The final two rounds, 9 and 10, of the 2022 All-Japan Super Formula Championship were held on Saturday and Sunday, 29^th and 30^th October, at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture.

In the tenth and final round of the season on Sunday the mission was to get the No. 55 car through Q1 so dynamic changes were made to the car’s set-up.  As as result Miyake secured 8^th place on the grid, but it turned into a defensive race and he was unable to increase his previous day’s pace.

Miyake was able to defend his 8^th position and finished his first Super Formula season with three points.

Atsushi Miyake, #55 Driver

“On Saturday night we worked hard to solve the issues we had before the final race on Sunday.  Having reviewed everything, including my driving, with the team I was able to get through Q1 as I wanted to start at the front for the final race in Round 10 on Sunday.  I made it to Q2 and would start the race from eighth, not as far ahead as I wanted to be, but better than yesterday.  Having had a bad start in my last few races I had an idea regarding the cause, so last night the mechanics had a late night reviewing and checking all the data, the clutch, etc., so we got off to quite a good start.  However, when it came to the race I had difficulty driving well, which was the complete opposite to yesterday; my plan had been to move forward from my 8^th place, but I finished up having to defend”

“Makino was chasing me towards the end of the race, but, assisted by the radio information from the team and by using the OTS, I was able to defend well.  I think I’ve made progress in these areas from the experience I’ve gained throughout the season.  I would like to thank all those involved with us this season and all the fans who have supported us.”

Masashi Yamamoto, Team Director

“Qualifying for Miyake had been an issue so we made some radical changes to the set-up for Round 10.  It all turned out to be positive and Miyake progressed through Q1 to qualify eigth.  For Round 10 we made further changes for the race from the previous days’ set-up, but the direction we chose didn’t work as we ended up with bad understeer on the front and low drivability.  I felt really sorry for the driver.

But Miyake managed to hold on despite these problems finishing in 8^th place and scoring some points so I was happy for him and his team.  We want to build a better team for next year which means we still have a lot of work to do.”

Shintaro Okajima, #55 Engineer

“Our mission for Round 10 qualifying was to make sure we could get the car through Q1, and Miyake drove well so we progressed to Q2 and started the race from 8^th position which is within the points.  I believe that overall our qualifying session was as an improvement on the previous day’s Round 9.  However, there were issues with the car’s set-up for the race and I regret we were unable to improve our 8^th place starting position due to a drop in performance on the base set-up used for Saturday’s race.”

“Strategically the only option we had was to make an early pit stop.  I think if the car’s performance had been a little higher we could have adopted a different strategy.  Next season the car will be different, so at the moment I don’t know whether we will be able to utilise any of our experience from this year, but I hope we can build a better future.”