Ota’s first win may have been slightly overshadowed by the drama of the title battle, but the 24-year-old rookie deserves plaudits for becoming only the fourth different driver to stand on the top step of the podium in 2023 after Lawson, Tomoki Nojiri and Ritomo Miyata.
After qualifying second behind poleman Lawson, Ota said he had no desire to get involved in the championship fight, half-joking that in an ideal situation he would be able to pass the Red Bull junior off the line and leave Lawson, Nojiri and Miyata to fight it out behind.
Incredibly, that’s exactly what happened as Ota made a rocketship getaway for the second race in a row, passing Lawson and then staying ahead for the remainder of the race, not only claiming his first victory but also a first of a difficult season for Dandelion Racing.
“Like yesterday I was a bit nervous about the start, but it felt like there was no reason for it not to go well, and I was able to get ahead [of Lawson] at the start,” said Ota.
“The pace on the opening lap was good and I was able to distance myself from the others, but I knew Liam’s long-run pace was good, so I knew it would be a race where I have to defend my position the whole way.
“My pace was good, the car worked well, so it felt like a culmination of all the work we’ve done this year, and a race that gives us a good platform for next year.”
What makes Ota’s victory even more remarkable is the way his season has turned around since the opening part of the year, as he struggled to make the transition from Super Formula Lights after being given the nod to replace Hiroki Otsu at Dandelion.
Five races into the season and he had failed to finish any higher than 15th, but in the final four races he never qualified off the front two rows, concluding the year with third in the penultimate race at Suzuka and then victory in the finale.
Ota explains that June’s in-season test at Fuji, which preceded the breakthrough race at the same track where he qualified third (with team-mate Tadasuke Makino on pole), was critical to this turnaround.
“There’s no doubt that [the reason for the improvement] is that I was able to spend the Fuji test trying many different things,” said Ota. “The first half of the season was so bad, I was trying things that even made the team say, ‘Are you sure you really want to do that?’
“I was discussing what to try with my team-mate Makino a lot, we tried a lot and we found some good things from it.”
Perhaps the reason why the in-season test was so crucial for Ota was that, owing to a big crash at 130R in SUPER GT testing at Suzuka, he wasn’t able to take part in the one and only official pre-season test with Super Formula’s new SF23 at Suzuka in early March.
“Qualifying for the first race was my first time driving the SF23,” he adds. “I drove in the rookie test, but it was with a different car [SF19] and the downforce level is different.
“If you have a test, you can go off on your attack lap and it’s ok, but in official sessions you can’t do that, you can’t test the limits, and that was tough.
“I wasn’t sure if the reason for being slow was the car or my own driving, and that was also bad for my mental well-being. My name was always in a position on the timesheets where it's faster to search starting from the bottom, and I wasn’t sure if I really belonged.”
Lawson was effusive in his praise of Ota after the race, admitting that he tried to apply the pressure on his fellow rookie in the closing stages but that he just wouldn’t buckle.
Vaulting up to seventh in the final standings, only one place behind more experienced team-mate Makino, Ota himself said he could take great satisfaction from his strong pace, as he looks to use his first victory as a springboard to a proper title challenge.
“Mugen and TOM’S have had really good pace all year, so to finish the year by beating them, it makes me feel like I’ve got on top of some of the issues I had, like tyre management and not making mistakes, which gives me confidence for next year,” said Ota.
“I’ll do my best to keep up this momentum so that I can fight for the championship.”
