Nojiri’s Honda-powered #1 car will share the same predominantly blue livery as that of his new team-mate at Mugen, Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson.
It marks a major change from the red-and-black livery Nojiri used on his way to a second Super Formula title last year, as well as the all-red design he ran in 2021.
Mugen is rekindling its relationship with Red Bull this season after losing its deal to run the Austrian firm’s junior drivers to Team Goh last year, a byproduct of its split with the Servus Japan organisation that had helped run the team until 2021.
Now-Alpine Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly became the first driver to run in Red Bull colours in Super Formula in 2017 with Mugen, with the likes of Nirei Fukuzumi, Dan Ticktum, Pato O’Ward and Juri Vips all following in his footsteps over the following two seasons.
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ren Sato became the first Red Bull junior driver to race in Super Formula since Vips last year, but was dropped for 2023.
Two Red Bull cars on the grid in Super Formula grid is nothing new: in 2019, Lucas Auer drove a second car carrying the famous livery for B-Max Racing alongside the regular Mugen entry that was shared by Ticktum, O’Ward and Vips that year.
Red Bull’s expanded commitment in Super Formula has come at the expense of its title sponsorship of Mugen in SUPER GT.
The end of that tie-up, which began in 2020, follows Mugen's decision to enter into a new alliance with ARTA to field two Honda NSX-GTs in the top GT500 class this season.
Impul revives Itochu Enex livery for 2023
Elsewhere, Team Impul has revealed a new livery for this year that sees it return to the mostly white design of major sponsor Itochu Enex that it previously used between 2016 and 2020.
The team switched to a black-and-gold livery with Carenex taking over as naming rights sponsor for the past two seasons, but the new colour scheme features some additional black highlights around the sidepods and front wing.
