Dandelion Racing driver Makino leapt from second on the grid into an early lead, as poleman Ayumu Iwasa slipped to third place behind Naoki Yamamoto.
That allowed Makino to build a crucial buffer out front as Nakajima Racing’s three-time champion Yamamoto kept the faster Mugen machine of Iwasa bottled up.
Yamamoto was first of the leaders to pit at the minimum cut-off of lap 10 of 41, by which point Makino had pulled six seconds clear of Iwasa.
Once free of Yamamoto, Iwasa was able to close the gap down to as little as three seconds before starting to lose ground at around the halfway point of the race.
Both of the leaders elected to stop together on lap 24, and while Makino resumed just ahead of Yamamoto, Iwasa emerged from the pits in a net fourth, not only behind Yamamoto but also the second Dandelion car of Kakunoshin Ota, who also pitted on lap 10.
On fresh tyres, Makino was able to pull out a significant margin as Iwasa struggled to pass both Ota and Yamamoto.
By the time Iwasa finally cleared Yamamoto for second on lap 34, Makino was some 13 seconds in the clear and well on his way to a first victory at his 39th attempt.
Coming home second, Red Bull junior Iwasa still claimed the first podium finish of his Super Formula career after a troubled start to the year at Suzuka.
Completing the top three was TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi, who was another driver to make his stop late before making use of his fresh tyres to climb up the order.
Having caught up to Iwasa as the latter struggled to find a way by Yamamoto, Tsuboi was able to pass the fading Nakajima car in a matter of corners to grab third, although he didn’t have the pace to catch Iwasa once both were in free air.
Yamamoto had to be content with fourth, 25 seconds behind Makino at the finish, ahead of Ota and Sena Sakaguchi (Inging), who was another driver to pit early.
Tomoki Nojiri had looked on course to finish seventh immediately after his stop, but an off-track moment cost him two positions to Kenta Yamashita (Kondo Racing) and Nirei Fukuzumi (KCMG), leaving him ninth at the finish.
Nojiri and Makino jointly lead the championship on 23 points each, with Yamamoto and Iwasa both on 20.
Kamui Kobayashi took the final point for 10th in the second KCMG car.
Ben Barnicoat finished his debut Super Formula race 13th for Team Impul, ending up as the team’s top finisher as teammate Yuji Kunimoto damaged his front wing in a late battle with the second of the TOM’S cars, driven by Ukyo Sasahara.
Super Formula Autopolis - Race results
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| Cla | Driver | # | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Pits | Points | Retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  T. Makino Dandelion Racing |
5 | 41 |
1:03'37.202 |
20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | A. Iwasa Team Mugen |
15 | 41 |
+5.565 1:03'42.767 |
5.565 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | S. Tsuboi Vantelin Team TOM'S |
36 | 41 |
+8.978 1:03'46.180 |
3.413 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | N. Yamamoto PONOS Nakajima Racing |
64 | 41 |
+25.812 1:04'03.014 |
16.834 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | K. Ohta Dandelion Racing |
6 | 41 |
+26.311 1:04'03.513 |
0.499 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | S. Sakaguchi Vertex Partners Cerumo - INGING |
38 | 41 |
+28.385 1:04'05.587 |
2.074 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | K. Yamashita Kondo Racing |
3 | 41 |
+29.385 1:04'06.587 |
1.000 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | N. Fukuzumi Team KCMG |
8 | 41 |
+30.041 1:04'07.243 |
0.656 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | T. Nojiri Team Mugen |
16 | 41 |
+30.286 1:04'07.488 |
0.245 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | K. Kobayashi Team KCMG |
7 | 41 |
+31.419 1:04'08.621 |
1.133 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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