Ex-Formula 1 driver Jack Doohan, Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu have all been added to the line-up for this week’s post-season Super Formula test at Suzuka.
Series organiser JRP released a final entry list for the test on Tuesday, confirming the identity of all 36 drivers that will participate in the three-day test that starts on Wednesday.
As previously reported by Autosport, Doohan looks certain to drive in Super Formula next season as he seeks to rebuild his career in the wake of losing his Alpine F1 seat to Franco Colapinto after the opening six races of the campaign.
He will drive at Suzuka – where he raced in this year’s Japanese Grand Prix – for the Toyota-powered Kondo Racing team on all three days of the test, the Australian driver taking over the #3 car raced this season by Kenta Yamashita.
Although not yet formally confirmed by Toyota, Doohan is set to form part of an all-new international combination at Kondo together with Williams F1 junior Luke Browning.
They will replace Yamashita, who is set to join KCMG, and Zak O’Sullivan, who looks well-placed to land a seat with what could become a one-car Team Impul operation.
As revealed last Friday, Browning joins Kondo for the second and third days of the test in the sister #4 Dallara-Toyota, and will head to Japan directly from taking part in the F1 young driver test in Abu Dhabi for Williams on Tuesday.
Formula Regional European champion Slater will drive for TOM'S on the third and final day of the test, which is reserved for drivers with fewer than four Super Formula starts.
He will pilot the #37 car that will be driven on the first two days by Sacha Fenestraz, while 2024 Macau Grand Prix winner Ugochukwu will drive Sho Tsuboi’s regular #1 car.
Both Slater and Ugochukwu belong to the same ADD Management stable as Fenestraz, with newly-crowned F1 world champion Lando Norris also part of the same group.
Rallying star Kalle Rovanpera (KCMG), FIA Formula 3 racer Charlie Wurz (Team Goh), and Super Formula Lights champion Yuto Nomura (B-Max Racing) are among the other drivers who are set to sample Super Formula machinery for the first time this week.
The test will comprise six sessions totalling 12 hours, with four-and-a-half hours of running taking place on Wednesday and Thursday and three hours on Friday.
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