Every entry on the Super Formula 2026 official entry list races on the same Dallara SF23 chassis, fitted with Yokohama racing tyres. This identical-specification framework places the full performance burden on driver execution and engineering strategy rather than equipment. The Super Formula 2026 starting grid at Motegi on April 4th was the first confirmation of where the season’s competitive order would emerge — and the field has not disappointed since.

A key development ahead of the Super Formula 2026 season was the announced entry of two-time WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä with KCMG — however, he withdrew before Round 1 after being diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Reserve driver Seita Nonaka took his seat for the opening rounds, with KCMG continuing to assess their second-car situation as the season progresses.

The Super Formula 2026 roster is organized below in the official entry list format. Every driver carries a permanent race number used across all Super Formula 2026 race lineup weekends. The grid is split between Honda-powered and Toyota-powered entries, with the engine supplier playing a decisive role in circuit-specific performance at venues like Suzuka and Fuji Speedway.

The influx of Super Formula rookie drivers 2026 highlights the series’ growing reputation as the definitive alternative to the traditional European ladder. No longer is Japan viewed as a step outside the mainstream; the international drivers in Super Formula 2026 are arriving with genuine F1-adjacent credentials and serious ambitions.

The Super Formula Lights 2026 graduates Yuto Nomura and Syun Koide represent the domestic pipeline, while Browning, O’Sullivan, Wurz, and Staněk confirm that the European single-seater establishment now views Japanese open-wheel racing as a credible and competitive career move. Several 2025 Super Formula Lights front-runners — including Nomura — graduated directly to the main Super Formula championship in 2026, following the well-established pathway that has produced some of Japan’s top racing talents.

Taming the Dallara SF23 — with its intense aerodynamic load, zero power steering, and mandatory Yokohama tyre management — presents an immediate physical and technical challenge for every Super Formula 2026 rookie driver. Early indications from the Motegi and Suzuka rounds suggest Browning and Nomura have adapted most quickly to the demanding platform.

The backbone of Japanese open-wheel racing is the unresolved, intensely contested factory war between Honda and Toyota. In the Super Formula 2026 Honda lineup and Super Formula 2026 Toyota lineup, this rivalry isn’t passive — it directly shapes team strategy, driver selection, and circuit-specific car set-up priorities at every round on the Super Formula 2026 schedule.

Honda-Powered Teams — 2026

The Super Formula Honda teams 2026 run nine entries across seven organisations. Led by Team Mugen Autobacs — with defending champion Ayumu Iwasa (#1) and two-time champion Tomoki Nojiri (#16) — the Honda camp possesses the deepest championship pedigree on the grid. The HR-417E engine’s high-RPM power delivery gives Honda cars a decisive edge at Suzuka’s Esses and through SUGO’s steep, demanding uphill sections. The addition of the new Delightworks Racing outfit (running Nobuharu Matsushita, #22) expands Honda’s representation to include a promising young team that immediately delivered a podium at Suzuka’s Round 4.

Honda teams: Team Mugen Autobacs, Docomo Team Dandelion Racing, Ponos Nakajima Racing, Hazama Ando Triple Tree Racing, ThreeBond Racing, Delightworks Racing, San-Ei Gen with B-Max.

Toyota-Backed Teams — 2026

Toyota’s Super Formula 2026 roster covers fifteen entries across nine organisations, making it the numerically dominant camp. The TRD-01F powerplant’s smooth, wide torque band is optimised for the long, traction-demanding corners that define Fuji Speedway. Vantelin Team TOM’S brings the combined technical resource of a premier factory programme alongside 2024 champion Sho Tsuboi and the returning Sacha Fenestraz. The Fenestraz-TOM’S combination delivered the first Toyota victory of the 2026 season in the chaotic, wet Round 4 at Suzuka. For a deeper look at how these organizations compare, see the full Super Formula 2026 teams breakdown.

Toyota teams: Vantelin Team TOM’S, Wecars Team Impul, Realize Kondo Racing, Navikuru Buzz MK Racing, Sanki Vertex Partners Cerumo·Inging, KCMG, NTT Docomo Business Rookie Racing, KDDI TGMGP TGR-DC, Team Goh.

The competitive structure of the Super Formula teams 2026 grid highlights several organizations with the engineering depth and financial resources to mount credible title campaigns. The 2026 grid saw significant driver movement over the winter — several major transfers have reshuffled the competitive order in ways that are only now becoming apparent as the season unfolds.

Docomo Team Dandelion Racing — 2026 Championship Leaders

The headline story of the early Super Formula 2026 season has been the dominance of Docomo Team Dandelion Racing. Kakunoshin Ohta swept both rounds at Motegi, won Race 2 at Suzuka, and currently leads the Super Formula 2026 championship standings by a commanding margin. The team is Honda-powered and has consistently demonstrated exceptional race engineering — particularly in tyre lifecycle management, which has become a decisive factor under the latest Yokohama compound specification. Ohta’s ability to make crucial overtakes at critical moments — including his famous move past Iwasa on lap 20 at Motegi R1 — marks him as the strongest complete-package driver on the 2026 grid so far.

Team Mugen Autobacs — The Benchmark

Operating with their close-knit Honda technical partnership, Team Mugen Autobacs (#1 Ayumu Iwasa, #16 Tomoki Nojiri) entered 2026 as the team to beat. Autobacs Seven officially came aboard as title sponsor, renaming the entry. Iwasa took pole for three of the first five rounds and has been the fastest driver in class on multiple occasions — but fortune has not matched raw pace, with the Motegi R1 half-points result and Suzuka R4 wet-weather disaster costing him heavily. Nojiri, the two-time series champion, has struggled with mechanical issues and grid position. The team’s championship position is deceptive: their raw speed is unquestionably among the best on the grid, and a Suzuka or Fuji victory could rapidly swing the title fight. For detailed insight on how pit stop strategy influences championship outcomes, see our analysis section.

Vantelin Team TOM’S — Toyota’s Factory Standard

TOM’S returns with the pairing of 2024 champion Sho Tsuboi (#36) and the reinstated Sacha Fenestraz (#37). Fenestraz delivered Toyota’s first 2026 race win with an accomplished drive in the chaotic, rain-interrupted Round 4 at Suzuka — a crucial result for the Toyota camp’s morale heading into the summer. TOM’S draws on its extraordinary multi-series telemetry and engineering data to give both drivers a robust engineering foundation. Tsuboi’s title defence has been complicated by early consistency issues, but a driver of his calibre at venues like Fuji Speedway — where the TRD-01F engine’s torque advantage is most pronounced — should not be discounted.

Wecars Team Impul — Legendary Garage, New Mission

Led by Kazuyoshi Hoshino — the “fastest man in Japan” — Team Impul secured Zak O’Sullivan for his sophomore Super Formula season after the British-Irish driver impressed at Kondo Racing in 2025. O’Sullivan brings proven FIA Formula 2 race-winning speed and a sharper understanding of Japanese tyre management entering his second year. The Impul environment is famously demanding — high-risk set-up philosophies that maximise peak grip at the cost of stability. A driver with O’Sullivan’s natural pace and now accumulated experience represents one of the most intriguing long-term storylines in the Super Formula 2026 championship lineup.

Sanki Vertex Partners Cerumo·Inging — Dark Horse Alert

Inging entered 2026 under the radar but immediately made their presence felt. Sena Sakaguchi (#38) and Toshiki Oyu (#39) both showed strong qualifying pace across the opening rounds, with Sakaguchi’s Motegi R2 second-place result keeping the team at the top of the constructors’ standings. Oyu’s consistent lap times at Suzuka confirmed the team’s set-up philosophy is working. As the championship moves into Fuji Speedway and SUGO — circuits where mid-field teams can overperform through deep circuit knowledge — Inging represents genuine spoiler potential.

NTT Docomo Business Rookie Racing — Surprise Package

Nirei Fukuzumi (#14) delivered one of the season’s most impressive individual performances at the Suzuka double-header, taking pole position and winning Round 5 from P5 on the grid. Rookie Racing’s first-ever Super Formula podium (third in Motegi R2) had already signalled a step forward, but Fukuzumi’s Suzuka Sunday victory confirmed the team — and the Fukuzumi-Toyota pairing — as a genuine dark horse for the remainder of the season. This was Toyota’s first win of 2026 in points-paying conditions.

The Dallara SF23 is the universal chassis for every entry in the Super Formula 2026 driver lineup. Constructed from ultra-lightweight carbon composite — partially incorporating Bcomp carbon-neutral natural flax fibre in its construction — the SF23 represents one of the most aerodynamically sophisticated single-seater designs outside of Formula 1 itself. Understanding what downforce does is key to understanding why the SF23 is so quick.

The SF23’s defining aerodynamic characteristic is its Venturi tunnel ground-effect underbody, which generates the majority of its downforce from beneath the car rather than from conventional wings. At speeds exceeding 310 km/h, the resulting vertical load presses the car into the track surface with immense force, enabling the extreme cornering speeds recorded at circuits like Suzuka — where the championship delivered some of its most dramatic racing in 2026.

A critical driver characteristic is the complete absence of power steering. Every control input through Suzuka’s sustained high-G sequences or SUGO’s technical uphill sections must be delivered by raw physical strength and precise muscle memory. This makes driver fitness and upper-body endurance a genuine performance variable — not just a comfort factor. The aerodynamic downforce equation engineers reference is:

For fans wondering how Super Formula compares to Formula 1 in outright speed, the SF23 at Suzuka typically sets lap times within 3–5 seconds of the contemporary F1 benchmark — a remarkable achievement for a spec-chassis series running customer engines. This performance gap is why leading qualifying analysis frequently highlights Super Formula as the true global benchmark outside of Formula 1.

The Super Formula schedule 2026 covers seven race weekends across five of Japan’s most iconic permanent road courses, delivering a 12-round campaign that rewards both single-lap qualifying pace and strategic consistency across double-header weekends. The Super Formula calendar 2026 opened at Mobility Resort Motegi for the first time since 2020, before moving to Autopolis, Suzuka, Fuji, SUGO, and back to Fuji and Suzuka for the autumn deciders.

For the complete session times, live broadcast windows, and weekend timetables, visit the dedicated Super Formula 2026 schedule page. The summer rounds at Fuji Speedway in July and the autumn return to Fuji in October are expected to be critical swing points in the title fight — circuits where Toyota’s torque advantage historically produces overperformance relative to their qualifying pace.

Where to Watch Super Formula 2026 Live

As global viewership reaches record levels, finding a quality Super Formula live stream has become straightforward. The three primary viewing options for the Super Formula TV schedule are:

1. SFgo Digital App — the official subscription service offering the main world feed, high-definition onboard cameras, real-time telemetry overlays, and unfiltered team radio. The definitive Super Formula 2026 where to watch solution for international fans.
2. Motorsport.tv — dedicated English-language commentary for every qualifying session and race, with professional presentation and post-event analysis.
3. J SPORTS — exclusive domestic broadcast partner in Japan, providing comprehensive, uninterrupted coverage including paddock access and expert post-race programming.

The Super Formula 2026 standings after five completed rounds tell a compelling story: Kakunoshin Ohta leads by a significant margin thanks to his unprecedented run of three victories across the opening two race weekends — a Motegi double followed by Suzuka R2. Nirei Fukuzumi’s Suzuka R5 pole-to-win disrupted any Honda monopoly and injected genuine uncertainty into the Super Formula championship standings heading into the Fuji double-header.

Points through Round 5 (Suzuka, May 24, 2026). Round 3 (Autopolis) cancelled — no points awarded. Includes qualifying points. Full current standings at the Super Formula official website.

Title Fight Analysis — Super Formula 2026 Title Contenders

The gap of 19.5 points between Ohta and Iwasa after five rounds sounds comfortable, but in a championship where a full-points race pays 20 points to the winner, it is far from insurmountable. The Super Formula 2026 title contenders remain a realistic group of six or seven drivers — including Ohta, Iwasa, Fukuzumi (now third in the title race), Sakaguchi, and dark horses like Sho Tsuboi, who hasn’t yet shown his true Fuji pace. Understanding how racing championships are scored makes it clear that seven race weekends and nine uncompleted rounds leave enormous scope for the standings to be rewritten.

The defining characteristic of Ohta’s lead is that it is built on race-craft and consistency rather than pure qualifying speed. Iwasa has outqualified Ohta in the majority of sessions. But converting pole positions into maximum points has eluded Team Mugen — strategic miscalculation in the Motegi R1 pit double-stack, and catastrophic timing on the wet-tyre call at Suzuka R4, have cost the defending champion dearly. Resolve those operational issues and Iwasa’s raw car speed makes him the most dangerous driver on the grid. The season turns on whether Dandelion Racing can maintain their strategic superiority through Fuji, SUGO, and the two Suzuka finale rounds in November.

• → Race Calendar, Results & Entry News — SUPER FORMULA Official Website
• → 2026 Super Formula Championship Standings — Motorsport.com
• → Super Formula 2026 News & Race Reports — Autosport
• → Honda Racing Super Formula Teams & Race Reports — Honda.Racing
• → 2026 Super Formula Championship — Wikipedia