Suzuka Circuit turned on another day of crisp winter sunshine for the knockout qualifying session of the All Japan Super Formula Championship round 6. Defending champion Nick Cassidy (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) laid down a devastating lap to shatter the course record set just yesterday by Naoki Yamamoto (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), securing his first pole position of the year. Rookie Toshiki Oyu (TCS NAKAJIMA RACING) starred to take second and his first front-row start. Ukyo Sasahara (TEAM MUGEN) put in a brilliant effort for third despite a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change following his crash yesterday. Meanwhile, yesterday's pole-to-winner Yamamoto had to settle for fourth and missed out on qualifying points.
The 10-minute Q1 sessions brought distinct strategic divides across the field. In the A group, Sascha Fenestraz (KONDO RACING) topped the times with a 1;35.560 ahead of Ryo Hirakawa (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL), Yuji Kunimoto (carrozzeria Team KCMG), Sho Tsuboi (JMS P.MU/CERUMO･INGING), Nirei Fukuzumi (DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING), and Charles Milesi (Buzz Racing with B-Max), with Kazuki Nakajima (VANTELN TEAM TOM’S) rounding out the top seven. Notable names missing the cut included Noriaki Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN), Toshiki's teammate Tsuboi's rivals, and Kazuya Oshima (ROOKIE Racing). Over in B group, the 1-set and 2-set tire strategies played out frantically. Oyu stunned everyone by diving into the 1;34s with a 1;34.924, while Cassidy scraped through in seventh. Nobuharu Matsushita (Buzz Racing with B-Max), Kenta Yamashita (KONDO RACING), and Tatiana Calderon (ThreeBond Drago CORSE) were eliminated here.
Q2 trimmed the field down further to eight cars in another frantic 10-minute dash. Cassidy once more flexed his muscle by clocking a 1;34.763, leading the charge ahead of Oyu and Milesi, with Kamui Kobayashi (carrozzeria Team KCMG), Fukuzumi, Yamamoto, Sasahara, and Nakajima also making the cut. Milesi and Sasahara notably booked their first-ever appearances in Q3. The entire group of eliminated drivers in this session—Kunimoto, Yuhi Sekiguchi (ITOCHU ENEX TEAM IMPUL), Tsuboi, Fenestraz, Hiroaki Ishiura (JMS P.MU/CERUMO･INGING), and Hirakawa—consisted exclusively of Toyota engine users.
Then came the pole position shootout in Q3. Oyu briefly threatened by going top with a 1;34.755 after utilizing a two-set tire allocation alongside Yamamoto and Fukuzumi. But Cassidy, executing a perfectly timed run on his remaining fresh rubber with under six minutes remaining, hooked up every sector flawlessly. He stopped the clock at a blistering 1;34.442, completely destroying Yamamoto's fresh course record from the day prior.
Nobody had an answer for the champion's pace in the final moments. Oyu claimed the top spot among the Honda runners in second, with Sasahara sliding into third. Yamamoto ended up fourth, unable to match his previous day's benchmark, followed by Fukuzumi, Kobayashi, Nakajima, and Milesi. It is Cassidy's first pole since Fuji the year before last, setting up a fascinating grid for the day's race after he converted an eleventh-place start into a solid fifth-place finish yesterday.
