2000 Formula Nippon Championship

2000 Formula Nippon Championship

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1999

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2001

Related series:
2000 International Formula 3000 Championship
2000 Italian Formula 3000 Championship

The 2000 Formula Nippon Championship was the twenty-eighth season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the fifth under the Formula Nippon name and Japan Race Promotion (JRP) management. The series was contested over ten rounds at five venues. 13 different teams, 21 different drivers, and two different chassis suppliers competed in the series.

Nakajima Racing driver Toranosuke Takagi, who returned to Formula Nippon after two seasons in Formula One, won his first series championship and set a new single-season record with eight wins. ^[1] Takagi moved to the CART Championship Series the following year.

Teams and drivers

All teams used tyres supplied by Bridgestone and Mugen MF308 engines.

Team	#	Driver	Chassis	Rounds
PIAA Nakajima Racing	0	Toranosuke Takagi	Reynard 2KL	All
	2	Tsugio Matsuda	Reynard 99L	All
Olympic Kondo Racing Team	3	Masahiko Kondo	Reynard 99L	All
	4	Takeshi Tsuchiya	G-Force GF03	9
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Naoki Hattori	Reynard 99L	All
	6	Michael Krumm		All
Team LeMans	7	Hideki Noda	Reynard 99L	All
	8	Yudai Igarashi		All
Team Morinaga Nova	9	Ralph Firman Jr.	G-Force GF03B	All
	10	Koji Yamanishi		All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	Yuji Tachikawa	Reynard 99L	All
	12	Jaroslaw Wierczuk		All
Mooncraft	14	Shigekazu Wakisaka	Reynard 99L	All
Team Impul	19	Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 99L	All
Team Malaysia	21	Alex Yoong	Reynard 99L	All
Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Reynard 99L	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Reynard 99L	1–8
	56	Juichi Wakisaka		All
Team LeyJun	62	Shinsuke Shibahara	Reynard 2KL	All
	63	"Osamu"	Reynard 99L G-Force GF03	1–5, 7–10
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	68	Ryō Michigami	Reynard 2KL	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	26 March	Ralph Firman Jr.	Toranosuke Takagi	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
2	Twin Ring Motegi	16 April	Toranosuke Takagi	Tsugio Matsuda	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
3	Mine Circuit	21 May	Toranosuke Takagi	Toranosuke Takagi	Tsugio Matsuda	PIAA Nakajima Racing
4	Fuji Speedway	4 June	Michael Krumm	Hideki Noda	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
5	Suzuka-East Circuit	2 July	Toranosuke Takagi	Toranosuke Takagi	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
6	Sportsland SUGO	30 July	Toranosuke Takagi	Juichi Wakisaka	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
7	Twin Ring Motegi	20 August	Toranosuke Takagi	Michael Krumm	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
8	Fuji Speedway	3 September	Satoshi Motoyama	Hideki Noda	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
9	Mine Circuit	17 September	Toranosuke Takagi	Satoshi Motoyama	Toranosuke Takagi	PIAA Nakajima Racing
10	Suzuka Circuit	5 November	Satoshi Motoyama	Satoshi Motoyama	Satoshi Motoyama	Team Impul

Notes:

• Race 1 stopped due to rain and restarted, originally scheduled over 35 laps.
• Race 8 stopped due to an accident and restarted, originally scheduled over 50 laps.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

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

Rank	Name	SUZ	MOT	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SGO	MOT	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	Points
1	Toranosuke Takagi	1	1	Ret	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	86
2	Michael Krumm	2	2	2	Ret	3	5	2	5	Ret	4	35
3	Satoshi Motoyama	6	4	Ret	8	6	4	3	2	2	1	34
4	Tsugio Matsuda	12	3	1	Ret	5	11	4	Ret	3	3	27
5	Hideki Noda	Ret	10	3	15	2	Ret	5	6	17	5	15
6	Katsutomo Kaneishi	4	6	5	3	Ret	3	11	Ret			14
7	Juichi Wakisaka	11	5	4	2	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	6	13
8	Naoki Hattori	3	7	6	5	4	Ret	7	8	8	9	10
9	Yuji Tachikawa	8	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	9	4	4	12	9
10	Ralph Firman Jr.	Ret	11	Ret	6	7	2	10	13	5	Ret	9
11	Shinsuke Shibahara	9	12	9	7	9	6	Ret	3	13	14	5
12	Shigekazu Wakisaka	5	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	13	9	Ret	8	2
13	Yudai Igarashi	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	12	Ret	6	10	16	Ret	1
14	Koji Yamanishi	Ret	9	7	11	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	7	0
15	Masahiko Kondo	7	14	Ret	13	13	7	Ret	Ret	11	10	0
16	Ryō Michigami	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	8	7	9	Ret	0
17	Jaroslaw Wierczuk	13	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	11	12	11	0
18	Alex Yoong	DNS	Ret	Ret	9	11	9	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	0
19	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Ret	Ret	10	10	15	10	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	0
20	"Osamu"	10	Ret	11	14	Ret		14	14	15	13	0
21	Takeshi Tsuchiya									10		0

Teams' Championship

Rank	Name	Car	SUZ	MOT	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SGO	MOT	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	Points
1	PIAA Nakajima	0	1	1	Ret	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	113
		2	12	3	1	Ret	5	11	4	Ret	3	3
2	5ZIGEN	5	3	7	6	5	4	Ret	7	8	8	9	45
		6	2	2	2	Ret	3	5	2	5	Ret	4
3	Impul	19	6	4	Ret	8	6	4	3	2	2	1	34
4	ARTA	55	4	6	5	3	Ret	3	11	Ret			27
		56	11	5	4	2	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	6
5	LeMans	7	Ret	10	3	15	2	Ret	5	6	17	5	16
		8	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	12	Ret	6	10	16	Ret
6	Team Morinaga Nova	9	Ret	11	Ret	6	7	2	10	13	5	Ret	9
		10	Ret	9	7	11	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	7
7	Cosmo Oil Cerumo	11	8	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	9	4	4	12	9
		12	13	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	11	12	11
8	LeyJun	62	9	12	9	7	9	6	Ret	3	13	14	5
		63	10	Ret	11	14	Ret		14	14	15	13
9	Mooncraft	14	5	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	13	9	Ret	8	2
10	Kondo Racing	3	7	14	Ret	13	13	7	Ret	Ret	11	10	0
		4									10
11	DoCoMo Dandelion	68	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	8	7	9	Ret	0
12	Team Malaysia	21	DNS	Ret	Ret	9	11	9	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	0
13	Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Ret	Ret	10	10	15	10	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	0

External links

• 2000 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon

1. "Tora Takagi: The F1 reject that destroyed his opposition". Archived from the original on 2025-08-22. Retrieved 2026-02-03.