Gloucestershire driver aces sports car debut year amid single-seater struggles
Gloucestershire’s Zak O’Sullivan said he had “learned more than I could imagine” as he reflected on his first season racing in Japan, which so nearly ended with a championship title.
After racing in Formula 2 as a member of the Williams F1 team’s driver academy in 2024, the move to Super Formula – Japan’s top single-seater championship – felt like a natural destination for Zak. However, it has been in the country’s leading sports car championship, Super GT, where the 20-year-old from Withington has made the biggest impression.
Zak and team-mate Rikuto Kobayashi agonisingly missed out on Super GT glory by just 2.5 points at the final round at Motegi, despite being last-minute entries in the championship in the all-new CarGuy MKS Racing team. The duo took their maiden win in the series at Suzuka in the summer and drove themselves into title contention as the season moved into its closing stages. However, Super Formula proved to be much more challenging for Zak, with only a pair of top-10 finishes to show for his season’s work.
The final weekend of the season at Suzuka (November 22-23) ended with a DNF and a 17th as his Kondo Racing team once again struggled to get near the ultimate pace.
Zak said: “It wasn’t an ideal end to the season, a very difficult weekend. But, overall, it was a very good first year in Japan, particularly on the GT side. I learned more than I could imagine coming into the season, with my first time racing in endurance racing, learning new languages, new tracks and dealing with new ways of working. That side of it I really enjoyed, and it was a very different atmosphere to what I’m used to. As for next year, I’m hoping to continue doing the same two series again.
Obviously, the hope will be challenging for Super GT honours, and I’ll see if I can improve and learn in Super Formula.”
For more information on Zak, follow him on Instagram at www.instagram.com/zak.osullivan.