Eng │ Super Formula 2026 Round 6 Fuji qf Highlights

We've got a race this afternoon, that is round six, the first of two of the Princess Yoko Cup, but the green light has gone at the end of the pit lane, so despite the fog and the mist, it looks as though the conditions are good enough for us to run safely. We wouldn't be able to start if the helicopter couldn't take off, clearly it can, which means that although it's a little bit muggy and a little bit misty out there, we can get started for Group A of Q1 qualifying. We've had a lot of wet races this year, but we've not had a wet qualifying if I'm not mistaken, so this is an opportunity for some of those names that don't normally have much of a chance of making it out of Q1. Kobayashi goes top, that's brilliant for Kamui Kobayashi, 1.33.869, as across the line comes Iwasa, and he's out! Ayumu Iwasa is not going any further, the reigning champion, as Luke Browning goes to the top, 1.33.786 for the Brit, he pounds the steering wheel in jubilation, he is the quickest at the moment in Group A, what a turn up for the Brits, Ayumu Iwasa is 11th! Check out that result, Luke Browning is the top in Q1 Group A, Kamui Kobayashi, a brilliant second, Sako Sullivan, an immense third place in front of Toshiki Oyu, Tanisuke Makino just scraping in in the end, and Roman Shtanek for BuzzMK in the top six, Fraga out, Fenestraz out, Yamashita out, Matsushita out, Iwasa out, and Juju Noda out as well, there's a great chance for him in these conditions to make it 24, and if there's ever been a time for Tomoki Nojiri to bag a pole position, it's right now! Yeah, especially with his teammate Ayumu Iwasa now guaranteed to start from the penultimate row of the grid, it's a huge opportunity for Nojiri to reassert himself, Shunko Ide is not enough to get in the top six for the three bond racing driver, what about Tsuboi? No, only P9! Oh my words, what a weekend this is turning into, and we haven't even got to Q2 yet, what on earth is going on in Fuji? The last two Super Formula champions, back to back, do not make it through to Q2, can you even believe the like of it? And Kakunoshi Ota has been eliminated as well, the championship leader! Nojiri is the fastest for the moment, Rikuto Kobayashi in second, Ren Sato, Nitta Fukuzumi, Sena Sekiguchi, and Yuto Nomura go through, Ota out, Wurz out, Koide out, Ukyo Sasahara, Shotsu Boy, and Giuliano Alessi out. Imagine a scenario in Formula 1 where you get Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Andrea Chimi-Antonelli all eliminated before you get to Q2, that is what we've got in Super Formula, that is insane! It is astonishing to think that we've got no Sacha Fenestras, no Shotsu Boy, two drivers that have got the last, two of the last three pole positions here, are not going to make it through to Q2. Ayumu Owasa, the reigning champion, he's not going through, nor is Kakunoshi Ota, what a crazy weekend already, and it's not even 9am. 1.32.4, here's Tomoki Nijiri, what can he do? Personal best in Formula 2, 8 for Tomoki Nijiri! What about Sako Salomon, can he go top? He does! Absolutely incredible, here comes Nomura, and here comes Luke Browning as well, what can they do? Yuta Nomura comes through, Browning third! Brilliant run for the Brit, we've got a British driver in first and third provisionally, what about Yuta Nomura? Ninth for him, amazing! That's the first pole position for Team Impulse since 2022 at this very circuit where Yuki Sekiguchi was on pole in the July race, so pretty much exactly four years, and there's Kazuki Hoshino, that's what it means to him, he's inherited the mantle of his legendary father Kazuyoshi Hoshino, and that is what it means. We see the order there, O'Sullivan from OU Browning, Rikuto Kobayashi fourth, I mean that's almost as stunning as the top three in Roman Stanek, what a top five, I mean that is just incredible, isn't it? But Colopinto got the opportunity to basically become a Formula 1 driver when he'd basically been written off, he'd gone into sports cars, it seemed like he wasn't going to get the chance again, somehow got into Formula 2 and was in the right place at the right time when the Nick DeVries experiment, shall we call it, or sorry, no, rather the Logan Sargent experiment came to an end at Williams, as we see the big names down at the bottom there, Schultz-Boyd It could have been O'Sullivan, if O'Sullivan had been ahead of Colopinto in Formula 2 at the time, they were both Williams drivers, Williams junior drivers in Formula 2, if O'Sullivan had been ahead in the points at that juncture of the season, probably it would have been O'Sullivan who drove in the latter half of the season for Williams in Formula 1.