What a way to kick off a weekend. Under bright spring sunshine and shifting winds at Fuji Speedway, Ukyo Sasahara mastered the knockout qualifying session to snatch the very first pole position of his Super Formula career for TEAM MUGEN.
The 2022 season opener brought out eager crowds to the circuit, where drivers faced a revised qualifying format featuring two Q1 groups before a swift Q2 shootout. In the Q1 A-group, rookie Ren Sato stunned the field early by setting a blazing time of 1분21초675 on his initial push lap, despite later having a lap deleted for exceeding track limits at turn three. Sato comfortably topped the group, joined advancing into Q2 by reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri, Tsuboi Sho, Giuliano Alesi, Hiroki Otsu, and Yuji Sekihito, while Naoki Yamamoto, Kenta Yamashita, Nirei Fukuzumi, and Yuji Kunimoto bowed out.
Over in the Q1 B-group, Sasshan Fenestraz laid down a marker with a 1분21초744 to head the session. Sasahara slotted in right behind him, with Ryo Hirakawa, rookie Junya Miyake, Ritomo Miyata, and Tadasuke Makino also punching their tickets to the final pole shootout. Notably, Kamui Kobayashi, Kazuya Oshima, Nobuharu Matsushita, Sena Sakaguchi, and Toshiki Oyu—whose lap time was ruined by a track limits infringement—failed to make the cut.
The decisive Q2 shootout lasted a frantic seven minutes under rising track temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius. Sasahara wasted no time showing his hand, obliterating his own Q1 benchmark by over four tenths of a second to throw down a stunning 1분21초404 that nobody could touch.
Behind the flying MUGEN machine, rookie sensation Ren Sato carved his way to a brilliant front-row start for TEAM GOH with a 1분21秒668. Ryo Hirakawa slotted into third for carenex TEAM IMPUL, leaving Ritomo Miyata fourth for Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM'S. Sasshan Fenestraz, Tomoki Nojiri, Tadasuke Makino, Yuhi Sekiguchi, Giuliano Alesi, Sho Tsuboi, Hiroki Otsu, and Junya Miyake rounded out the remainder of the top-twelve Q2 order as the stage was set for the afternoon race.
