Tomoki Nojiri

is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes as a Honda factory driver in Super GT for ARTA and in Super Formula for Team Mugen, where he won the championship title in 2021 and 2022.

Racing career Early career Nojiri began his karting career in the All-Japan Karting Championship in 2003, and in 2006, he became the FA class champion. Nojiri moved to Europe to race in the European championship, the Italian Masters, and World Cup KF1 in 2007. In 2008, Nojiri was the top graduate from the Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula, earning him a scholarship to compete in Formula Challenge Japan (FCJ) for 2009. He finished fifth in the FCJ standings in 2009, and again in 2010, while also finishing fifth in the JAF Formula 4 West Series in 2009.

In 2011, Nojiri graduated to the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship National Class with HFDP Racing. He won three times, including in his first start at Suzuka Circuit, and finished second in the championship to Katsumasa Chiyo. In 2021, Nojiri stepped up to the main level championship in Japanese F3; he finished fifth in the standings, and won the tenth round at Okayama International Circuit. Nojiri moved to Toda Racing in 2013, where he finished fourth in the championship.

Super Formula

Dandelion Racing In 2014, Nojiri joined docomo Team Dandelion Racing in the Super Formula Championship. In the sixth and penultimate round of the championship at Sportsland Sugo, Nojiri scored his first career victory in just his seventh race. He finished the year tenth in the championship, and won Rookie of the Year honours ahead of Formula One veteran Vitantonio Liuzzi, and reigning Japanese F3 champion Yuichi Nakayama. Nojiri remained with Dandelion Racing from 2015 to 2018. He finished seventh in the championship in 2015, ninth in 2016, and seventh in 2018. Over these four seasons, Nojiri won three pole positions, recorded four podiums, and two fastest laps.

Team Mugen For the 2019 season, Nojiri transferred to Team Mugen, in a swap for reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto (who took Nojiri's place at Dandelion Racing). The move to Mugen, along with the introduction of the new Dallara SF19 chassis, paid dividends for Nojiri. He finished a career-best fourth in the championship, while also ending a five-year winless drought at the season-ending JAF Grand Prix in Suzuka. He finished fifth in the championship in 2020, winning the fourth round at Autopolis from pole position.

Nojiri won back-to-back races at Fuji Speedway and Suzuka to open the 2021 season. He then went on to win the fifth round at Mobility Resort Motegi from pole position. In the next race at Motegi, Nojiri finished fifth to clinch his first Super Formula drivers' championship, becoming the first driver since Loïc Duval in 2009 to clinch the Japanese top formula championship before the final round of the season.

Nojiri's form carried into 2022; he opened the season with a win and second place finish at the doubleheader weekend at Fuji, along with a pole position in round two. He strung together four consecutive pole positions, six podiums and never finished lower than fourth in the first eight races of the season. At the JAF Grand Prix Suzuka, Nojiri won the pole for the first race, and clinched his second consecutive championship with a second place finish. He completed the season with a pole-to-win victory, his second of the season. Nojiri became the first driver since Tsugio Matsuda to win consecutive championships in Japanese top formula racing.

Super GT

GT300 Nojiri's first Super GT start came in the GT300 class, driving Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA)'s Honda CR-Z GT300 at the 2013 Suzuka 1000km. He stepped up to full-time Super GT competition in 2014 with Team Mugen, taking over for reigning GT300 champion Hideki Mutoh. Nojiri and co-driver Yuhki Nakayama finished tenth in the GT300 championship, with a third place finish at the Fuji 500 km.

GT500 In 2015, Nojiri moved up to the GT500 class with ARTA, driving a Honda NSX-GT. He finished fourth in his top class debut, at Okayama. Two years later, Nojiri won his first GT500 pole in the fourth round at Sugo, and then won the fifth round at Fuji Speedway (with co-driver Takashi Kobayashi) to take his first career GT500 victory. Takuya Izawa transferred to ARTA as Nojiri's new co-driver in 2018. Nojiri and Izawa won the third round at Suzuka, and the eighth and final round at Motegi, en route to a third place finish in the GT500 championship. They won the rain-shortened opening round at Okayama in 2019, but fell to tenth in the standings at the end of the season.

For 2020, Nirei Fukuzumi joined ARTA as Nojiri's co-driver. After a difficult start to the season, Nojiri and Fukuzumi strung together four top five finishes to finish the year fifth in the championship; this included a win at the seventh round at Motegi. Nojiri and Fukuzumi returned to ARTA for the 2021 season. One week after clinching the Super Formula championship, Nojiri won the sixth round of the Super GT series at Autopolis alongside Fukuzumi, then won the following round at Motegi. They finished the year second in the drivers' championship.

In 2022, Nojiri and Fukuzumi won a shortened Golden Week race at Fuji Speedway.

Nojiri was joined by Toshiki Oyu for the 2023 season after Fukuzumi was moved to ARTA's new sister entry to partner Hiroki Otsu. Nojiri and Oyu would go on to finish eighth in the championship after inconsistent qualifying form throughout the season, taking a dominant victory at Sportsland Sugo. For the 2024 season, he would race alongside Nobuharu Matsushita, who would move over from Real Racing after Oyu's departure from the Honda factory stable for rivals Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Racing record

Career summary † As Nojiri was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.‡ Team standings.* Season still in progress.

Complete Japanese Formula 3 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Pts 2011 HFDP Racing Toyota N SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ1 FUJ2 FUJ3 FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT1 MOT2 OKA1 OKA2 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 2nd 89 2012 HFDP Racing Toda Racing SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT1 MOT2 OKA1 OKA2 SUG1 SUG2 SUG3 FUJ1 FUJ2 5th 49 2013 Toda Racing Toda Racing SUZ1 SUZ2 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 OKA1 OKA2 FUJ1 FUJ2 MOT1 MOT2 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ1 FUJ2 4th 50

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. (Number) Driver did not take part in this sprint race, points are still awarded for the teammate's result. Season still in progress.

Complete Super Formula results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2014 docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda SUZ FUJ FUJ FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 10th 10 2015 docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda SUZ OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 7th 19 2016 docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda SUZ OKA FUJ MOT OKA OKA SUG SUZ SUZ 9th 14.5 2017 docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda SUZ OKA OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 17th 2 2018 docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 7th 12.5 2019 Team Mugen Honda SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 4th 24 2020 Team Mugen Honda MOT OKA SUG AUT SUZ SUZ FUJ 5th 472021 Team Mugen Honda FUJ SUZ AUT SUG MOT MOT SUZ 1st 862022 Team Mugen Honda FUJ FUJ SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT MOT SUZ SUZ 1st 154 2023 Team Mugen Honda FUJ FUJ SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT SUZ SUZ 3rd 106 2024 Team Mugen Honda SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT FUJ FUJ SUZ SUZ 2nd 87 2025 Team Mugen HondaSUZSUZMOTMOTAUTFUJFUJSUGFUJ SUZSUZSUZ5th94.5 2026 Team Mugen Honda MOT MOT AUT SUZ SUZ FUJ FUJ SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ SUZ ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. Season still in progress.