2001 Formula Nippon Championship

2001 Formula Nippon Championship

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2000

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2002

Related series:
2001 International Formula 3000 Championship
2001 Euro Formula 3000 Championship

The 2001 Formula Nippon Championship was the twenty-ninth season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the sixth under the Formula Nippon moniker. It was contested over ten rounds at five venues. 11 different teams, 23 different drivers, and two different chassis suppliers competed in the series. This would be the last season with multiple chassis suppliers after G-Force Technologies stopped supplying chassis after 2001.

Satoshi Motoyama of Team Impul won his second series championship.

Teams and drivers

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

Team	#	Driver	Chassis	Rounds
PIAA Nakajima Racing	1	Tsugio Matsuda	Reynard 2KL	All
	2	Ralph Firman Jr.	Reynard 99L	All
Olympic Kondo Racing Team	3	Yuji Tachikawa	Reynard 99L	All
	4	Katsutomo Kaneishi		All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Naoki Hattori	Reynard 99L	All
	6	Michael Krumm	Reynard 99L Reynard 01L	All
Team LeMans	7	Alex Yoong	Reynard 99L	1–6
		Koji Yamanishi		7–10
	8	Yudai Igarashi		All
Team Morinaga Nova	9	Richard Lyons	G-Force GF03C	All
	10	André Couto	G-Force GF03C Reynard 99L	All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	Masami Kageyama	Reynard 99L	All
	12	Seiji Ara		All
Mooncraft	14	Ryō Michigami	Reynard 01L	2–10
excite Team Impul	19	Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 01L	All
	20	Narain Karthikeyan	Reynard 99L	All
Takagi B-1 Car Club	36	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Reynard 2KL Reynard 99L	All
	37	Masahiko Kageyama	Reynard 99L	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Juichi Wakisaka	Reynard 99L	All
	56	Takeshi Tsuchiya		All
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	68	Hideki Noda	Reynard 2KL	All
	69	Jaroslaw Wierczuk	Reynard 99L	1–4
		Hidetoshi Mitsusada		5

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	25 March	Naoki Hattori	Juichi Wakisaka	Naoki Hattori	Team 5ZIGEN
2	Twin Ring Motegi	22 April	Satoshi Motoyama	Juichi Wakisaka	Naoki Hattori	Team 5ZIGEN
3	Mine Circuit	20 May	Satoshi Motoyama	Satoshi Motoyama	Satoshi Motoyama	excite Team Impul
4	Fuji Speedway	3 June	Satoshi Motoyama	Naoki Hattori	Naoki Hattori	Team 5ZIGEN
5	Suzuka-East Circuit	1 July	Ryō Michigami	Ralph Firman Jr.	Satoshi Motoyama	excite Team Impul
6	Sportsland SUGO	29 July	Juichi Wakisaka	Juichi Wakisaka	Satoshi Motoyama	excite Team Impul
7	Fuji Speedway	2 September	Juichi Wakisaka	Juichi Wakisaka	Juichi Wakisaka	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri
8	Mine Circuit	23 September	Juichi Wakisaka	Ryō Michigami	Satoshi Motoyama	excite Team Impul
9	Twin Ring Motegi	21 October	Ralph Firman Jr.	Juichi Wakisaka	Ralph Firman Jr.	PIAA Nakajima Racing
10	Suzuka Circuit	18 November	Tsugio Matsuda	Michael Krumm	Ralph Firman Jr.	PIAA Nakajima Racing

Note:

Juichi Wakisaka set the fastest lap in Round 8 but was later disqualified.

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	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ	Points
1	Satoshi Motoyama	Ret	9	1	Ret	1	1	4	1	2	Ret	49
2	Naoki Hattori	1	1	5	1	8	7	12	6	Ret	10	33
3	Yuji Tachikawa	13	2	11	Ret	4	4	2	3	5	2	30
4	Ralph Firman Jr.	5	Ret	2	6	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	1	1	29
5	Juichi Wakisaka	2	10	12	Ret	6	2	1	DSQ	Ret	Ret	23
6	Ryō Michigami		Ret	10	3	2	3	Ret	Ret	3	3	22
7	Michael Krumm	Ret	4	4	2	Ret	6	3	Ret	7	4	20
8	Takeshi Tsuchiya	10	Ret	3	Ret	3	Ret	14	2	6	5	17
9	Masami Kageyama	4	5	6	5	Ret	11	6	4	8	7	12
10	Tsugio Matsuda	Ret	3	8	Ret	5	5	Ret	Ret	9	9	8
11	André Couto	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	4	14	5
12	Seiji Ara	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	10	8	Ret	12	Ret	4
13	Katsutomo Kaneishi	7	6	Ret	4	Ret	9	11	Ret	11	13	4
14	Koji Yamanishi							10	5	10	Ret	2
15	Narain Karthikeyan	6	7	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	6	2
16	Alex Yoong	11	Ret	7	7	10	Ret					0
17	Yudai Igarashi	9	Ret	Ret	11	7	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	0
18	Tetsuji Tamanaka	15	Ret	14	8	Ret	15	15	7	15	Ret	0
19	Richard Lyons	8	8	Ret	9	11	12	Ret	Ret	13	12	0
20	Masahiko Kageyama	12	Ret	Ret	10	DNS	14	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
21	Hideki Noda	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	12	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	11	0
22	Jaroslaw Wierczuk	14	Ret	13	DNS							0
23	Hidetoshi Mitsusada					13						0

Teams' Championship

Rank	Team	Car	SUZ	MOT	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ	Points
1	5ZIGEN	5	1	1	5	1	8	7	12	6	Ret	10	53
		6	Ret	4	4	2	Ret	6	3	Ret	7	4
2	excite Impul	19	Ret	9	1	Ret	1	1	4	1	2	Ret	51
		20	6	7	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	6
3	ARTA	55	2	10	12	Ret	6	2	1	DSQ	Ret	Ret	40
		56	10	Ret	3	Ret	3	Ret	14	2	6	5
4	PIAA Nakajima	1	Ret	3	8	Ret	5	5	Ret	Ret	9	9	37
		2	5	Ret	2	6	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	1	1
5	Olympic Kondo	3	13	2	11	Ret	4	4	2	3	5	2	34
		4	7	6	Ret	4	Ret	9	11	Ret	11	13
6	Mooncraft	14		Ret	10	3	2	3	Ret	Ret	3	3	22
7	Cosmo Oil Cerumo	11	4	5	6	5	Ret	11	6	4	8	7	16
		12	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	10	8	Ret	12	Ret
8	Team Morinaga Nova	9	8	8	Ret	9	11	12	Ret	Ret	13	12	5
		10	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	4	14
9	LeMans	7	11	Ret	7	7	10	Ret	10	5	10	Ret	2
		8	9	Ret	Ret	11	7	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	8
10	Takagi B-1 Racing	36	15	Ret	14	8	Ret	15	15	7	15	Ret	0
		37	12	Ret	Ret	10	DNS	14	16	Ret	Ret	Ret
11	DoCoMo Dandelion	68	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	12	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	11	0
		69	14	Ret	13	DNS	13

External links

• 2001 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon