2001 Formula Nippon Championship Explained

The 2001 Formula Nippon Championship was contested over 10 rounds. 11 different teams, 23 different drivers, 2 different chassis and only 1 engine competed.

Teams and drivers

Team		Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
PIAA Nakajima Racing	1	Tsugio Matsuda	Reynard 2KL	Mugen MF308	All
	2	Ralph Firman	Reynard 99L		All
Olympic Kondo Racing Team	3	Yuji Tachikawa	Reynard 99L	Mugen MF308	All
	4	Katsutomo Kaneishi			All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Naoki Hattori	Reynard 99L	Mugen MF308	All
	6	Michael Krumm	Reynard 99L Reynard 01L		All
Team LeMans	7	Alex Yoong	Reynard 99L	Mugen MF308	1–6
		Koji Yamanishi			7–10
	8	Yudai Igarashi			All
Team Morinaga Nova	9	Richard Lyons	G-Force GF03C	Mugen MF308	All
	10	André Couto	G-Force GF03C Reynard 99L		All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	Masami Kageyama	Reynard 99L	Mugen MF308	All
	12	Seiji Ara			All
Mooncraft	14	Ryo Michigami	Reynard 01L	Mugen MF308	2–10
excite Team Impul	19	Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 01L	Mugen MF308	All
	20	Narain Karthikeyan	Reynard 99L		All
Takagi B-1 Car Club	36	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Reynard 2KL Reynard 99L	Mugen MF308	All
	37	Masahiko Kageyama	Reynard 99L		All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Juichi Wakisaka	Reynard 99L	Mugen MF308	All
	56	Takeshi Tsuchiya			All
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	68	Hideki Noda	Reynard 2KL	Mugen MF308	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		25 March		Juichi Wakisaka		Team 5ZIGEN
2		22 April		Juichi Wakisaka		Team 5ZIGEN
3		20 May		Satoshi Motoyama		excite Team Impul
4		3 June		Naoki Hattori		Team 5ZIGEN
5		1 July		Ralph Firman		excite Team Impul
6		29 July		Juichi Wakisaka		excite Team Impul
7	Fuji Speedway	2 September		Juichi Wakisaka		Autobacs Racing Team Aguri
8	Mine Circuit	23 September		Ryo Michigami		excite Team Impul
9	Twin Ring Motegi	21 October		Juichi Wakisaka		PIAA Nakajima Racing
10	Suzuka Circuit	18 November		Michael Krumm		PIAA Nakajima Racing

Note:

Race 8 originally fastest lap set by Juichi Wakisaka, but he was 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	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	Ryo 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