ROOKIE Racing podium finish
In Super Formula Round 2 highlights, ROOKIE Racing secured third place and celebrated with a podium ceremony that brought the trophy into their garage (x.com). Social posts from the team captured the champagne celebration and the on‑track podium moment (x.com).
ROOKIE Racing reached the Super Formula podium for the first time on April 5, when Nirei Fukuzumi finished third in Round 2 at Mobility Resort Motegi. (autosport.com) The race was the second half of the season-opening Motegi doubleheader in Japan’s top single-seater series, the Japanese Super Formula Championship. Sunday’s Round 2 ran 37 laps, with Kakunoshin Ohta winning for Team Dandelion and Sena Sakaguchi finishing second for Cerumo Inging. (superformula.net) (racingyears.com) Fukuzumi started seventh after advancing through the first qualifying segment with the fastest time in his group, then moved forward in the race and completed his mandatory pit stop on lap 30. ROOKIE Racing said the result gave the team its best finish yet in Super Formula. (rookie-racing.co.jp) (fmotor.jp) Super Formula is Japan’s highest-level open-wheel championship, using near-identical Dallara chassis with Honda or Toyota engines, so gains usually come from setup, pit timing and driver pace rather than radically different cars. ROOKIE Racing competes in the series alongside Super GT and Super Taikyu under team owner Akio Toyoda. (superformula.net) (rookie-racing.co.jp) The podium landed a day after ROOKIE Racing lost a strong Round 1 qualifying result to a post-session minimum-weight violation. The team said Fukuzumi had qualified fourth on April 4 before his time was deleted in scrutineering, forcing him to start last for the wet race and finish 19th. (rookie-racing.co.jp) That swing made Sunday’s result a reset for a team that also changed its Super Formula lineup for 2026. ROOKIE Racing renamed its entry NTT docomo Business ROOKIE this season and signed Fukuzumi, while former driver Kazuya Oshima moved into a support role the team described as “guardian.” (rookie-racing.co.jp) The official standings after Motegi put Fukuzumi fourth in the drivers’ table with 11 points, while NTT docomo Business ROOKIE sat fourth in the team standings with the same total. Ohta left the opening weekend with 35 points after sweeping both races. (autosport.com) ROOKIE Racing’s own posts showed what the finish meant inside the garage: the trophy carried back to the team area, champagne sprayed after the ceremony, and Fukuzumi on the Motegi podium. After losing one result to the scales on Saturday, the team left Motegi on Sunday with hardware. (x.com)
