Super Formula Lights

Not to be confused with Formula Lites or Indy Lights.

Super Formula Lights

Category	Single seaters
Country	Japan
Inaugural season	2020
Constructors	Dallara
Engine suppliers	Toyota-TOM'S
Tyre suppliers	Kumho Tire
Drivers' champion	Syun Koide
Teams' champion	TOM'S
Official website	superformula-lights.com
Current season

Super Formula Lights (スーパーフォーミュラライツ, Sūpāfōmyuraraitu) is a national formula racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses the same single seater chassis as the pan-European Euroformula Open Championship. The series will be the first with the new branding as a feeder series for the Super Formula championship. The nomenclature is similar to that of IndyCar, whose support series formerly used the "Lights" moniker as well.

Origins

Main article: Japanese Formula 3 Championship

The Super Formula Lights championship started in 1979 as a Formula 3-based series originally known as the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. Because of changes with FIA nomenclature ("Formula Regional" is now used for all regional F3-based series to prevent confusion with the FIA Formula 3 Championship), and the change from Formula Regional standards used in such series (such as the Formula Regional European Championship and Formula Regional Americas Championship; in Japan, K2 Planet acquired the rights to run a Formula Regional championship in Japan, the Formula Regional Japanese Championship from the FIA) to sharing a single specification rule set with the Euroformula Open Championship, similar to Germany's Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and Japan's Super GT sharing a single Class 1 formula touring car, on 17 August 2019 the series promoters surrendered the rights to the Formula Regional championship in Japan and rebranded the series to Super Formula Lights.^[1]

Equipment

The Series has similar rules to Euroformula Open Championship, which forced the name change in 2020.

• Chassis:

  Dallara remains the specification chassis builder for Super Formula Championship for the 2020 season, with the Dallara 320 shared with Euroformula Open being used. The new chassis features revamped aerodynamics and a Halo intrusion device. For 2024, The series will use new updated Dallara 324.

• Engines:

  Toyota-TOM'S, Mugen-Honda, Toda Racing and ThreeBond (Nissan) would remain as official series engine partners from 2020 season. The Spiess Tuning Volkswagen R4 engine proved to be popular. But for 2024, the series will use only TOM'S spec engine and based on the Toyota GR Yaris three cylinder 1.6-litre turbo engine.^[2]

• Tyres:

  Kumho Tire is the sole tire partner for the series, replaces Yokohama who has been involved since 2011 season where the series named Japanese Formula 3 Championship.

Champions

Drivers

Season	Driver	Team	Wins	Poles	Fastest laps	Podiums	Points	Margin
2020	Ritomo Miyata	Corolla Chukyo Kuo Team TOM'S	12	6	15	16	153	37
2021	Teppei Natori	B-Max Racing	6	6	5	11	109	6
2022	Kazuto Kotaka	TOM'S	8	3	3	11	114	6
2023	Iori Kimura	B-Max Racing Team	6	5	8	12	113	9
2024	Syun Koide	B-Max Racing Team	8	6	7	11	114	28

Teams

Season	Team	Wins	Poles	Fastest laps	Podiums	Points	Margin
2020	Corolla Chukyo Kuo Team TOM'S	13				137	27
2021	TOM'S	4				102	4
2022	TOM'S	11				151	51
2023	B-Max Racing Team	9				146	29
2024	TOM'S	9				143	19

Masters Class

Season	Driver	Team	Wins	Poles	Fastest laps	Podiums	Points	Margin
2020	"Dragon"	B-Max Engineering	14	6	13	16	155	53
2021	Nobuhiro Imada	B-Max Engineering	12	10	14	17	156	66
2022	Nobuhiro Imada	B-Max Racing Team	10	8	9	16	143	17
2023	Nobuhiro Imada	B-Max Racing Team	11	7	7	15	150	23
2024	"Dragon"	Team Dragon	9	1	8	18	152	53

Circuits

• Bold denotes a circuit used in the 2024 season.
• Italic denotes a formerly used circuit.

Number	Circuits	Rounds	Years
1	Mobility Resort Motegi	6[a]	2020–⁠present
2	Sportsland SUGO	5	2020–⁠present
	Autopolis	5	2020–⁠present
	Suzuka Circuit	5	2020–⁠present
	Fuji Speedway	5	2020–⁠present
6	Okayama International Circuit	4	2020, 2022–present

Notes

1. Mobility Resort Motegi hosted 2 rounds in 2021.

References

1. Thukral, Rachit; Tanaka, Ken (17 August 2019). "All-Japan F3 rebranded as Super Formula Lights". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
2. "Super Formula Lights reveals plans for one-make engine". motorsport.com. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

External links

• Super Formula Lights official website – Japanese / English

See also

• Indy NXT Series
• Super2 Series
• DTM Trophy
• FIA Formula 2
• FIA Formula 3