For the runner, they made concessions in the rules. It all ended in confrontation and scandal.
Dmitry Zakharchenko September 12, 2023, 17:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
In a light car, Juju Noda won, but refused to continue competing when the weight of the cars was equalized.
At the end of July, on the Le Castellet stage, for the first time in the history of EuroFormula, a girl won the race: the 17-year-old Japanese Juju Noda. This was a great success for the runner, although it went almost unnoticed by the general public; The fact is that, thanks to a relaxation of the rules, the Japanese woman ran in a lighter car than her rivals.
Last weekend, concessions for female drivers (read Noda, since there are no other girls in EuroFormula) were cancelled: now all participants must perform with the same team. In response, Juju Noda simply withdrew from the competition…
However, the runner’s father assures that not everything is so simple and it is not just about weight. We analyze the latest scandal in youth racing.
Node at the top of the podium
Frankly, EuroFormula is not one of the leading youth series in Europe. Mainly those who could not access Formula 3 or European Regional Formula (FRECA) compete here. There are usually around ten drivers at the start, and only eight of them (including two older drivers) compete regularly in EuroFormula. One of them this season was Juju Noda.
Before the first stage, the technical commission issued a directive, changing the minimum car weight for female drivers from the standard 580 kilograms to 560. In the Spa stage, the standard minimum weight was increased to 586 and, as a result, the Noda’s car was 26 kilograms lighter than its rivals. With this car she took third place (among nine entrants) at the Hungaroring and stood on the podium for the first time.
Noda wins the race in Le Castellet
Photo: euroformulaopen.net
After that weekend, the competitors began to be outraged by the too large weight difference, and for the competition at Paul Ricard, the rules were revised again: Noda’s car became a little heavier and the difference was reduced to 15 kilograms. However, Juju triumphed and became the first woman to stand on the EuroFormula podium. It should be noted, however, that at the beginning of the race two competitors in front abandoned the fight due to a collision.
And now, in the next stage, which took place on September 9 and 10 at the Red Bull Ring, the concessions for the female drivers were cancelled. “At the beginning there were clear reasons to make concessions, but now he drives in a totally different way than he did in the first races. Juju has made a lot of progress and is going at a very good pace. It seems to me that she no longer needs such handouts and, furthermore, it would be unfair to others,” Motopark director Timo Rumpfkeil explained about the team’s position in an interview with FeederSeries. “I’m sure she will be able to fight for the podium anyway and we will really appreciate her speed, without reservations about the weight of the car.”
Not even terrible accidents stopped Correa and Flörsch:
It’s not just about the regulations
The Juju Noda team responded to this by leaving the stage. In the end, only eight drivers took the starting line. Despite the omission, Noda maintained fifth place in the overall standings, but did not overtake Jakob Bergmeister in the rookie standings: he was the only rookie on the grid and took three wins. “It’s not just about weight,” says Hideki Noda, Juju’s father, who competed several times in Formula 1 and IndyCar, but eventually retired from Formula Nippon (now Super Formula). “I wish they would tell us everything!”
“The changes in the regulations themselves are not a problem for us, but we need tests to adjust the car to the new weight. The break between the Le Castellet and Spielberg stages was more than a month, but they told us at the last minute,” Hideki told FormulaScout. “In addition, they told us that the fight must be equal and our performances in other championships do not help. But we discussed everything at the beginning of the season and then there were no problems. Now I can’t stop other projects. So it’s not about the weight of the ballast, but about all the politics around it. The problem is that we don’t know what the future will bring.”
Juju Noda on the Hungaroring podium
Photo: euroformulaopen.net
In fact, Juju competes in other championships, in addition to Super Formula, and in them she drives the same chassis: the “Dallara” 320. Thus, the Japanese is one of the leaders of the Austrian F-3 Cup and also leads the Italian F-3 Trophy classification with three victories. 2000. It is true that in these series Noda only has 3 or 4 rivals on the track, but in the W Series in the 2022 season, Juju in seven races only reached the top 10 once and scored only two points.
It’s too early to draw comparisons to Jamie Chadwick, the three-time women’s series champion, for Juju Node, although the girl seems to have some potential. However, it is not entirely clear how it will open if Noda drives a much lighter car than her rivals. How will this help her at the level of the same unsuccessful Formula 3 in which she makes no sense to dream of entering Formula 1? Obviously, the team decided to dedicate the 2023 season to launching a relatively powerful car in order to move up to a more prestigious championship. But clashes with EuroFormula judges and relaxations in regulations are unlikely to help the young rider’s reputation.
Instead of the W Series, now the F1 Academy:
