1997 Formula Nippon Championship

1997 Formula Nippon Championship

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1996

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1998

Related series:
1997 International Formula 3000 Championship
1997 British Formula 3000 Championship

The 1997 Formula Nippon Championship was the twenty-fifth season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the second under the Formula Nippon name and the management of Japan Race Promotion (JRP). The series was contested over 10 rounds at five venues, including the new Twin Ring Motegi circuit. 17 different teams, 37 different drivers, three different chassis and three different engines competed. This was also the first season with Bridgestone as the series' sole tyre supplier, and the last with multiple engine suppliers before Mugen supplied engines to all teams in 1998.

Beginning in 1997, each round saw a Special Stage after the original qualifying. The best six qualifiers had to compete in a separate session for the pole.

Team Nova driver Pedro de la Rosa won the championship in his second season, with six wins and podium finishes in all ten races. He became the first driver to win the Formula Nippon and All-Japan Grand Touring Car GT500 Championships in the same year.

Teams and drivers

All teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgestone.

Team	#	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Team LeMans	1	Norberto Fontana	Reynard 96D Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	2	Esteban Tuero	Reynard 96D		1–6
		Michael Krumm			8
		Yuji Tachikawa			9–10
Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Atsushi Kawamoto	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Marc Goossens	Reynard 96D	Judd KV2 Mugen MF308	All
	6	Risto Virtanen	Reynard 95D Reynard 96D	Judd KV2	1–3
		Eiichi Tajima			4–10
Team Anabuki Dome with Mugen	8	Juichi Wakisaka	Dome F104	Mugen MF308	All
Shionogi Team Nova	9	Pedro de la Rosa	Lola T97/51	Mugen MF308	All
	10	Akira Iida			All
Team Cerumo	11	Hidetoshi Mitsusada	Lola T96/52	Mugen MF308	1–9
		Michael Krumm			10
	12	Sarah Kavanagh	Reynard 95D Lola T94/50	Cosworth AC Mugen MF308	1–2
		Shinsuke Shibahara			8–10
Team TMS	17	Masahiko Kondo	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	18	Ralph Firman Jr.			All
Team Impul	19	Takuya Kurosawa	Lola T96/52	Mugen MF308	All
	20	Masahiko Kageyama	Reynard 96D Lola T95/50		All
Be Brides ARP Asuka	21	Tetsuya Tanaka	Lola T95/50	Mugen MF308	1, 5–10
Navi Connection Racing Team	27	Masami Kageyama	Reynard 96D Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	28	Katsumi Yamamoto	Reynard 95D Reynard 96D		All
Super Nova with Mirai Kamome Service with Mirai	32	Vincenzo Sospiri	Reynard 95D	Mugen MF308	9–10
	33	Toshio Suzuki	Reynard 95D		All
Auto Tech Stellar STP Stellar	34	Mauro Martini	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	3
		Andrew Gilbert-Scott			4, 6, 9
		Andrea Boldrini			7–8, 10
	35	Michael Krumm	Reynard 96D		1–3
		Marco Apicella			4–10
Takagi B-1 Racing Team	36	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Lola T95/50	Mugen MF308	All
	37	Masao Yamada	Lola T94/50		1–5, 7–10
Funai Super Aguri	55	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
	56	Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 94D Reynard 97D Reynard 95D		1–9
		Ryō Michigami			10
Team LeyJun Sri Lanka with Team LeyJun	62	Tetsushi Toda	Reynard 94D	Mugen MF308	4–8
	63	Dilantha Malagamuwa	Reynard 96D		1–5
		"Osamu"			6–10
PIAA Nakajima Racing	64	Toranosuke Takagi	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	65	Koji Yamanishi			All

Race calendar and results

All races were held in Japan.

Race	Track	Date	Pole position	Fastest Race Lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	Suzuka Circuit	27 April	Toranosuke Takagi	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Pedro de la Rosa	Shionogi Team Nova
2	Mine Circuit	18 May	Toranosuke Takagi	Katsumi Yamamoto	Pedro de la Rosa	Shionogi Team Nova
3	Fuji Speedway	1 June	Takuya Kurosawa	Takuya Kurosawa	Takuya Kurosawa	Team Impul
4	Suzuka Circuit	6 July	Toranosuke Takagi	Masahiko Kageyama	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
5	Sportsland SUGO	3 August	Pedro de la Rosa	Norberto Fontana	Pedro de la Rosa	Shionogi Team Nova
6	Fuji Speedway	31 August	Pedro de la Rosa	Pedro de la Rosa	Pedro de la Rosa	Shionogi Team Nova
7	Mine Circuit	14 September	Toranosuke Takagi	Pedro de la Rosa	Norberto Fontana	Team LeMans
8	Twin Ring Motegi	28 September	Pedro de la Rosa	Masami Kageyama	Pedro de la Rosa	Shionogi Team Nova
9	Fuji Speedway	19 October	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Pedro de la Rosa	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Funai Super Aguri
10	Suzuka Circuit	9 November	Pedro de la Rosa	Masahiko Kageyama	Pedro de la Rosa	Shionogi Team Nova

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Points	10	6	4	3	2	1

Rank	Name	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	MOT	FUJ	SUZ	Points
1	Pedro de la Rosa	1	1	2	3	1	1	2	1	2	1	82
2	Takuya Kurosawa	2	2	1	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	28
3	Norberto Fontana	9	8	6	Ret	7	2	1	3	Ret	Ret	21
4	Hidetoshi Mitsusada	3	7	4	4	Ret	3	3	9	5		20
5	Masami Kageyama	11	9	11	5	6	4	7	2	3	4	19
6	Toranosuke Takagi	Ret	DNS	3	1	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	5	18
7	Masahiko Kageyama	Ret	Ret	5	2	3	Ret	15	Ret	12	3	16
8	Ralph Firman Jr.	Ret	4	15	6	2	13	Ret	5	Ret	11	12
9	Katsutomo Kaneishi	7	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	18	8	Ret	1	Ret	10
10	Akira Iida	6	3	Ret	7	Ret	5	10	11	Ret	13	7
11	Satoshi Motoyama	4	DNS	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	4		7
12	Marco Apicella				8	5	8	4	Ret	6	8	6
13	Toshio Suzuki	8	5	7	Ret	4	16	9	8	Ret	9	5
14	Juichi Wakisaka	12	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	11	4	Ret	Ret	4
15	Koji Yamanishi	5	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	17	Ret	7	2
16	Esteban Tuero	Ret	Ret	9	11	Ret	6					1
17	Michael Krumm	Ret	13	Ret					6		10	1
18	Tetsuya Tanaka	Ret				Ret	11	14	Ret	13	6	1
19	Katsumi Yamamoto	10	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	12	Ret	14	7	Ret	0
20	Andrea Boldrini							13	7		Ret	0
21	Atsushi Kawamoto	Ret	10	16	15	9	Ret	12	15	8	14	0
22	Masahiko Kondo	15	DNS	12	14	8	14	Ret	13	11	Ret	0
23	Eiichi Tajima				13	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	0
24	Yuji Tachikawa									9	Ret	0
25	Marc Goossens	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	0
26	Dilantha Malagamuwa	Ret	11	14	Ret	10						0
27	Shinsuke Shibahara								12	10	Ret	0
28	Risto Virtanen	Ret	Ret	10								0
29	Andrew Gilbert-Scott				12		Ret			14		0
30	Masao Yamada	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	DSQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	0
31	Tetsuji Tamanaka	13	Ret	13	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	0
32	Sarah Kavanagh	14	Ret									0
33	"Osamu"						15	16	16	Ret	16	0
34	Vincenzo Sospiri									Ret	15	0
35	Tetsushi Toda				17	Ret	17	17	DNQ			0
36	Mauro Martini			Ret								0
37	Ryō Michigami										Ret	0

Teams' Championship

Rank	Name	Car	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	MOT	FUJ	SUZ	Points
1	Shionogi Nova	9	1	1	2	3	1	1	2	1	2	1	89
		10	6	3	Ret	7	Ret	5	10	11	Ret	13
2	Impul	19	2	2	1	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	44
		20	Ret	Ret	5	2	3	Ret	15	Ret	12	3
3	LeMans	1	9	8	6	Ret	7	2	1	3	Ret	Ret	23
		2	Ret	Ret	9	11	Ret	6		6	9	Ret
4	PIAA Nakajima	64	Ret	DNS	3	1	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	5	20
		65	5	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	17	Ret	7
5	Cerumo	11	3	7	4	4	Ret	3	3	9	5	10	20
		12	14	Ret						12	10	Ret
6	Navi Connection	27	11	9	11	5	6	4	7	2	3	4	19
		28	10	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	12	Ret	14	7	Ret
7	Funai Super Aguri	55	7	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	18	8	Ret	1	Ret	17
		56	4	DNS	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	4	Ret
8	Team TMS	17	15	DNS	12	14	8	14	Ret	13	11	Ret	12
		18	Ret	4	15	6	2	13	Ret	5	Ret	11
9	Stellar	34			Ret	12		Ret	13	7	14	Ret	6
		35	Ret	13	Ret	8	5	8	4	Ret	6	8
10	Mirai	32									Ret	15	5
		33	8	5	7	Ret	4	16	9	8	Ret	9
11	Dome with Mugen	8	12	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	11	4	Ret	Ret	4
12	Be Brides	21	Ret				Ret	11	14	Ret	13	6	1
13	Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Ret	10	16	15	9	Ret	12	15	8	14	0
14	5ZIGEN	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	0
		6	Ret	Ret	10	13	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	12
15	Team LeyJUN	62				17	Ret	17	17	DNQ			0
		63	Ret	11	14	Ret	10	15	16	16	Ret	16
16	Takagi B-1 Racing	36	13	Ret	13	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	0
		37	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	DSQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ

External links

• 1997 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon