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Jamie Klein

Sasahara replaces injured Yamashita for Super Formula test

An entry list released by the Japanese series on Thursday has Sasahara listed in the cockpit of the #3 Kondo car, with Yamashita still recovering from injuries he sustained in a SUPER GT testing crash in January.

Yamashita is aiming to be fit in time for the opening round of the season at Fuji Speedway in April.

Sasahara, a winner of two races last year, was left without a regular drive in Super Formula after switching from the Honda camp to Toyota last season.

He participated in the second day of last December's post-season test at Suzuka with the TOM'S team, with which he will race in SUPER GT this year, but ultimately lost out on a race seat to Giuliano Alesi.

Sasahara does however already have experience of the upgraded SF23 chassis that Super Formula will use this year, as he took part in a wet test at Motegi last month in his first assignment as the development driver for the Toyota car.

Elsewhere on the Suzuka test entry list, Turkish driver Cem Bolukbasi has been named as one of the reborn TGM Grand Prix outfit's two drivers, with the other seat still listed as 'TBN'.

 

Bolukbasi drove for the Servus Japan-run TGM squad at Suzuka in December, and is expected to be confirmed as a full-season driver for the team imminently.

Toshiki Oyu, who has left Nakajima Racing after three seasons, is expected to take up the other seat.

One other point of interest on the entry list is that Tomoki Nojiri's #1 car is listed as the 'Red Bull Motul Mugen SF23'.

This suggests that the defending champion will be running in a Red Bull-liveried car this year, along with new team-mate Liam Lawson.

The Team Impul machines of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Ryo Hirakawa are also both listed as 'Itochu Enex Team Impul SF23', hinting at a possible return to the team's old white-and-blue colours.

The two-day test at Suzuka begins on Monday, and represents the only on-track running ahead of the opening races at Fuji on April 8-9.

Suzuka test entry list (March 6-7):

Team/Engine No. Driver
Mugen/Honda 1 Japan Tomoki Nojiri
15 New Zealand Liam Lawson
Kondo Racing/Toyota 3 Japan Ukyo Sasahara
4 Japan Kazuto Kotaka
Dandelion Racing/Honda 5 Japan Tadasuke Makino
6

Japan Kakunoshin Ota

KCMG/Toyota 7

Japan Kamui Kobayashi

18

Japan Yuji Kunimoto

ThreeBond Racing/Honda 12

Japan Nirei Fukuzumi

Rookie Racing/Toyota 14

Japan Kazuya Oshima

Impul/Toyota 19

Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi

20

Japan Ryo Hirakawa

TOM'S/Toyota 36

France Giuliano Alesi

37

Japan Ritomo Miyata

Inging/Toyota 38

Japan Sho Tsuboi

39

Japan Sena Sakaguchi

B-Max Racing/Honda 50

Japan Nobuharu Matsushita

51

United Kingdom Raoul Hyman

TGM Grand Prix/Honda 53

TBA

55

Turkey Cem Bolukbasi

Nakajima Racing/Honda 64

Japan Naoki Yamamoto

65

Japan Ren Sato

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