2000 Japanese Formula 3 Championship Explained

The 2000 Japanese Formula 3 Championship was the 22nd edition of the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. It began on 26 March at Suzuka and ended on 5 November at the same place.^[1] French driver Sébastien Philippe took the championship title, winning three from ten races.^[2]

Teams and drivers

All teams were Japanese-registered. All cars were powered by Bridgestone tyres.

Team	No	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
TOM'S	1	Robert Lechner	F300	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	1–9
	7	Haruki Kurosawa	F300		1–9
	8	Kaichi Sato	F399		All
Toda Racing	2	Seiji Ara	F300	Toda-Honda MF204B	All
Inging	3	Benoît Tréluyer	F300	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	All
Inging	5	Shinichi Takagi	F399	TOM'S-Toyota 3S-GE	1–9
Team 5Zigen	6	Hideki Nishimura	F399	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	2
	6	Kota Sasaki	F399		9
	15	Tadashi Nagamori	F399		1, 3, 5–8, 10
Pal Sport	9	Takeshi Tsuchiya	F399	Tomei Nissan SR20VE	1–2, 4–10
Pal Sport	19	Tsubasa Kurosawa	F399	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	1–3
Mugen Dome Project	10	Sébastien Philippe	F300	Mugen-Honda MF204B	All
Mugen Dome Project	11	Yuji Ide	F300	Mugen-Honda MF204B	All
Lian Racing Team	17	Kota Sasaki	F399	Toda-Honda MF204B	1–4
Lian Racing Team	17	Tsubasa Kurosawa	F399	Toda-Honda MF204B	6–10
Team Yellow Hat with Aim Sports	18	Shogo Mitsuyama	F399	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	All
DTM	20	Kyousuke Mineo	F399	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	1–4, 7
DTM	20	Racer Kashima	F399	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	8–10
Tomei Sport	24	Kazuyuki Nishizawa	F399	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	All
Maejima Racing Team	32	Masaru Tomizawa	F399	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	1–3
Now Motor Sports	32	Tomoyuki Inoue	F399	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	9–10
Now Motor Sports	33	Akira Yamaguchi	F300	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	All
Nobel France Racing Team	37	Motonari Higuchi	F397	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	2–3, 5, 7–8
Prokidai with Torii Racing	38	Yasutaka Gomi	F300	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	1–2, 4–6
		Teruyuki Tokuda			7
		Hirotaka Nakajima			9
		Kota Sasaki			10
	39	Masayuki Suzuki	F397		10
Nakajima Racing	64	Yasuyuki Honjyo	F399	Mugen-Honda MF204B	1–8
Nakajima Racing	64	Shinya Sato	F399	Mugen-Honda MF204B	9–10
Skill Speed	77	Kou Hirano	F399	Toda-Honda MF204B	1–9

Notes:

Race calendar and results

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	26 March	Sébastien Philippe	Sébastien Philippe	Sébastien Philippe	Mugen Dome Project
2	Tsukuba Circuit, Shimotsuma	9 April	Yuji Ide	Yuji Ide	Yuji Ide	Mugen Dome Project
3	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	4 May	Sébastien Philippe	Haruki Kurosawa	Sébastien Philippe	Mugen Dome Project
4	Mine Circuit, Mine	21 May	Robert Lechner	Benoît Tréluyer	Robert Lechner	TOM'S
5	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	11 June	Robert Lechner	Seiji Ara	Robert Lechner	TOM'S
6	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	2 July	Shinichi Takagi	Sébastien Philippe	Shinichi Takagi	Inging
7	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	30 July	Benoît Tréluyer	Benoît Tréluyer	Benoît Tréluyer	Inging
8	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	20 August	Seiji Ara	Haruki Kurosawa	Haruki Kurosawa	TOM'S
9	Sendai Hi-Land Raceway, Aoba-ku	24 September	Sébastien Philippe	Sébastien Philippe	Sébastien Philippe	Mugen Dome Project
10	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	5 November	Sébastien Philippe	Yuji Ide	Yuji Ide	Mugen Dome Project

Standings

Points are awarded as follows, with only the best 7 results to count:

Pos	Driver	SUZ	TSU	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ	SUG	MOT	SEN	SUZ	Pts
1	Sébastien Philippe	1	3	1	2	3	3	4	2	1	2
2	Yuji Ide	Ret	1	6	3	6	2	5	3	6	1
3	Seiji Ara	Ret	2	4	5	2	4	3	9	3	3
4	Robert Lechner	Ret	Ret	2	1	1	6	7	4	8		28
5	Benoît Tréluyer	2	16	13	4	8	Ret	1	7	2	Ret	24
6	Haruki Kurosawa	Ret	4	7	6	4	5	2	1	7		24
7	Shinichi Takagi	4	7	Ret	7	Ret	1	13	5	5		16
8	Takeshi Tsuchiya	3	Ret		14	Ret	Ret	12	17	4	5	9
9	Kyousuke Mineo	7	10	3	13			Ret				4
10	Yasuyuki Honjyo	6	8	5	Ret	7	7	6	8			4
11	Shinya Sato									12	4	3
12	Kaichi Sato	Ret	11	Ret	11	5	8	8	6	11	7	3
13	Shogo Mitsuyama	5	13	10	12	9	12	Ret	10	13	10	2
14	Kota Sasaki	Ret	6	Ret	8					9	6	2
15	Masaru Tomizawa	Ret	5	Ret								2
16	Akira Yamaguchi	8	9	11	Ret	11	Ret	11	11	Ret	9	0
17	Tsubasa Kurosawa	Ret	17	Ret			11	10	Ret	Ret	8	0
18	Kou Hirano	Ret	12	9	9	Ret	9	9	12	Ret		0
19	Yasutaka Gomi	Ret	Ret		10	10	10					0
20	Tomoyuki Inoue									10	Ret	0
21	Tadashi Nagamori	Ret		DNS		12	Ret	Ret	15	11		0
22	Motonari Higuchi		14	12		13		14	14			0
23	Racer Kashima								16	16	12	0
24	align=left nowrap	Kazuyuki Nishizawa	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	13	14	Ret	0
25	Hideki Nishimura		15									0
26	Teruyuki Tokuda							15				0
27	Hirotaka Nakajima									15		0
	Masayuki Suzuki										Ret	0
Pos	Driver	SUZ	TSU	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ	SUG	MOT	SEN	SUZ	Pts

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

External links

Official Site

Notes and References

Web site: Formula 3 2000 Race Index – World. Formula2.net. Formula 2 Register. 17 February 2013.
Web site: Formula 3 Japan 2000. driverdb.com. Driver Database. 17 February 2013.