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Toro Rosso F1 rookie Pierre Gasly announced that he would be missing the United States Grand Prix to compete with Honda Mugen Racing for the Super Formula title. His newfound Formula 1 team decided to call up Porsche WEC star Brendon Hartley for duty during this race weekend as a replacement, allowing Gasly to fulfill his duties in Japan. However, after a brutally weather-plagued qualifying round this morning in the Asian series, the championship race was called off due to a typhoon that is expected to make landfall early on Sunday.
Seeing as the conditions are expected to worsen throughout the weekend, series organizers JRP have decided to cancel the race without rescheduling for a later date. That means that current championship standings will remain as final, making Toyota’s Hiroaki Ishiura the Super Formula champion. He nudged out Gasly by only half a point in the long haul, beating other racing stars like Le Mans great Andre Lotterer in the process. It is Ishiura’s second Super Formula title in three years.
The Toyota Inging team also claimed the Constructors’ Title as a result of the season-ending decision. Gasly’s Honda Mugen crew eventually surrendered the championship by four points.
Gasly, who made his Formula 1 debut in Malaysia, has since taken over for Carlos Sainz Jr. after his midseason switch to Renault. The former GP2 champion has been getting accustomed to the top-tier series and showed promise for a permanent seat leading into 2018. The Faenza-based team remains undecided on who it will select to drive next year, but as it stands, Gasly and fellow youngster Daniil Kvyat are holding onto hopes and counting on strong performance through the rest of this season.
