Randersa takes pole on debut

Super Formula newcomer Tommy Randersa took pole position on his debut round in Sportsland SUGO over the reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri.

Randersa returned to Japan this weekend to the same track where he crashed with Kazuto Kotaka in 2019, resulting in him having his car flipped at the chicane.

Randersa seemed to struggle in practice, finishing only 19th out of 22 and making contact with the main straight wall.

However, in qualifying, Randersa shocked the Super Formula paddock by dominating the field from the group stages, giving ThreeBond Drago Corse their first points of the season and their first pole position in the series.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure whether to expect something like this," said Randersa. "The car became alive once we took off the extra fuel we had on our race setup. We had a lot of traction and I was able to focus on my driving instead. I nailed the lap by my standards, but the gap shouldn't have been that large. I don't understand why we were able to pull that off."

"Tomorrow's race won't be that easy. Our race pace wasn't nearly as good, so it'll be hard to keep Nojiri-san and (Sacha) Fenestraz behind, especially since we have to make a stop. We'll see yet."

Randersa's pole position means Team Mugen's flawless run of pole positions in 2022 has come to an end. Randersa's teammate Nirei Fukuzumi, who was also the last winner in Sugo, qualified 7th, a personal best with Drago Corse.

The 53-lap race will begin on Sunday at 2:30 pm local time.