Juju Noda

 

Juju Noda is a Japanese single-seater driver who earned huge media attention as the youngest person to drive a Formula 3 car, aged 11, in 2017. 

The daughter of former Formula 1, Indycar and Super GT racer, Hideki Noda, Juju was introduced to motorsport at a very early age and was karting at three, winning her first race at four. She first tested a full-size car in 2015, driving a Formula 4 which she then drove in public the following year, still aged only nine. Two years later, she was doing speed trials and track days at the Okiyama circuit in an F3 car.

By the time of her F3 test, she had already beaten a lap record for Formula 4 Okiyama in 2016, although it did not stand as it was set during an unofficial track appearance at a Super GT meeting. 

Due to her age, she was unable to compete in her home country, which requires racing drivers to be at least 16, although she raced a little in the USA at the tender age of 13. She took part in the Lucas Oil Winter Race Series meeting at Laguna Seca in early 2019, in a Ray single-seater. Her best result was a fourth place, alongside two eighth places. 

This led to a drive in the 2020 Danish F4 championship, one of the few series to allow drivers of Juju's age (14 at the time) to compete. She won her first race at Jyllandsringen and earned three more podiums, two thirds and a second, on her way to sixth in the championship.

In 2020, she also took part in assessments held by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission in order to find a junior driver for the Ferrari Academy. Juju was not among the finalists.

Her 2021 season was meant to be spent in the US F4 championship, driving for Jay Howard Driver Development. She practiced for the first round at Road Atlanta and ran fastest, but she did not qualify and withdrew from the championship due to “various recent issues”. Her team did not specify what these issues were, only that they were not related to racism and were “external”.

She returned to the Danish championship just in time for the start of the season. Her Noda Racing-run car was the first F4 car over the line at Padborg, the first of two wins from pole position. She did not finish the third race and was then disqualified from the front of the fourth for causing a collision. Her season did not quite hit the heights again, although she did score six more podium finishes on the way to seventh in the championship. 

At the beginning of 2022 she made a surprise switch to the all-female W Series, taking one of its Academy team spots alongside Bianca Bustamante. The W F3 Regional-based car did not suit Juju and she only got into the top ten once with a ninth place at the Hungaroring.

She also did some races in the Drexler Formula 3 Cup in Europe, competing at Monza, the Red Bull Ring and Brno. Driving a Tatuus T-318 similar to those used in W Series, she earned three fifths and three seventh places in the Open class.

All-female racing was completely left behind in 2023, but controversy was not. She signed up for the Euroformula Open series with her own team and became increasingly quick, winning a race at Paul Ricard and scoring two further podiums. However, after a rule change that allowed female drivers to run a lighter car than their male counterparts, Noda Racing abruptly left the championship. They jumped ship to the Italian F2000 Trophy, with Juju driving a Dallara 320 similar to the EF Open car. She won five races outright on her way to the championship. Later in the season, she entered the BOSS GP series, driving a World Series by Nissan car at Monza. She finished second and third. She has signed for the 2024 BOSS championship.

(Image copyright The Drive)