The 2017 Japanese

Super Formula The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) an ...

Championship was the forty-fifth season of premier Japanese

open-wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

, and the fifth under the moniker of

Yuji Kunimoto is a Japanese auto racing driver. He is the younger brother of 2008 Macau Grand Prix winner Keisuke Kunimoto. As of 2021, he is racing for Team KCMG in the Super Formula Championship, and for Racing Project Bandoh in Super GT. Career highligh ...

is the defending series champion.

Hiroaki Ishiura is a Japanese racing driver. He currently drives in the Super GT series for Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Zent Cerumo. Born in Tokyo, Ishiura won the Super GT300 championship, in the APR MR-S with Kazuya Oshima is a Japanese racing driver, c ...

won his second Driver's Championship in three years, finishing only half a point ahead of

Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula One under the French flag, racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 ...

after the final round was cancelled due to

Typhoon Lan Typhoon Lan, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Paolo, was the third-most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2017. A very large storm, Lan was the twenty-first tropical storm and ninth typhoon of the annual typhoon season. It originated from ...

. The Cerumo INGING team won their second successive Team Championship.

Teams and drivers

Driver changes

;Leaving Super Formula *

Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne (born 26 March 1992) is a Belgian professional racing driver who is currently racing for Dragon Racing in Formula E. He had previously competed in Formula One for McLaren from 2016 to 2018. He is currently a test driver of M ...

will leave the series to compete in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

with

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

. *

Bertrand Baguette Bertrand Baguette (born 23 February 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver. In 2013, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class and the FIA WEC LMP2 class title. In 2017, he won the final running of the Suzuka 1000km in Super GT. ...

will leave the series to compete in

Super GT Series Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...

. *

Yuichi Nakayama is a Japanese racing driver, best known for winning the 2013 All-Japan Formula Three Championship. Career Karting Born in Tokyo, Nakayama began his racing career in karting at the age of six and raced in various local championships, progressin ...

is replaced at the single car KCMG team by

Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...

. * Joao Paulo de Oliveira, 2010 Formula Nippon champion, leaves after seven seasons with Team Impul and ten in the series. ;Entering Super Formula * 2016 GP2 Series champion,

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned ...

and

Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red ...

reserve driver

moved to Super Formula with Team Mugen. He replaced

Daniil Kvyat Daniil Vyacheslavovich Kvyat ( rus, Дании́л Вячесла́вович Квят, p=dənʲɪˈil vʲɪtɕɪˈslavəvʲɪtɕ ˈkvʲat; born 26 April 1994) is a Russian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2014– ...

from the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, but skipped the 2017 United States Grand Prix to finish the Super Formula season. *

Nick Cassidy Nick Cassidy (born 19 August 1994) is a New Zealand racing driver, currently competing in Formula E for Envision Racing, and in the World Endurance Championship and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with AF Corse. He has won the 2017 championship in ...

and

Kenta Yamashita is a Japanese racing driver, known for his successes in single-seater junior categories, including winning the 2013 Formula Challenge Japan and the 2012 Motegi Championship Formula Super FJ. He currently races in the Super Formula Championship, ...

, the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Japanese Formula 3 champions, join the series with Kondo Racing, replacing

James Rossiter James Rossiter (born 25 August 1983) is a former professional racing driver, British motorsport executive and Team Principal of Maserati MSG Racing in Formula E. He was a Test Driver for BAR, Honda, Super Aguri and Force India in Formula One a ...

and William Buller. *GT Academy winner

Jann Mardenborough Jann Mardenborough (born 9 September 1991) is a British professional racing driver competing in the Japanese Super GT series. In 2011 he became the third (and youngest) winner of the GT Academy competition, beating 90,000 entrants. He was rewar ...

makes his series debut with Team Impul. *

European F3 champion

Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist (born 7 November 1991) is a Swedish professional racing driver who currently drives the No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP in the NTT IndyCar Series. He was named Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series in 2019. Racing car ...

joins the series. He is joined at Team LeMans by

Kazuya Oshima is a Japanese racing driver, currently racing in the Super GT Series and the Super Formula Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing and ROOKIE Racing. Oshima is one of only two drivers that have won championships in both classes of Super GT: He wo ...

, making his full-time return to Super Formula for the first time since

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Race calendar

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

;Scoring system: ;Driver standings:

Teams' Championship

References

External links

Japanese Championship Super Formula official website
{{Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon years

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...