This year, Honda expanded to 10 full-time entries in Japan’s top single-seater series, creating a bumper 21-car grid together with Toyota’s 11-strong fleet.
However, this looks likely to return to nine cars next year as Team Goh is looking near-certain to withdraw following the end of its deal with the Red Bull Junior Team.
As previously reported by Motorsport.com, Team Mugen will take over the energy drink giant’s car as its second entry in 2022, rekindling a relationship that ran from 2017 until the Servus Japan-run Goh squad formed its own individual entity this year.
Meanwhile, B-Max Racing is set to return to running two cars for the first time since 2020, having loaned out its second chassis to Mugen for this year’s campaign.
Honda mainstays Dandelion Racing and Nakajima Racing will almost certainly continue to run two cars apiece, with Drago Corse set to remain a one-car operation for the time being.
Any hopes of a 10th Honda entry appear to rest on Mugen being able to run a third car, but additional funding would need to be found for this to become a reality.
Against this backdrop, Ukyo Sasahara is at risk of losing his current seat at Mugen despite scoring two wins this year if Red Bull takes up the chance to send one of its European-based junior drivers to Super Formula for the first time since Juri Vips in late 2019.
Red Bull junior Liam Lawson’s plans for 2023 are unconfirmed and the Kiwi appears to be the only realistic candidate in the RBJT stable to send to Japan, but doubts remain over how this would fit into his current F1 reserve driver role.
Ren Sato drove the Red Bull-liveried car for Team Goh this year, but would likely lose out on a drive should Lawson or another international driver get the nod to join Mugen.
The only other team where either Sasahara could land is Dandelion, with Hiroki Otsu’s place at the team alongside Tadasuke Makino in serious doubt following a largely disappointing campaign for the 2021 Rookie of the Year.
Nakajima Racing looks likely to field an unchanged line-up of Naoki Yamamoto and Toshiki Oyu, while Nirei Fukuzumi is set to stay put for another season at Drago Corse.
Over at B-Max, Nobuharu Matsushita is on course to extend his relationship with the team into a fourth season, while his teammate is likely to be an international driver with funding, with ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi publicly targeting the seat.
There is also the question of where HPD scholarship winner-elect Raoul Hyman, who is poised to win the Formula Regional Americas title this weekend, gets placed by Honda for his rookie campaign in Super Formula.
Team Goh looked like it would be the Briton’s destination earlier in the year, but the squad’s likely disappearance from the grid means Hyman’s plans are now up in the air.
Atsushi Miyake, who drove Goh’s second car this year but lost out on Rookie of the Year honours to teammate Sato, is unlikely to remain in the Honda stable.
