Formula Regional Japan held its season finale this weekend at Suzuka as a dramatic mid-weekend crash decided the championship. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

This weekend was decidedly lighter for feeder series racing, with only two championships we cover in action. This weekend’s review features the FR Japan title decider at Suzuka, while F1 Academy’s final weekend of 2025 in Las Vegas – which supported F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix – will be covered in a separate review.

FR Japan ran in support of Super Formula, which also wrapped up its 2025 season this weekend. F2 graduate Ayumu Iwasa, the 2020 French F4 champion and a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, was crowned champion in his second year in the series, while the rookie title went to 2020 Toyota Racing Series champion Igor Fraga, who finished sixth overall. Recent rumours suggest that several more drivers from the F1 ladder may follow in their footsteps by moving to East Asia next year.

1. FRegional Japan: Umegaki champion as title rival Suzuki crashes

FRegional Japan: Umegaki champion as title rival Suzuki crashes

TOM’S Kiyoshi Umegaki clinched the Formula Regional Japan drivers’ championship at Suzuka after his rival and teammate Tokiya Suzuki went scoreless in race two following a crash. 

Umegaki entered the round with a comfortable 23.5-point gap over Suzuki, but in race one, Suzuki won and Umegaki came third, cutting the gap to just 13.5 points. That meant Suzuki could have clinched the title by winning the remaining two races regardless of where  Umegaki finished. 

Just four laps into race two, however, Suzuki crashed after hitting B-Max Racing’s Kazuhisa Urabe in an attempted overtake for the lead. Urabe won the race, with Umegaki second – enough for him to take the title early. 

Suzuki was fastest in qualifying one, finishing 0.087 seconds ahead of Umegaki and 0.109s ahead of Urabe. It was the same top three but in opposite order in the second qualifying, with Urabe 0.165s ahead of Umegaki and 0.281s ahead of Suzuki. 

Suzuki kept the lead at the start of race one, while Umegaki’s getaway wasn’t ideal. He tried to defend his position against Urabe on the inside of Turns 1 and 2 but thus had the worse line for Turn 3 and dropped to third. 

Umegaki stayed within one second of Urabe all race but never got close enough to launch an attack.

After 13 laps, Suzuki took a lonely win, 4.088s over Urabe and 4.834s over Umegaki. 

Urabe kept the lead from the start of race two, but second-placed Umegaki again had a slow launch. He lost second to Suzuki, who was alongside Ponos Racing’s Kento Omiya going into Turn 1 while weaving to boost tyre temperatures. 

Suzuki chased Urabe and reduced the gap over the first three laps and pulled to Urabe’s outside at the end of the main straight on lap four. 

While several drivers completed moves around the outside in F4 earlier this year, Suzuki wasn’t so successful. Urabe hit his rear-right tyre as the pair entered the corner, sending him into the barrier and triggering a safety car period. Umegaki now just had to bring the car home.

The race resumed at the end of lap five, and Urabe went on to win by 1.573s ahead of new champion Umegaki and 2.192s ahead of Omiya. 

The second-fastest times from qualifying one set the grid for race three, placing debutant Hibiki Komatsu of Rn-sports on pole. Still, Urabe got a much better getaway from second and took the lead into Turn 1. 

Komatsu attacked Urabe for the lead on lap four but found himself in the same position in Turn 1 as Suzuki earlier that day and thought better of it. Komatsu pursued Urabe until the final lap but never got close enough to attack.

Urabe took his second win of the weekend and third of the year. Komatsu finished an excellent second as Suzuki rounded out the podium.

As for Umegaki versus Suzuki, expect to see more in Super Formula Lights in 2026.

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Tokiya Suzuki, 1:55.928	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +0.087s	Kazuhisa Urabe, +0.109s
Qualifying 2	Kazuhisa Urabe, 1:55.160	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +0.165s	Tokiya Suzuki, +0.281s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Tokiya Suzuki, 25:27.655	Kazuhisa Urabe, +4.088s	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +4.834s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Kazuhisa Urabe, 27:22.925	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +1.573s	Kento Omiya, +2.192s
Race 3 (13 laps)	Kazuhisa Urabe, 25:41.282	Hibiki Komatsu, +0.674s	Tokiya Suzuki, +4.380s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 280	TOM’S Formula, 326.5	Yutaka Toriba, 270.5
P2	Tokiya Suzuki, 251.5	B-Max Racing Team, 227	“Akita”, 143
P3	Kazuhisa Urabe, 187	Ponos Racing, 184.5	“Yugo”, 129
P4	Kento Omiya, 184.5	Rn-sports, 113.5	“Yuki”, 122
P5	Yu Oda, 101.5	Aiwin, 92	Shoichiro Akamatsu, 121
P6	Anna Inotsume, 75	Hitotsuyama Racing, 75	Yuki Tanaka, 15
P7	Lin Chenghua, 70	Ragno Motor Sport, 70
P8	Yutaka Toriba, 70	Fujita Pharmacy Racing, 49
P9	Jia Zhanbin, 65	Abbey Racing, 29
P10	Hideaki Irie, 49	Eagle Sports, 12

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Formula Regional Japanese Championship