A record-breaking 14 drivers will enter the first round of the 2025 Super Formula Lights season in a grid that combines domestic talents with international champions and gentleman drivers. Feeder Series tells you everything you need to know about the 2025 season of Japan’s second-tier open-wheel series.

By Finjo Muschlien

Super Formula’s direct feeder series kicks off its sixth season in 2025, and the quality of the grid is clear as champions from Eurocup-3, British F3, Formula Regional Japan and Japanese F4 come together to fight for the title. 

Last year, Syun Koide came out on top in the SFL title battle. Seita Nonaka was his main opponent, having led the standings by seven points after the second round, but the 24-year-old faltered in the final round and scored just one point. Instead, rookie driver Rikuto Kobayashi secured second in the standings after finishing in the podium positions seven times in the final three rounds and taking three wins over the course of the season. 

The calendar

As in every season of SFL so far, the season will consist of six rounds. This year the calendar spans from March to November, with four rounds supporting Japan’s highest single-seater series, Super Formula. This year marked the first time SFL had no official pre-season tests, though teams tested privately. The series plans for an in-season test at Okayama between the second and third rounds with a date to be announced.

• Round 1: Suzuka International Circuit (7–9 March)
• Round 2: Autopolis International Racing Course (16–18 May)
• Round 3: Okayama International Circuit (20–22 June)
• Round 4: Sportsland Sugo (29–31 August)
• Round 5: Fuji Speedway (5–7 September)
• Round 6: Mobility Resort Motegi (28–30 November)

The format

The format remains unchanged to previous years. Every round has four two-hour free practice sessions, of which two take place on Thursday and two on Friday. The two 10-minute qualifying sessions take place Saturday, with the first session setting the grid for the first race of the weekend and the second session doing the same for the second race. The grid for the third race is formed by the race result of the first race. The first race will be held on Saturday, with the second and third races taking place on Sunday.

Where to watch

All races will be live streamed on the series’ official YouTube channel. Live timing will be available at sfl.racelive.jp.

Teams and drivers

TOM’S

Tokyo-based outfit TOM’S won the 2024 SFL teams’ championship – their fourth in the series’ five years – despite not winning the drivers’ championship. TOM’S will have changes to its line-up as Toyota junior Jin Nakamura makes the move to FR Europe with R-ace GP and Seita Nonaka takes on the duty of being  TGMGP TGR-DC’s full-time reserve driver in Super Formula.

Their seats will be taken over by SFL debutants Yuki Sano (#35) and Esteban Masson (#36). Toyota junior Sano, 18, spent the past two seasons in Japanese F4 racing for TGR-DC Racing School, finishing seventh and fourth respectively. At the end of 2024 he also made appearances in two rounds of Formula Regional Japan, winning all four races. Alongside SFL, Sano will race in Super GT’s GT300 class and Super Taikyu’s ST-Z class for Shade Racing, driving a Toyota GR86 GT300.

Meanwhile, Masson, 20, returns to single-seaters in 2025 after a year solely in endurance racing in the World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series in 2024. The Frenchman, who won French F4 in 2021 and Eurocup-3 in 2023, became an official TGR-DC manufacturer driver for the 2025 season, and alongside SFL he will return to ELMS. This year he steps up to the LMP2 class from LMGT3, driving for VDS Panis Racing.

Masson, however, will miss the first round as he recovers from an injury he picked up in SFL’s 2024 post-season test. He will be replaced by Seita Nonaka (#36), who spent the past four years racing in SFL, with a best finish of third overall in 2024 after taking five wins and two more podium finishes. Nonaka will fulfil reserve driver duties for Super Formula debutants TGMGP TGR-DC alongside racing in Super GT, Super Taikyu and GT World Challenge Asia’s Japan Cup.

Yuga Furutani (#37) will be one of two returning drivers at TOM’S as he enters his fourth SFL season in 2025. The 24-year-old, the 2021 FR Japan champion, finished sixth, eighth and eighth in SFL in the previous three years.

Rikuto Kobayashi (#38) returns for a second SFL season in 2025 after a rumored move to either FR Europe or F3 did not materialise. The 19-year-old Toyota junior finished as the runner-up in 2024, picking up three wins and eight additional podiums. Alongside SFL, Kobayashi will return to Super GT’s GT300 class, driving Saitama Green Brave’s Toyota GR Supra GT300, as well as Super Taikyu’s ST-X class, in which he competes for Apr in a Lexus RC F GT3. 

B-Max Racing Team

Having housed the drivers’ champions in 2023 and 2024 with Iori Kimura and Syun Koide respectively, B-Max returns to 2025 with a strong line-up, including two international drivers. 

One of them, American Kaylen Frederick (#58), will be the team’s only returning driver, at least when it comes to the B-Max Racing entrant. The 22-year-old finished the 2024 season fifth overall in the drivers’ standings, taking one win and three further podium finishes. 

Zachary David (#51) was the most surprising driver to be announced by B-Max, and he is now set to race in both SFL and FR Europe with CL Motorsport this year. The 17-year-old Filipino driver raced in FR Europe with R-ace GP last year, finishing 13th overall and taking one podium. David completed a private test with B-Max at Motegi last week but has no prior car racing experience in Japan.

Reigning Japanese F4 champion Yuto Nomura (#50), 19, will step up to SFL with B-Max in 2025 as he remains a Honda junior. The former Red Bull junior won seven of 14 races last year in his second season in the category. Alongside SFL, Nomura will race in Super GT’s GT300 class, driving Team UpGarage’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Conversely, Kazuhisa Urabe (#1) had a miserable 2024 season in Japanese F4. The 19-year-old earned Toyota junior driver status at the start of the year but lost that membership at the end of the season after scoring just 39 points in Japanese F4 with frontrunners TGR-DC. After entering four rounds of FR Japan with TGR towards the end of the year, Urabe made the staggering jump to compete in Super Formula’s post-season test in December, driving for Inging. While he enters Super GT with Inging, Urabe won’t race that high up the ladder in single-seaters as he steps up to SFL with B-Max Racing, having previously tested SFL machinery for Toda Racing.

B-Max team owner Ryuji Kumita, who races under the pseudonym “Dragon” (#30), will be the only master class driver racing for B-Max Racing in 2025. The 58-year-old has competed in every season of SFL and predecessor series Japanese F3 since 2013 and won SFL’s master class title in 2020 and 2024.

GNSY Racing

One of two returning satellites of B-Max Racing will be GNSY Racing, with Yasuhiro Shimizu (#8) as their driver. The Japanese driver raced in SFL last year, finishing 15th overall in the drivers’ standings and taking one win in the master class. Shimizu previously raced in Porsche Carrera Cup Japan in the late 2000s and also competed in Super GT’s GT300 class in 2011.

JMS Racing Team

B-Max’s second satellite JMS Racing Team will field three-time master class champion Nobuhiro Imada (#4) for the 2025 season. Imada, 60, won the master class in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and came second behind Kumita in 2024. Alongside SFL, Imada raced in Ferrari Challenge Japan in 2024.

Imada, however, will miss the season opener because of an injury, and he will be replaced by Tosei Moriyama (#4), a Honda junior in 2023. The 22-year-old steps up from Japanese F4, in which he finished fifth with one win and three more podium finishes while with independent team Helm Motorsports. Moriyama also competed in the FIA Motorsport Games in 2024, finishing fifth in the main race.

LM corsa

Lm corsa made its SFL debut in 2024, competing in two rounds at Okayama and Motegi. Reimei Ito (#60) was the team’s only driver at those events and brought home one points finish, and he will also return in 2025. Ito, 24, raced in Japanese F4 from 2020 to 2022 before he switched to sports cars. He won the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan and Super Taikyu’s ST-4 class titles in 2024.

Delightworks Racing

Delightworks Racing will make its SFL debut in 2025. The team, led by former British F3 driver Masato Shimoyama, entered the final round of FR Japan in 2024 with Yugo Iwasawa as their driver, and they will have two-time Super Formula champion Tomoki Nojiri and Super Formula race winner Nobuharu Matsushita as driver advisers in 2025. The team appeared in SFL’s 2024 post-season test, fielding their 2025 line-up in their two cars and Urabe in a Delightworks Racing–branded third car that ran under the Toda Racing banner.

Souta Arao (#2) returns for his second season of SFL, switching over from Toda. The former Red Bull junior, 19, finished seventh overall in 2024, taking four podium finishes. Arao will no longer have Honda support in 2025.

Yusuke Mitsui (#3) returns to single-seater racing after a year out in 2024. Mitsui, 22, raced in Japanese F4 in 2022 and 2023, finishing second and third respectively. In 2024, he only raced in Super GT’s GT300 class and Super Taikyu’s ST-2 and ST-Q classes.

Header photo credit: Super Formula Lights