Mugen driver Nojiri made a perfect start from third on the grid to leap ahead of surprise poleman Sena Sakaguchi and Kakunoshin Ota at the first corner, and from there his position was never truly threatened over the course of the 31-lap race.
Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing) and Naoki Yamamoto (Nakajima Racing) completed the podium, both gaining ground by clearing their mandatory pitstops early.
Both front-row starters lost positions off the start, as Inging’s Sakaguchi slipped to third behind both Nojiri and a fast-starting Ren Sato (Nakajima), and Ota plummeted from second to seventh.
Surviving an early safety car restart with his lead intact, Nojiri left his stop until lap 13, having extended a lead of nearly three seconds over Sato, resuming ahead of both Yamashita and Yamamoto, who stopped on lap 11 and 10 respectively after the pit window opened.
Sato left his stop until lap 15, but found himself jumped not only by Yamashita and Yamamoto but also Dandelion Racing man Ota and KCMG’s Nirei Fukuzumi.
From there, the order at the front remained unchanged as Nojiri eased to a 12th career victory by 1.855s from Yamashita, while Yamamoto recorded his best finish in a dry race since 2020 on his comeback race from the neck injuries that ruled him out of last year's finale.
Ota recovered from his poor start to finish fourth ahead of Sato and Fukuzumi, making his debut as a Toyota driver after his off-season switch from Honda.
Source: Autosport