You may have been busy watching Formula 1 and its support series this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, but there was other junior single-seater racing on this weekend – namely FRegional Japan in Fuji.

By Feeder Series

F2 and F3 were the main attractions among junior motorsport this weekend, and they certainly delivered drama both on track and in the stewards’ room. You can read what we learned from F3 here, and keep an eye out for our lessons from F2, to be published tomorrow morning.

At the levels below those, FRegional Japan held its second round of 2025 at Fuji, and Toyota juniors Tokiya Suzuki and Kiyoshi Umegaki stole the spotlight by taking both wins at the Toyota-owned circuit. That is the only series covered in detail in this report but by no means the only action that happened.

Formula Nordic also raced at Ljungbyhed this weekend, and Richard Olson extended his points lead to 14 over Melvin Kalousdian. The pair each won one race, though Kalousdian lost ground by failing to finish the first race.

And it may not have been real junior single-seater action, but F2 cars received widespread attention this weekend thanks to F1: The Movie, released internationally on 25 June and in North America on 27 June. The F1 cars piloted in the film by Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) are based on the Dallara F2 2018 chassis, with modifications made to appear more like modern F1 machinery. Could you notice the difference? Don’t worry if not – even real-life F2 drivers told us that they had some trouble telling too.

1. FRegional Japan: Suzuki and Umegaki extend points lead at Toyota’s home event

FRegional Japan: Suzuki and Umegaki extend points lead at Toyota’s home event

Toyota juniors Tokiya Suzuki and Kiyoshi Umegaki maintained their academy’s perfect record in FR Japan at Fuji this weekend. The pair have now taken all five wins this season, while their TOM’S Formula team extended their advantage in the teams’ championship. 

Both qualifying sessions at Fuji took place on Saturday, while the two races were held on Sunday. Umegaki, Suzuki and Omiya made up the top three in both qualifying sessions, with less than a tenth separating Umegaki and TOM’S teammate Suzuki each time.

Polesitter Umegaki got a slow start in race one as Suzuki took the lead and B-Max Racing’s Kazuhisa Urabe, who started fourth, stole second. Umegaki even dropped to fourth in Turn 1 after Aiwin’s Yutaka Toriba, who started sixth, overtook him, but he regained third at Turn 3.

Umegaki caught Urabe in the final sector and attacked him entering Turn 1 on lap two, but he ran deep and got a poor exit and Urabe stayed ahead.

Anna Inotsume and Wang Zhongwei collided at Turn 11 later that lap, bringing out the safety car.

The race resumed on lap seven, as did the fight for second between Urabe and Umegaki. After multiple attempts, Umegaki finally passed Urabe on lap nine around the outside of Turn 1. 

Though Umegaki closed in on the lead at the end, there were no further overtakes. Suzuki won his third race of the season by 1.308 seconds over Umegaki, while Urabe came third, 8.006s behind. 

Umegaki got a better start in race two later on Sunday, but he lost the lead to Suzuki entering Turn 3 and second position to Omiya one turn later. Umegaki re-passed Omiya down the inside of Turn 10 later that lap. 

The Toyota juniors at the front stayed within one second of each other from the second lap onwards and traded fastest laps. On lap eight, Umegaki made a mistake in the final sector and fell almost two seconds behind Suzuki, but he recovered and reduced the gap to 0.474 seconds entering the final lap. 

Umegaki kept catching Suzuki in the final sector and pulled alongside at Turn 15, but Suzuki completed a switchback manoeuvre and stayed ahead. He defended the inside line for the final corner, forcing Umegaki to the outside line under braking.

It proved fortuitous. Umegaki got a better exit and overtook Suzuki metres before the finish line to win by 0.038s over Suzuki, who led every other lap, as Omiya finished 13.431s behind Umegaki in third.

Suzuki and Umegaki are also in a league of their own in the drivers’ championship, with  Suzuki leading on 98.5 points and Umegaki second on 89. Omiya remains third, 34 points behind Suzuki, but he has a chance to bounce back in the next two rounds at Suzuka and Sugo without a home advantage for the Toyota juniors.

Toriba extended his lead in the masters’ class with two wins at Fuji. As in Okayama, “Akita” came second in both races. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 1:37.811	Tokiya Suzuki, +0.067s	Kento Omiya, +0.561s
Qualifying 2	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 1:37.421	Tokiya Suzuki, +0.094s	Kento Omiya, +0.462s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Tokiya Suzuki, 29:14.085	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +1.308s	Kazuhisa Urabe, +8.006s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 24:29.133	Tokiya Suzuki, +0.038s	Kento Omiya, +13.431s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Tokiya Suzuki, 98.5	TOM’S Formula, 112.5	Yutaka Toriba, 87.5
P2	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 89	Ponos Racing, 64.5	“Akita”, 63
P3	Kento Omiya, 64.5	B-Max Racing Team, 52	Shoichiro Akamatsu, 30
P4	Kazuhisa Urabe, 46	Aiwin, 32	“Yuki”, 24
P5	Yutaka Toriba, 32	Ragno Motor Sport, 22	“Yugo”, 20
P6	Lin Chenghua, 22	Hitotsuyama Racing, 22	Yuki Tanaka, 15
P7	Anna Inotsume, 22	Abbey Racing, 18
P8	Jia Zhanbin, 19	Fujita Pharmacy Racing, 17
P9	“Akita”, 18	Rn-sports, 16.5
P10	Hideaki Irie, 17	Eagle Sports, 7

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Formula Regional Japanese Championship