Zach David First Time Back With A New Car, In Japan

Hi! Welcome to my racing world!

Starting with today’s post, I will be sharing here news on my 2025 race season; the race day chaos, behind-the-scenes prep, and everything in between. So buckle up, I hope you enjoy the ride.

1st stop: Race season program

I will be racing for B-Max racing team in the Super Formula Lights Championship in Japan. Very happy and super excited for what the season has to offer. The SFL car is the Dallara 324, with a 1.6L 3-cylinder GR Yaris engine. It’s very reliable and with enough power for how light the car is. Although it’s not as fast as an FIA F3 down the straights, it can definitely match it around the corners. SFL, I’d say is a pretty big step up from Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA, my previous race series), with a lot more downforce being the key factor. I will still be heading to Europe for some select FRECA races with my new team, CL Motorsports.

The biggest challenge for me racing in SFL will be to get up to speed since everything is new to me: there’s a lot to learn about the SFL car and how it behaves/ reacts; I will also need to understand the tracks well as it will be my first time getting to drive in all the Japanese racetracks. So a lot of really just studying, simulator work, communicating with the team will be instrumental to being able to be quick. Plus it’s a new race culture and environment as well. A lot of hard work for sure, but I have always been open to change and can adapt pretty quickly to different cars and racetracks too. Really looking forward to it!

Test Drive, Mobility Resort Motegi

I was rarin’ to go, having had no drive since my last race in Monza in October 2024. I was finally, finally able to get behind the wheel of my SFL car in Motegi. It was quite the experience – the feeling of the car in general and the G forces, particularly enjoyed the amount of downforce, with plenty of grip around the high-speed sector 2 of Motegi. Car was really responsive; super exciting to drive around the track layout, with its good mix of high speed corners and low medium speed ones.

So that’s all for now.

Until next time,
ZD