The 2016 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-fourth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the fourth under the name of Super Formula. Hiroaki Ishiura started his 2015 Championship defense when the season began on 24 April, and ended after seven rounds on 30 October.[1]
The series changed tyre supplier from Bridgestone to Yokohama.[2]
All teams were Japanese-registered and used the Dallara SF14 spec-racer chassis. Eight cars were powered by Honda's HR-414E engine, with the other 11 cars using Toyota's RI4A engine.
Team | No. | Driver | Engine | Rounds |
---|---|---|---|---|
P.mu/cerumo・INGING[3] | 1 | Hiroaki Ishiura[3] | Toyota RI4A | All |
2 | Yuji Kunimoto[3] | All | ||
Kondō Racing[3] | 3 | James Rossiter[4] | Toyota RI4A | All |
4 | William Buller[4] | All | ||
SUNOCO Team LeMans[3] | 7 | Narain Karthikeyan[3] | Toyota RI4A | All |
8 | Kamui Kobayashi[3] | All | ||
Real Racing[5] | 10 | Koudai Tsukakoshi[5] | Honda HR-414E | All |
11 | Takuya Izawa[5] | All | ||
Team Mugen[5] | 16 | Naoki Yamamoto[5] | Honda HR-414E | All |
KCMG[3] | 18 | Yuichi Nakayama[3] | Toyota RI4A | All |
ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul[3] | 19 | João Paulo de Oliveira[3] | Toyota RI4A | All |
20 | Yuhi Sekiguchi[6] | All | ||
Drago Corse[5] | 34 | Takashi Kogure[5] | Honda HR-414E | All |
Vantelin Team TOM'S[3] | 36 | André Lotterer[3] | Toyota RI4A | All |
37 | Kazuki Nakajima[3] | All | ||
Docomo Team Dandelion Racing[5] | 40 | Tomoki Nojiri[5] | Honda HR-414E | All |
41 | Stoffel Vandoorne[5] | All | ||
Nakajima Racing[5] | 64 | Daisuke Nakajima[5] | Honda HR-414E | All |
65 | Bertrand Baguette[5] | All |
A provisional calendar for the 2016 season was released on 10 December 2015.[1] The 7 rounds of the 2016 Super-Formula Championship were held over 7 months from April through October, with a 7 week long summer hiatus through June to mid-July. All events were held on premier, natural terrain road racing circuits in Japan. Thus far, no events on the Super Formula calendar have been held on super-speedway ovals or on city street circuits.
The Autopolis round was cancelled on May 29 due to damage caused by the Kumamoto earthquake.[7] However, on July 15, it was decided that Okayama would take its place at the same date, holding a double-header round.[8]
Round | Circuit | Date | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | Winning Team | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Suzuka Circuit | 24 April | Naoki Yamamoto | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Naoki Yamamoto | Team Mugen | |
2 | Okayama International Circuit | 29 May | Hiroaki Ishiura | Kamui Kobayashi | Hiroaki Ishiura | P.mu/cerumo・INGING | |
3 | Fuji Speedway | 17 July | Stoffel Vandoorne | Kazuki Nakajima | João Paulo de Oliveira | ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul | |
4 | Twin Ring Motegi | 21 August | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Kamui Kobayashi | Yuhi Sekiguchi | ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul | |
5 | R1 | Okayama International Circuit | 10 September | Kazuki Nakajima | Kazuki Nakajima | Stoffel Vandoorne | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing |
R2 | 11 September | Tomoki Nojiri | Hiroaki Ishiura | Yuji Kunimoto | P.mu/cerumo・INGING | ||
6 | Sportsland SUGO | 25 September | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Yuhi Sekiguchi | Yuhi Sekiguchi | ITOCHU ENEX Team Impul | |
7 | R1 | Suzuka Circuit | 30 October | Hiroaki Ishiura | André Lotterer | Yuji Kunimoto | P.mu/cerumo・INGING |
R2 | Hiroaki Ishiura | Narain Karthikeyan | Stoffel Vandoorne | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pole | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rounds 1–4, 6 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Round 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
Round 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
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Bold – Pole |
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Bold – Pole |
† Half points were awarded at the first Okayama round as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.