As new twists emerged in Formula 1’s title battle and F2’s reached its climax, Super Formula Lights and Formula Trophy were also in action over the weekend. Feeder Series reviews what happened.

By Feeder Series

Even with few series racing, it’s been an intense weekend of open-wheel motorsport all along the ladder – beginning at the very top with F1. While we only watched the events of the Qatar Grand Prix as fans, we spoke to several of the key contenders in a pivotal F2 round in Qatar, our review of which will come out tomorrow.

Neither Super Formula Lights nor Formula Trophy had title deciders this weekend. Yuto Nomura, however, continued the utterly dominant run of form that led him to the title back in September, closing out his campaign with three further victories at Motegi. In the F4-spec Formula Trophy’s opening round at Dubai, Theo Palmer and Alp Aksoy were the drivers to beat, while Payton Westcott secured her first single-seater win in the reverse-grid race two. 

1. Super Formula Lights: Nomura equals Miyata’s records by sweeping final round at Motegi
2. Formula Trophy: Palmer clinches championship lead as Aksoy faces penalties

Super Formula Lights: Nomura equals Miyata’s records by sweeping final round at Motegi

Honda junior Yuto Nomura swept the final round at Motegi to equal Ritomo Miyata’s records, set in 2020, for the most wins and most points taken in a season – 12 and 153 respectively. While Miyata achieved this in his fourth year in the series, Nomura did so in his first 

Nomura topped both qualifying sessions, taking pole 0.012 seconds ahead of TOM’S’ Yuki Sano and 0.157s ahead of Sano’s teammate Rikuto Kobayashi in qualifying one. He had a more comfortable gap in qualifying two, finishing 0.307s and 0.318s ahead of Sano and Kobayashi respectively.

Nomura kept the lead at the start of the first race, but Sano had a slow getaway and dropped to fourth behind Kobayashi and Delightworks Racing’s Yusuke Mitsui. Sano regained third position on the same lap around the outside of Turn 7, which gave him the inside for Turn 8. 

A safety car was called on lap 10, when B-Max Racing’s Nobuhiro Imada found himself beached at Turn 10. The race resumed at the end of lap 12 but without any further position changes. 

Nomura took his 10th win of the season ahead of Kobayashi and Sano. 

The second race started as the first did, with Nomura keeping his lead and Kobayashi jumping to second. Sano had a slow getaway but remained in third. 

At Turn 4, B-Max Racing’s Zachary David launched an attack on teammate Kazuhisa Urabe but hit TOM’S’ Yuga Furutani ahead in doing so. David retired at the spot with substantial damage, while Urabe made it to Turn 7 before stopping. Keito Matsui, not involved in the accident, retired at Turn 8.

After a safety car deployment, the race continued at the end of lap four and ended without any further position changes 10 laps later. As in the first race, Nomura finished on top ahead of the TOM’S duo of Kobayashi and Sano and the Delightworks pair of Mitsui and Hiyu Yamakoshi. 

Despite a different starting order for race three, the outcomes were the same. Nomura kept his lead ahead of second-place starter Kobayashi while Sano, who started third, lost places. He briefly dropped behind both Delightworks cars but regained fourth from Yamakoshi at Turn 2 as Kobayashi ahead had to defend second position from Mitsui at Turns 2 and 3Mitsui lost some time in doing so and Sano swept around his outside at Turn 4. Mitsui attempted to recover third at Turn 7 but did not succeed. That cost him time to his teammate Yamakoshi, who attacked and passed him in a breathtaking manoeuvre around the outside of Turn 11 – in his third race in the Dallara 324.

The race ended without any further interruptions or overtakes out front. Nomura equalised Miyata’s records with his third win of the weekend ahead of Kobayashi and Sano – the same podium as in races one and two.

Yasuhiro Shimizu clinched the masters’ class title, having won the first and third races. The debuting “Ken Alex” won the second race. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Yuto Nomura, 1:43.135	Yuki Sano, +0.012s	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.157s
Qualifying 2	Yuto Nomura, 1:42.597	Yuki Sano, +0.307s	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.318s
Race 1 (14 laps)	Yuto Nomura, 26:24.636	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.796s	Yuki Sano, +1.695s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Yuto Nomura, 29:51.197	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.758s	Yuki Sano, +2.100s
Race 3 (19 laps)	Yuto Nomura, 33:19.957	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.995s	Yuki Sano, +3.688s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yuto Nomura, 153	B-Max Racing Team, 163	Yasuhiro Shimizu, 133
P2	Yuki Sano, 104	TOM’S Formula, 141	“Dragon”, 108
P3	Rikuto Kobayashi, 85	Delightworks Racing, 33	Nobuhiro Imada, 92
P4	Yuga Furutani, 36	LM corsa, 1	“Ken Alex”, 22
P5	Kaylen Frederick, 35	JMS Racing Team, 0
P6	Yusuke Mitsui, 32	Buzz Racing, 0
P7	Esteban Masson, 31	GNSY Racing, 0
P8	Zachary David, 25
P9	Hiyu Yamakoshi, 7
P10	Kazuhisa Urabe, 5

Read the previous round’s report here.

Formula Trophy: Palmer clinches championship lead as Aksoy faces penalties

Formula Trophy kicked off its 2025 season with three races at the Dubai Autodrome. Hitech TGR’s Theo Palmer claimed one race win and a further podium to take an early advantage. He leads the championship by eight points from Mumbai Falcons’ Alp Aksoy.

Having topped both qualifying sessions, Aksoy started race one from pole position ahead of Palmer and Rowan Campbell-Pilling, and the Mumbai Falcons driver held the lead through a turbulent lap one. Yas Heat Racing’s Zakaria Doleh, AGI’s Noah Killion and Akcel GP’s Yuta Suzuki made contact at Turn 1, sending Killion out between Turns 3 and 4 and leaving Suzuki with apparent damage. Both cars retired, prompting a safety car period that lasted more than five minutes.

Aksoy got a strong restart and led until the chequered flag, crossing the line ahead of Palmer and Campbell-Pilling, but received a 10-second penalty for a false start, demoting him to sixth. Palmer inherited the win, and Hunter Salvatore of Evans GP rounded out the podium. Scott Lindblom and Charbel Abi Gebrayel each received five-second penalties for forcing another car off the track, and Zakaria Doleh picked up a 10-second penalty for the opening-lap collision.

Aksoy’s momentum was further slashed by a five-place grid penalty for race two for the jump start, putting him eighth on the partially reversed grid. His Mumbai Falcons teammate Payton Westcott started from pole after taking an eighth-place finish in race one, ahead of Adam Al Azhari and David Cosma Cristofor.

Al Azhari made a number of lunges on Westcott throughout the race, hoping to clinch the victory, but the American driver repeatedly closed the door on him. Westcott, Al Azhari and Cosma Cristofor retained their starting positions to fill out the podium, with Westcott becoming the series’ first female race winner.

Doleh, who retired with two laps remaining, earned a five-second penalty for starting outside of his grid box and a three-place grid drop for causing a collision with Jia Zhanbin, who retired.

For race three, Aksoy started from pole position once again, ahead of Palmer and Campbell-Pilling. Abi Gebrayel stalled off the starting line while the top three made clean getaways.

From sixth Lindblom spun at Turn 1 following contact with Salvatore, prompting a safety car and forcing the former’s retirement from the race. Salvatore pitted, but continued, eventually recovering to 15th.

Palmer, Campbell-Pilling, and fourth-placed Niccolò Maccagnani traded places several times throughout the race, but they ultimately finished behind Aksoy in the order they had qualified.

Suzuki and Rafael Vaessen picked up 10-second penalties for a team infringement and an unsafe rejoin respectively. The infringement dropped Suzuki from ninth to 10th behind De Doncker. Al Azhari, Felipe Reijs, Westcott, Salvatore and León Hedfors also all received five-second penalties for rejoining the circuit incorrectly at Turn 1, with Al Azhari also losing 10th as a result. 

A mere 21 points separate the current top five. Palmer leads the championship outright from Aksoy, Cosma Cristofor, Campbell-Pilling and Maccagnani. Aksoy is the highest-placed rookie, ahead of Arthur De Doncker in 13th and Felipe Reijs in 14th. Eight drivers – Imran Putera, Vaessen, Bernardo Bernoldi, Abi Gebrayel, Jia, Doleh, Edoardo Iacobucci and Jorden Moodley – are yet to score at all. 

Report by Anabelle Bremner

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Alp Aksoy, 2:01.552	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, +0.172s	Theo Palmer, +0.300s
Qualifying 2	Alp Aksoy, 2:01.244	Theo Palmer, +0.250s	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, +0.315s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Theo Palmer, 28:09.792	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, +0.488s	Hunter Salvatore, +1.423s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Payton Westcott, 28:53.662	Adam Al Azhari, +0.534s	David Cosma Cristofor, +1.117s
Race 3 (13 laps)	Alp Aksoy, 28:18.173	Theo Palmer, +6.301s	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, +10.051s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Theo Palmer, 51	Mumbai Falcons Racing, 70	Alp Aksoy, 75
P2	Alp Aksoy, 43	Xcel Motorsport, 69	Felipe Reijs, 38
P3	David Cosma Cristofor, 35	Hitech, 55	Arthur De Doncker, 37
P4	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, 34	Pinnacle Motorsport, 30	León Hedfors, 36
P5	Niccolò Maccagnani, 30	Evans GP, 27	Jaber Al Sabah, 34
P6	Payton Westcott, 29	Yas Heat Racing, 24	Imran Putera, 26
P7	Hunter Salvatore, 27	AGI Sport, 6	Rafael Vaessen, 20
P8	Adam Al Azhari, 24	Akcel GP, 5	Beco Bernoldi, 18
P9	Jaber Al Sabah, 8	Black Blade Racing, 4	Charbel Abi Gebrayel, 10
P10	Noah Killion, 6	X GP, 1	Zakaria Doleh, 6

Header photo credit: Super Formula Lights