1998 Formula Nippon Championship Explained

The 1998 Formula Nippon Championship was scheduled over 10 rounds and contested over 9 rounds. 14 different teams, 29 different drivers, 3 different chassis and only 1 engine competed. Each round saw a Special Stage after the original qualifying. The best six qualifiers had to compete in a separate session for the pole.

Teams and drivers

Team		Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Shionogi Team Nova	1	Masami Kageyama	Lola T97/51	Mugen MF308	All
	2	Ralph Firman	Lola T96/51		All
Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Atsushi Kawamoto	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Marc Goossens	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	6	Shigekazu Wakisaka	Reynard 96D		All
LEMONed Racing Team LeMans	7	Norberto Fontana	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	8	Satoshi Motoyama			All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	Hideki Noda	Lola T98/51	Mugen MF308	All
	12	Akira Iida	Lola T96/52		3–10
Jaccs Mooncraft M.S.P	14	Ryo Michigami	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
Team TMS	17	Masahiko Kondo	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	18	Tsuyoshi Takahashi			1–2
		Yuji Tachikawa			3–10
Maziora Team Impul	19	Takuya Kurosawa	Lola T98/51	Mugen MF308	All
	20	Masahiko Kageyama	Lola T96/52		All
Be Brides Racing	21	Tetsuya Tanaka	Lola T95/50	Mugen MF308	All
	22	Akira Ishikawa	Lola T96/52		All
Kyoetsu Stellar Stellar International	35	Tokiyasu Soda	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	1
		Dilantha Malagamuwa			7–9
Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Lola T96/51	Mugen MF308	All
	37	Masao Yamada	Lola T95/50 Lola T94/50		2–5
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Lola T98/51	Mugen MF308	All
	56	Juichi Wakisaka	Lola T97/51		All
Team LeyJun	62	Shinsuke Shibahara	Reynard 95D Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
	63	"Osamu"	Reynard 95D Reynard 97D		1, 4–10
		Taichiro Oonishi			2–3
PIAA Nakajima Racing	64	Koji Yamanishi	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	1–4, 6–10
		Tsugio Matsuda			5
	65	Tom Coronel			All

Masao Yamada passed away from a subarachnoid hemorrhage on 12 July, 1998.^[1]

Calendar

Race No	Track	Country	Date	Laps	Distance	Time	Speed	Winner	Pole Position	Fastest Race Lap
1			19 April 1998	35	5.864=205.241 km	1'04:11.637	191.832 km/h		Ralph Firman, Jr. (ss) Juichi Wakisaka (fq)	Tom Coronel
2			17 May 1998	62	3.239=200.818 km	1'20:35.683	149.502 km/h			Satoshi Motoyama
3			31 May 1998	45	4.470=201.15 km	1'00:28.148	199.589 km/h		Satoshi Motoyama (ss) Norberto Fontana (fq)	Katsutomo Kaneishi
4			14 June 1998	43	4.796=206.228 km	1'20:19.652	154.040 km/h		Norberto Fontana (ss) Hideki Noda (fq)	Hideki Noda
5			5 July 1998	35	5.864=205.241 km	1'04:46.239	190.124 km/h			Juichi Wakisaka
6			2 August 1998	54	3.704=200.016 km	1'34:08.018	127.489 km/h		Masami Kageyama (ss) Masahiko Kageyama (fq)	Masami Kageyama
7			30 August 1998	cancelled due to bad weather conditions
8			20 September 1998	62	3.239=200.818 km	1'21:54.617	147.101 km/h			Satoshi Motoyama
9			18 October 1998	45	4.470=201.15 km	1'46:45.819	113.044 km/h			Hideki Noda
10			29 November 1998	35	5.864=205.241 km	1'03:42.152	193.312 km/h			Masami Kageyama

Race 7 no special stage held due to bad weather conditions

(ss) indicate the winner of the special stage, who started from pole - (fq) indicate the original fastest qualifier. In all other races, the fastest qualifier was also the winner of the special stage.

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	MOT	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	Points
1	Satoshi Motoyama	Ret	1	1	2	Ret	4	C	1	2	Ret	45
2	Masami Kageyama	2	10	Ret	3	3	1	C	6	4	1	38
3	Juichi Wakisaka	Ret	2	Ret	1	4	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	2	25
4	Norberto Fontana	3	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	2	1	8	21
5	Masahiko Kageyama	1	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	6	21
6	Marc Goossens	6	4	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	C	3	Ret	4	17
7	Katsutomo Kaneishi	4	5	2	Ret	Ret	7	C	5	10	Ret	13
8	Ralph Firman	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	C	4	3	7	13
9	Ryo Michigami	7	3	4	9	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	3	11
10	Hideki Noda	5	Ret	5	6	Ret	3	C	Ret	9	Ret	9
11	Tom Coronel	8	6	Ret	4	5	5	C	Ret	Ret	14	8
12	Takuya Kurosawa	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	5	6
13	Yuji Tachikawa			9	5	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	9	2
14	Akira Iida			8	Ret	Ret	9	C	Ret	5	12	2
15	Tsugio Matsuda					6						1
16	Koji Yamanishi	Ret	7	Ret	Ret		6	C	Ret	Ret	11	1
17	Tetsuya Tanaka	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	11	C	Ret	6	16	1
18	Masahiko Kondo	9	8	11	10	7	8	C	7	7	Ret	0
19	Shigekazu Wakisaka	10	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	10	0
20	Akira Ishikawa	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	9	10	C	Ret	8	15	0
21	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Ret	11	14	13	Ret	Ret	C	8	Ret	17	0
22	"Osamu"	13			Ret	Ret	13	C	9	Ret	18	0
23	Atsushi Kawamoto	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	13	0
24	Shinsuke Shibahara	11	Ret	12	12	Ret	Ret	C	10	Ret	Ret	0
25	Dilantha Malagamuwa							C	Ret	12		0
26	Taichiro Oonishi		Ret	13								0
27	Tsuyoshi Takahashi	14	Ret									0
28	Masao Yamada		Ret	15	Ret	DNQ						0
29	Tokiyasu Soda	Ret										0

Teams' Championship

Rank	Name	Car	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	Points
1	LEMONed LeMans	7	3	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	2	1	8	66
	8	Ret	1	1	2	Ret	4	C	1	2	Ret
2	Shionogi Nova	1	2	10	Ret	3	3	1	C	6	4	1	51
	2	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	C	4	3	7
3	ARTA	55	4	5	2	Ret	Ret	7	C	5	10	Ret	38
	56	Ret	2	Ret	1	4	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	2
4	Maziora Impul	19	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	5	27
	20	1	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	6
5	5ZIGEN	5	6	4	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	C	3	Ret	4	14
	6	10	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	10
6	Jaccs Mooncraft	14	7	3	4	9	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	3	14
7	Cosmo Oil Cerumo	11	5	Ret	5	6	Ret	3	C	Ret	9	Ret	11
	12			8	Ret	Ret	9	C	Ret	5	12
8	PIAA Nakajima	64	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	6	6	C	Ret	Ret	11	10
	65	8	6	Ret	4	5	5	C	Ret	Ret	14
9	Team TMS	17	9	8	11	10	7	8	C	7	7	Ret	2
	18	14	Ret	9	5	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	9
10	Be Brides	21	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	11	C	Ret	6	16	1
	22	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	9	10	C	Ret	8	15
11	Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	13	0
12	Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Ret	11	14	13	Ret	Ret	C	8	Ret	17	0
	37		Ret	15	Ret	DNQ
13	Team LeyJun	62	11	Ret	12	12	Ret	Ret	C	10	Ret	Ret	0
	63	13	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	13	C	9	Ret	18
14	Kyoetsu Stellar Stellar International	35	Ret						C	Ret	12		0

External links

• 1998 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1998-07-13. FN_NEWS:訃報:山田政夫選手急逝. 2020-12-08. モータースポーツフォーラム. ja.