulk of the best times were set in the morning, with afternoon pacesetter Ritomo Miyata (TOM’S) one of just four drivers of the 21 present to improve in the second session.

Ritomo Miyata, Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Miyata’s best time of 1m36.466s put him 0.247s clear of Kondo Racing’s Kenta Yamashita, but only seventh overall, with Yamashita eighth on the strength of his morning time.

Nirei Fukuzumi was an encouraging ninth for the minnow Drago Corse squad, while the second TOM’S machine of Giuliano Alesi completed the top 10.

Reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen), second on Monday, could only manage the 11th-fastest time on Tuesday, the best part of a second slower than Tsuboi.

Besides Miyata, the only other drivers to improve in the afternoon were Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo), Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion) and Tsuboi’s Inging teammate Sena Sakaguchi.

Fenestraz caused the day’s first red flag when he went off at the S-curve in the morning, albeit sustaining little to no damage in the impact, which led to five minutes of extra running being added to the session.

Makino was likewise in the wars at the end of that session as he made light contact with Kamui Kobayashi’s KCMG car approaching the hairpin, ruining his hot lap and causing his engine to shut off in the process. However, he parked up on the inside of the hairpin, and the session stayed green.

The second and final stoppage came in the afternoon when B-Max Racing’s Nobuharu Matsushita spun exiting the hairpin, but he was able to keep the engine running and return to the pits under his own steam once the car had been recovered.

Super Formula Lights also held its first running of the year during the break between the two Super Formula sessions. TOM’S driver and Toyota junior Seita Nonaka set the pace ahead of Honda protege Kakunoshin Ota (Toda Racing) and Hibiki Taira (TOM’S).

Another TOM’S driver, Kazuto Kotaka, is sitting out this week’s test following a positive COVID-19 test.

Super Formula Lights testing continues with two more sessions on Wednesday, while the next running for Super Formula takes place at Fuji Speedway on March 22-23.

Suzuka testing times:

[tkmedia]

Real Racing Honda has "found something" at Suzuka

The #17 Real NSX-GT shared by Baguette and Koudai Tsukakoshi was the only car running with a fuel restrictor to make it out of the opening segment of qualifying, as the other championship frontrunners all fell in Q1. While Dunlop Honda teams Nakajima Racing and Mugen locked out the front row in Q2, Baguette was only a tenth of a second slower than the ARTA Honda of Tomoki Nojiri, which is also on Bridgestone rubber but running a 26kg handicap compared to the Real car's 52kg.  "To be the second-fastest Bridgestone car with the weight we have on the car and the fuel flow restrictor, we can only be happy about that, especially because all the guys fighting with us for the championship are behind," Baguette told Motorsport.com. "I’m also happy with my Q2 lap because I had to go with different tyres to my teammate. We had some issue on the tyre management in free practice, but still the laptime was there. "The biggest part of the job is tomorrow, but in every race we have been playing catch-up and starting at the back, even with a good race pace, so it was nice to qualify well for once. "It looks like we have found something. Koudai also did a great lap in practice and we were the best Bridgestone car. We were quite surprised about that. "The set-up is completely different to what we used in the first three races, a different concept unique to Suzuka, but it seems to be working well here."

Prospects uncertain if it rains

While Baguette is targeting a solid haul of points for Sunday's race, the possibility of rain at Suzuka continues to loom, despite Saturday's qualifying session taking place entirely in dry conditions. The last wet SUPER GT race came almost two years ago at Sugo, which was won by the Michelin-shod NDDP/B-Max Nissan (pictured below) ahead of Nakajima Racing's Dunlop-shod Honda.

  "The last time I drove this car in the wet was Sugo in 2019!" admitted Baguette. "Since the switch to the front-engined , I didn’t do even a single lap in the wet. "They had the tyre test this year and apparently the Bridgestone was fast, so looks like we should have some pace. But Michelin and Dunlop will be quite strong. It’s difficult to predict the exact ranking. It depends on the amount of water on track and the temperature. "For the Dunlop heavy rain is good as it cools down their tyre and keep the grip longer, if it’s just a bit damp they lose grip. Michelin is good in all conditions, especially in low water. "Bridgestone is more ok in all conditions but not the best. I think Bridgestone has the widest window. The good news is if the Bridgestone is struggling, at least you have eight other cars in the same situation!" For his part, poleman Takuya Izawa said he is confident the Dunlop tyre will perform well if it rains on Sunday. "Looking at the situation of the other manufacturers in tyre tests and so on, I'm confident," said the Nakajima Racing driver. shares comments Read the full article

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/how-newlywed-nirei-fukuzumi-has-come-of-age-in-super-formula/

How newlywed Nirei Fukuzumi has come of age in Super Formula

The first two seasons of Fukuzumi’s stint with Dandelion Racing could best be described as promising in terms of pace but lacking in the way of results. One podium finish per season and a best championship result of seventh isn’t bad, but not exactly what you would have expected for such a talented driver racing for a championship-calibre team.

But, at least on the evidence of last weekend’s Suzuka race, it looks like third time might be the charm for Fukuzumi, who dominated the weekend and had things under control until a puncture ended his hopes of a first victory in the single-seater category.

And the way the 24-year-old reacted to that disappointment also speaks volumes of a new-found inner confidence that he appears to have discovered over the winter.

Read Also:

The most obvious change for Fukuzumi this year is that he is, following Naoki Yamamoto’s defection to fellow Honda squad Nakajima Racing, the de facto number one driver at Dandelion, a position made even more secure by Tadasuke Makino being forced to miss the first two rounds of the season as he recovers from meningitis.

Not only that, but Fukuzumi has effectively switched sides within the Dandelion garage, piloting the #5 car that Yamamoto took to the title last season and working with his former engineer Kimitoshi Sugisaki, who also masterminded Stoffel Vandoorne’s 2016 season.

The effects of the change were immediately apparent from the post-season test at Fuji Speedway last year, where Fukuzumi was fastest, and that momentum carried into pre-season testing in March, as he was never lower than third on the combined daily timesheets (except for the second day of Suzuka testing that he sat out due to illness).

And while third place behind fellow Honda runners Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu in the Fuji season opener was arguably below-par, Fukuzumi turned that around at Suzuka, where he was fastest in practice and every segment of qualifying en route to his first pole in Super Formula at his 20th attempt.

But more than a simple change of environment within the team, off-track Fukuzumi seems a lot more surer of himself than was the case previously.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that this upturn in form has co-incided with him getting married to his long-time girlfriend, the YouTuber Ayami Sato, at the start of the year. Indeed, Fukuzumi suggested as much in an interview with the official Super Formula website after he set the fastest time on the second day of the Fuji pre-season test.

“It’s not like my environment dramatically changed [after getting married], but of course now I have something to protect, and I think I’m in a situation now where I can show more of my strength on the limit. I’m being supported more in general, and now I concentrate more on racing, so I hope everyone can see my performance this year.”

Nirei Fukuzumi, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Speaking to Motorsport.com after the disappointment of losing victory at Suzuka, Fukuzumi likewise brought up the subject of his recent nuptials.

“At the start of this year I got married and everything is going well, in both racing and life [generally],” he said. “I was a bit disappointed about Fuji, but this time my performance was pretty good. So I’m feeling very good [for the rest of the season].”

Pressed on whether married life had really made the difference for him in his third full season of Super Formula, the ex-Formula 2 racer mentioned another key figure in his environment who has helped to put him in a better place mentally.

“I think it’s various things changing my mentality,” he said. “This year I have a trainer at the circuit, I can talk to him and he takes care of me – both physically and my heart. This means my mentality is better.”

Fukuzumi’s comments after he scored pole were also revealing, as he said one of the keys to his blistering speed was simply disengaging his brain and not overthinking the task at hand. He was confident from his previous Suzuka showings and pre-season testing that the car was good enough, and he didn’t fall into the trap of making unnecessary set-up changes.

He was also low-key in his celebrations after taking pole, as if knew that this wasn’t a one-off and that this should become a regular occurrence.

This change in mentality could well be the key to Fukuzumi finally maturing into a regular winning force in Super Formula, and making the most of his considerable potential.

Recall last year on the occasion of his first SUPER GT GT500 win at Motegi in November, Fukuzumi said he had struggled with “nightmares” during the race, despite having basically zero pressure thanks to the safety car gifting he and ARTA Honda teammate Nojiri a large advantage.

That was one monkey off his back, and surely the first win in Super Formula isn’t far away either after his display at Suzuka. In fact, given that next up is Autopolis, where Fukuzumi achieved his best grid spot of second last year, you’d get short odds on the breakthrough happening there (or at least you would if gambling on motor racing was legal in Japan!)

And while Nojiri might have a big championship lead having won the first two races of the season, the dropped points system means that Fukuzumi still has time to work his way back into contention – which could set up a fascinating battle of the SUPER GT teammates.

Motorsport.tv will continue to broadcast every race of the Super Formula season live in 2021 for free. Available worldwide except Japan. Click here for further information.

Nirei Fukuzumi, DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Source

[betatauris]

so incredibly normal about the after race grid party photos (x) (+ thank u dee for posting in the discord)

[motorsporthq]

Junior Single Seater Race Weekend Round-Up – 24-27 October 2019

Junior Single Seater Race Weekend Round-Up – 24-27 October 2019

Super Formula – Suzuka International Racing Course

Tomoki Nojiri took the final victory of the Super Formula season at the Suzuka International Racing Course, but it was Nick Cassidy who was celebrating the loudest as the New Zealander’s second place gave him the championship crown.

Team Mugen’s Nojiri and Vantelin Team TOM’S Cassidy both ran a similar strategy, starting the race on the soft…

[ryo-hirakawa]

basic post for if you want to get into superformula

superformula is the top flight of motorsport in japan, home to the fastest single seaters after f1. it's been around since 1973, which is quite a while!

4 races of the season may have passed but it is not too late and since there is increased interest this year i thought people might want to know, so...

the format

there are 22 cars and 2 groups of qualifying, Q1A and Q1B. the top 6 of each group then go on to fight for pole in Q2. each session is 7 min long.

the polesitter gets 3 points, starting p2 gets you 2 points, starting p3 gets you 1 point. this makes qualifying more important than other series imo

the races are typically 40ish laps; over 250km. you are given 2 sets of tyre compounds and you need to use both during the race, which means everyone must pit at some point. expect strategies like an f2 feature race.

the race winner gets 20 points. p2 gets 15, p3 gets 11, p4 gets 8, p5 gets 6. p6 down to p10 gets 5 to 1 point.

the drivers

they are mostly japanese, clearly. the radio and bulk of the onsite interviews are in japanese, but english comms will translate so i think it's not a problem. also the interviewer switches languages at the drop of a hat she's insane (in a good way).

i'm going to introduce the names you might have heard of in other series. but shoutout to tomoki nojiri, the current reigning champion.

ok. if you're reading this chances are you've heard of liam lawson (#15) and his exploits in this series thus far. one of marko's twinks-in-waiting and arguably the most promising one rn. has had a decent amount of lore in his career for his age thanks to dtm. and twitch 💀 bffs with yuki tsunoda and appeared on dts bc of it

ryo hirakawa (#20), the beloved little brother in the toyota gazoo racing #8, won le mans and the wec wdc as a rookie. youngest ever super formula driver. has come close, but has never won the championship. which he should bc he's won super gt and japan f3 already and if he wins this it's the japanese triple crown. bffs with nick cassidy of fe championship leader fame (sorry i had to mention it somehow)

kamui kobayashi (#7), who is somehow driving and being his own team principal in wec (where he coincidentally also drives a toyota #7). was in f1, has multiple wec titles to his name. but no super formula title either. in fairness i doubt it was ever his main focus. still fun to have him around.

if you've followed f2 since like 2018? you'll recognise some names such as nirei fukuzumi #12 (cousin nirei if you follow albon_pets, also has been sf vice-champion), nobuharu matsushita #50 (the embodiment of that tomato girl aesthetic on tiktok), giuliano alesi #36 (son of the jean alesi), and cem bolukbasi #55 (most recent f2 to sf grad alongside liam)

the calendar

ok there are only 5 races left.

sugo, 16-18 june

fuji, 14-16 july

motegi, 18-20 august

suzuka double header, 27-29 october

that's it! i'm new to this too tbh and i understand the timezones are pretty ass for people that aren't in the asia pacific region but i hope this helps you out regardless!

[mechcrunch]

Heartbeat final in Motegi - Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button win title - Racingblog

Heartbeat final in Motegi – Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button win title – Racingblog

[ad_1]

Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button have made it: In a true heartbeat final, the Japanese-British duo in the Raybrig NSX GT gossiped against reigning champions Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy (KeePer TOM's LC500). The victory in Motegi, however, secured the brand colleagues Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa (ARTA NSX-GT). In the GT300 class, Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou (Leon Cvstos AMG) scored a…

[mushi1007]

DOCOMO DANDELION M5S SF14 Tomoki Nojiri

[tkmedia]

Sugo Super Formula: Fukuzumi charges to maiden series win

Starting fifth on the grid, ex-Formula 2 driver Fukuzumi cleared TOM’S rival Ritomo Miyata and the sister Dandelion car of Tadasuke Makino on the run to the first corner to immediately move himself into the podium positions. Two laps later, Fukuzumi tried to pass Sena Sakaguchi for second at the same corner, only to run wide. However, with the Inging driver losing his rear end at the same time, the 24-year-old still managed to somehow complete the move - albeit outside the white lines. Fukuzumi initially slipped 2.5s behind race leader Sekiguchi as the Impul driver looked comfortable up front in the first stint, before bringing that deficit down to a second by lap 12. Sekigichi was the the first of the two to dive into the pits on lap 17, with Dandelion covering him by bringing Fukuzumi in for his mandatory stop a lap later. This turned out to be the crucial stage of the race as a faster in-lap, combined with a fractionally quicker pitstop, allowed Fukuzumi to emerge well in front of his Impul rival. From there on, he enjoyed a clear run to the finish, and was eight seconds to the good by the time Tomoki Nojiri finally stopped on lap 41 to grant him the lead. He eventually crossed the line with 3.746s in hand, scoring his first victory in Super Formula since his debut campaign in 2018, which he dovetailed with a difficult season in Formula 2. Nakajima Racing’s Toshiki Oyu recovered from a slow stop to score his second podium finish of the season, having passed Sekiguchi on lap 20. B-Max driver Nobuharu Matsushita rose from 13th on the grid to finish fourth behind Sekiguchi, as Makino held off championship leader Nojiri to take fifth. Fuji and Suzuka winner Nojiri was unable to fully capitalise on the absence of his chief title rival Ryo Hirakawa - absent from Sugo to complete a hypercar test with Toyota - despite making several bold passes in an extended first stint. Miyata finished seventh in the best of the TOM’S cars after making a slow getaway from the second row of the grid, ahead of Sakaguchi’s Inging machine. Giuliano Alesi - subbing for Kazuki Nakajima again - finished ninth for TOM’S after barging past Hiroki Otsu’s Red Bull-sponsored Mugen with 13 laps to run. Three-time Super Formula champion Naoki Yamamoto moved inside the top 10 on the opening lap after a difficult qualifying session on Saturday, but a poor out lap where he lost four seconds left him outside the points in 12th, behind Mitsunori Takaboshi’s Impul car.

Race results:

shares comments Read the full article

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/03/18/super-formula-hiroki-otsu-feels-pressure-of-red-bull-livery/

Super Formula: Hiroki Otsu feels pressure of Red Bull livery

Otsu has been chosen to drive Mugen’s #15 car this season under the ‘Red Bull Mugen Team Goh’ banner, joining 2020 title contender Tomoki Nojiri in the team’s line-up.

He effectively replaces Ukyo Sasahara, who ended up contesting the full 2020 season as COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented Red Bull junior Juri Vips from taking up the seat.

It marks the first time that the team’s second car has been permanently assigned to anybody other than a member of the Red Bull Junior Team since the seat’s creation in 2017.

Read Also:

After making his Super Formula debut in the final race of 2020 as a substitute for an unwell Tadasuke Makino at Nakajima Racing, Otsu admitted he thought he had no chance of a full-time call-up before being told in the middle of January that the drive was his.

“I wasn’t sure if the #15 car would run at all this year, so I had given up,” Otsu told the official Super Formula website. “But Team Goh, Red Bull, Honda and Mugen decided to give me their backing and chose me.

“I wasn’t expecting that, so I was really surprised and happy when I heard about it. But I also felt a lot of pressure of representing the Red Bull colours.”

However, Otsu says the atmosphere within the Mugen garage so far has been positive following his first test with the team earlier this month at Suzuka, where he set the second-fastest time behind Ryo Hirakawa.

“The team itself doesn’t put too much pressure on me to be quick,” he said. “Instead they encourage me to gradually get used to it and build up the rhythm so I can show my performance.

“There are a lot of young people within the team and morale is high, they are working hard to help me go faster, so it has been easy so far.

“With the car I’m not there yet, and there are still a lot of areas where I can’t attack. I’m trying to compensate for that a bit by adjusting the car and I’m adjusting my driving.

“I’m also sharing information with Nojiri-san, so using his experience we can work out what works and what doesn’t. We work well as a two-car team.”

At 26, Otsu is by some distance the oldest rookie in the 2021 field, five years the senior of Toyota proteges Ritomo Miyata and Sena Sakaguchi.

This is partly because he got started in car racing relatively late, graduating from the Suzuka Racing School in 2013 at the age of 19, while he also fell off the single-seater ladder when he lost his All-Japan Formula 3 drive in 2018 before being handed a second chance in 2019 as a last-minute replacement for Enaam Ahmed at ThreeBond.

That season led to a test chance in the Suzuka rookie test at the end of the year with Nakajima Racing, but he was beaten to the vacancy at the team by fellow Honda youngster Toshiki Oyu.

He focussed entirely on SUPER GT last year after being promoted to the GT500 ranks with Nakajima, sharing the team’s Dunlop-shod Honda with Takuya Izawa – who will act as Otsu’s advisor in Super Formula this year.

“I didn’t race for about three years when I was in high school,” said Otsu. “I’ll turn 27 this year, so I’m a bit behind the others. I haven’t always been on the path to the elite; I’ve had to take some detours, so I’m an ‘old rookie’!

“But this year I’ve been given this opportunity and I am determined to beat the other rookies and young drivers. As I’m driving under the Red Bull banner, I have to show what I am capable of, and I want people to think, ‘He may be a rookie, but he’s fast’ this year.”

Hiroki Otsu（Red Bull MUGEN Team Goh）

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Source

[betatauris]

thank you, naoki yamamoto 🥹