Super Formula has insisted that the removal of its planned South Korea race from the 2025 calendar does not mark the end of its plans to expand its footprint in Asia.
The Japanese championship announced in August that it would be visiting the Inje Speedium circuit next year, in what was set to be its first overseas race since 2004.
However, it was revealed earlier this month during the most recent round at Fuji that the Inje race would not be going ahead after all as negotiations between Super Formula organiser JRP and the promoter of the Inje event failed to reach a positive conclusion.
Speaking to Autosport, JRP President Yoshihisa Ueno made it clear that the door is open for a fresh round of negotiations with Inje, although he stressed there aren’t “concrete” plans for the venue to feature on the 2026 calendar.
“We had imposed a deadline of mid-September to conclude the negotiations because we needed to start preparing for next year and also we needed to submit a final version of the calendar to [JAF],” explained Ueno.
”Unfortunately we couldn’t make it in time, but it’s not the end of the road and we would like to continue discussions with them to try and make the race happen in the future.”
Inje may not be Super Formula’s only option to hold an overseas round in 2026, with Ueno revealing there have been approaches from “several circuits in Asia”, without giving away any specific countries or tracks.
But Ueno cautioned that any agreement to host a race in Asia must be mutually beneficial and ultimately lead to an uptick in Super Formula’s popularity overseas.
“We want to play a role in making motorsport culture grow in that country, so it will lead to an increase in fan interest in the championship,” he said. “It has to benefit us as well.”
Even with no overseas race on the 2025 schedule, Super Formula is still set for its largest ever number of races in a single season with 12, up from this year’s nine.
This comes as a result of the number of double-headers being expanded from two this season to five, with only the Autopolis and Sugo rounds staying as one-race weekends.
While Super Formula has been working towards increasing the number of races in recent seasons, Ueno admits that the congested nature of the domestic motorsport calendar makes it challenging to increase the number of events held on Japanese soil.
He suggested there could be up to three overseas rounds held in future, with fewer constraints in terms of available dates due to the warmer climates of other Asian countries.
“Our goal is to eventually have 10 events in a year,” stated Ueno. “But because the schedule in Japan is quite crowded with SUPER GT and Super Taikyu, the extra ones will have to be outside Japan.”
Ueno added that the ideal scenario for Super Formula would be to have all weekends as double-headers, which could mean a 20-race schedule in future.
“We are thinking about going in that direction,” he admitted. “There are still many things that need to fall into place for that to happen, though.”
