Overcoming the challenges revealed through a hard-fought battle and building momentum for the next race
KCMG · 2026 SUPER FORMULA Round 8: Sportsland SUGO Race Report
The annual Tohoku Championship at Sportsland SUGO. A large crowd of fans and media gathered in front of the KCMG pit.
Race Overview
A tough match in Tohoku after the end of the rainy season, amid humid sea breezes and sweltering heat
Race 8, held just three weeks after the previous round at Fuji, took place at Sportsland SUGO in Miyagi Prefecture as the annual Tohoku Round. With the end of the rainy season on August 4, the Tohoku region plunged headlong into the full heat of summer. Due to the influence of Typhoon No. 15 approaching far out at sea, a damp sea breeze swept onto the circuit, creating tough conditions marked by high humidity and intense heat.
Although rain was forecast for both the qualifying and the final, fortunately all sessions took place in dry conditions. This event was held as a single-race format for the first time in a while, and KCMG poured all its efforts into this one race. Following a reorganization of roles during the joint test in June, the team had been making gradual improvements, but under these grueling conditions, KCMG was set to face its toughest battle of the season.
Fan Interaction Event / Autograph Session with KCMG Drivers and Staff
Round 8 — Qualifying
Round 8: Qualifying / Cloudy, 29°C, Dry
Although the morning was scorching hot, thunderstorms struck the surrounding mountains in the afternoon. As a result, clouds spread over the circuit, and a cold wind began to blow, causing conditions to change significantly from those during free practice.At 2:20 p.m., with an air temperature of 29 degrees and a track temperature of 43 degrees, Q1 Group A qualifying began. #8 Kenta Yamashita, competing in Group A, had sustained damage after his car’s floor struck a curb during the morning’s free practice, but thanks to the mechanics’ diligent repair work, he was able to take to the track without incident.After testing with used tires, he switched to new tires and returned to the track with 4 minutes remaining. On his second timed lap, he clocked a time of 1:06.035, but fell just 0.206 seconds short of the cutoff for Q2, resulting in a disappointing elimination in 9th place.
After a 5-minute interval, Group B began at 2:35 p.m. #9 Giuliano Alesi followed the same procedure for his qualifying run, clocking a time of 1’06.286 on his second timed lap to secure 9th place. However, after the session ended, he was ruled to have obstructed another car during his qualifying run and was penalized with a three-grid-position drop in the qualifying results.On the starting grid for Round 8, Yamashita started in 17th place and Alesi in 20th.
| Driver | Session | Rank | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| #8 Kenta Yamashita | Class Q1A | 9位 | 1:06.035 |
| #9 Giuliano Alesi | Class Q1B | 9位 | 1:06.286 *3-grid penalty |
Round 8 — Race
Round 8: Final / Cloudy, 26°C, Dry
On race day, the humidity was lower than the previous day, and the heat felt slightly more bearable. By early afternoon, the sky was overcast, and a strong breeze blowing down from the mountains caused the temperature to drop sharply. At 2:20 p.m., with an air temperature of 26 degrees and a track temperature of 35 degrees—and with concerns about rain—the race got underway.Yamashita, who got off to a strong start from 17th on the grid, overtook #37 Fenestraz before Turn 1 and #53 Brutz at the hairpin, moving up to 15th place. Meanwhile, Alesi, who started 20th, was passed by two cars ahead of him and finished the opening lap in 22nd place.
When the tire change window opened at the end of Lap 13, Yamashita—who was running in 15th place—immediately pitted. However, he was caught up in an unsafe release incident on the pit lane when he crossed paths with #39 Oyu, who had just finished his tire change, resulting in a costly loss of time that forced him to rejoin the race in 23rd place.Meanwhile, Arezzi had temporarily moved up to 13th place as other cars pitted, but his pace gradually slowed due to some sort of mechanical issue, and by Lap 21, he had fallen back to 16th place after being overtaken by three cars ahead of him.On Lap 27, when two cars stopped at separate locations, cars that hadn’t yet completed their pit stops began pitting one after another, and Arezzi also headed for the pits. After a quick tire change, he returned to the track in 19th place. On the following Lap 28, the Safety Car was deployed, and by this point, all cars had completed their tire changes. Yamashita was in 17th place, and Arezzi was in 19th.
The race resumed on Lap 36. On Lap 37, at Turn 1, the car directly in front spun out; Yamashita, who swerved to the outside, dropped to 17th place, while Arezzi, who swerved to the inside, dropped to 16th.On the straight on Lap 41, Yamashita passed Arezzi, moving up to 16th place while Arezzi dropped to 17th. On the straight on Lap 48, Yamashita passed #28 Rito Kobayashi to move up to 15th place, and he crossed the finish line in that position.
Meanwhile, Arezzi continued to struggle to control his damaged car, but was unable to pick up the pace as he’d hoped, leading to a grueling race in which he was constantly under pressure from the cars behind him and allowed those ahead to pull away. He dropped one position on Lap 43, another on Lap 44, and by Lap 45 had fallen all the way to 21st place—the very back of the field—where he remained until crossing the finish line.After the race, due to the impact of time penalties imposed on other cars, Yamashita finished in 14th place and Arezzi in 19th, bringing their tough battle to a close.
A pit stop marred by an unsafe release / The KCMG crew’s tireless efforts
Results
KCMG Sugo Race Results
Race 8: Final (Sunday / 51 laps or 75 minutes)
| Pos | No | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | #8 | Kenta Yamashita | Time lost due to an unsafe release / Rebounded to 15th place in the final stages, then moved up to 14th due to penalties for other cars |
| 19 | #9 | Giuliano Alesi | Unable to Pick Up the Pace Due to Mechanical Issues / Finished 19th After Other Cars Received Penalties |
Driver Comments
Driver Comments
I’ve been discovering some surprisingly good aspects little by little, so overall, I’m feeling positive about it. However, the race ended without me really knowing what happened, and I didn’t feel like I made much of an impact. When I was out for FP2, I thought I might be able to compete in the midfield group, but…
I think a hole opened up in the floor during the first half of the race, probably around laps 6 or 7. I believe that problem is why I couldn't pick up the pace the whole time, but I won't know the exact cause until I look into it.
As we prepare for the Fuji tournament, we’ll thoroughly review the necessary areas and work together as a team to secure points.
Yamashita was running at a decent pace, so I was hopeful that he might somehow manage to score points, but just as he was pulling into the pits, another car was coming out of the pits, and the time lost there had a major impact, making the second half of his stint quite difficult.
It seems there was some kind of problem with Arezhi's machine, so he wasn't able to compete to the best of his ability. It was a tough battle to begin with, and then bad luck piled on top of that, so I'm left feeling frustrated in every way.
Obviously, I can't keep going like this, so I plan to use this two-month break to prepare thoroughly for the next challenge.
The car was slow right from the start, and we were always playing catch-up, so qualifying didn’t go well either. I could feel such a difference (compared to the other cars) that I couldn’t believe it was the same car. In the race, we fell a lap behind, and there were moments when we were running alongside the top teams’ cars, but I was struck by just how different it was.
I’m under the impression that my tires have changed this year, but since I haven’t fully tuned the car to them yet, I want to fine-tune it while analyzing the data. There are a lot of areas where I’m falling short, but since these aren’t issues that can be easily fixed, I want to spend this entire year working to improve them.
Next up is Fuji. I think I did a little better last time, so I’ll do my best to build on this data and improve even a little bit.