Honda drivers concerned by apparent Toyota top speed gains

Posted on April 1, 2022.

After a 2021 season in which the Honda contingent held a definitive edge, securing every pole and race win except the rain-affected Autopolis round, the Toyota teams mounted a comeback in pre-season testing.

Inging driver Sho Tsuboi was fastest on both days at Suzuka, while on the final day of a weather-affected Fuji test, Kondo Racing's Sacha Fenestraz led a one-two-three-four for Toyota powered cars on the final day.

The best of the Honda drivers was Mugen's defending champion Tomoki Nojiri in fifth, around four tenths off the pace.

B-Max driver Nobuharu Matsushita, who was 10th-fastest on the second day at Fuji, believes that Honda finds itself on the back foot in terms of straight line speed heading into the new campaign, which kicks off at the same track with a double-header event on April 8-10.

"Honda needs to push on the engine side," Matsushita told Motorsport.com. "We are a bit behind compared to Toyota on the top speed.

"We are losing maybe around 5km/h. Apparently, they did some development on the engine."

Dandelion Racing's Hiroki Otsu likewise told Motorsport.com that "in terms of [straight line] speed, I have the impression that the Toyotas are fast", while his teammate Tadasuke Makino offered a similar view.

"It seems the Toyota engine is faster, but honestly I don’t know what’s happening," he said. "Maybe we can see after qualifying what is really happening. Hopefully we’re still quicker!"

Super Formula's move to a 10-race calendar for the 2022 season, and thus allowing teams to use two engines per season instead of one, is thought to favour Toyota by placing slightly less emphasis on reliability, as each unit now only has to last five races instead of seven.

Original Post: https://www.motorsport.com/super-formula/news/honda-toyota-top-speed-fuji/9478583/