Liam Lawson will make his debut in Japan’s highly-rated Super Formula championship this weekend (7-9 April 2023). A double-header round at Fuji will kick off the new season with a new ’23-spec car and a new digital platform offering a world-wide live streaming service.
Super Formula organisers have launched SFgo with a free streaming offer for this Easter weekend’s two qualifying and two race action from Fuji International Speedway in Oyama.
Lawson will dovetail a full Super Formula championship season in with his Oracle Red Bull Racing reserve driver and simulation duties, making two trips from his UK-base to Japan in the next fortnight before the calendar settles to one round per month.
It will be a hectic start to Lawson’s introduction to SF, the closest specification race car to a modern F1 car, with three races in a fortnight after just the mandatory two days of pre-season testing in which he finished fifth fastest on the final day.
This weekend will also be Lawson’s first-ever visit to the Fuji circuit with limited practice time before two 41 lap or maximum 75 minute races, one each on Saturday and Sunday.
The Red Bull-backed junior is under no illusion as to how difficult it will be to be competitive against the very experienced local drivers, let alone win races.
“Obviously every driver has to have self-confidence; if you don’t have that, you’re not going to win,” Lawson told Motorsport.com in the build-up to Fuji.
“Coming here [Japan] is a big challenge and it’s not realistic to expect to beat them straight away. Everyone that comes here struggles initially, so for me it’s about breaking that barrier as soon as possible and deliver as early as possible in the season.”
“The first races will be tough. I am here to win, but I’m not expecting to do that early on. I still need to learn.”
Lawson will drive alongside defending double-champion Tomoki Nojiri for Team Mugen in Honda-powered cars. 22 drivers take to the grid for this year’s championship which concludes with another double-header weekend at Suzuka in October.
Super Formula enters its 51st year as the leading single-seater category in Japan with only thirteen non-Japanese drivers ever crowned champion, the last one being Kiwi star Nick Cassidy in 2019.
The SFgo live stream offers sophisticated viewing and allows the use of two screens at the same time, with the option of watching the live action at the same time as viewing it from Lawon’s in-car camera with car data. Or choose any other on-board.
Other SFgo features include the ability to listen-in to team radio, highly precise graphics showing the GPS racing line and location of each driver and the ability for users to share their favourite scenes on SNS by recording the screen, within 30 seconds. Users are able to re-watch content from the video library.
To register for the free SFgo live streaming from Fuji this weekend, go to SFgo.jp to join. Saturday’s opening race starts at 5.15pm NZST and Sunday at 5.30pm.
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