2003 Japanese Formula 3 Championship Explained

The 2003 Japanese Formula 3 Championship was the 25th edition of the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. It began on 22 March at Suzuka and ended on 19 October at Motegi.^[1] Australian driver James Courtney took the championship title, winning 13 from 20 races.^[2]

Teams and drivers

• All teams were Japanese-registered. All cars were powered by Bridgestone tyres.^[3]

Team	No	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Dome Racing Team	1	Shinya Hosokawa	Lola-Dome F106	Mugen-Honda MF204C	1–5
		Koji Yamanishi			7–10
	10	Rob Austin	Lola-Dome F106	Mugen-Honda MF204B	9–10
	11	Yuki Shibata			1–7
Toda Racing	2	Shinya Sato	Dallara F302	Toda-Honda MF204B	All
Inging	3	Naoki Yokomizo	Dallara F303	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	All
	4	Ronnie Quintarelli	Dallara F302		All
TOM'S	7	James Courtney	Dallara F302	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	All
	8	Wataru Kobayakawa	Dallara F302		All
	36	Tatsuya Kataoka	Dallara F302		All
ThreeBond Racing	12	Paolo Montin	Dallara F303	Tomei Nissan SR20VE	All
	14	Masataka Yanagida	Dallara F302		2
Aim Sports	18	Takahiro Ogawa	Dallara F302	Torii-Toyota 3S-GE	1–5
		Atsushi Katsumata			8
DTM	19	Hiroyoshi Shibata	Dallara F302	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	All
Now Motor Sports	32	Taku Bamba	Lola-Dome F106	Toyota-TOM'S 3S-GE	All
	33	Hiroki Yoshimoto	Lola-Dome F106		All

Race calendar and results

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	22 March	Paolo Montin	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		23 March	James Courtney	Yuki Shibata	Yuki Shibata	Dome Racing Team
2	R1	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	5 April	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		6 April	James Courtney	Tatsuya Kataoka	James Courtney	TOM'S
3	R1	Okayama International Circuit	17 May	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		18 May	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
4	R1	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	7 June	Paolo Montin	Paolo Montin	Paolo Montin	ThreeBond Racing
	R2		8 June	Paolo Montin	Paolo Montin	Paolo Montin	ThreeBond Racing
5	R1	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	5 July	James Courtney	Shinya Hosokawa	Shinya Hosokawa	Dome Racing Team
	R2		6 July	Paolo Montin	James Courtney	Paolo Montin	ThreeBond Racing
6	R1	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	26 July	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		27 July	James Courtney^[4]	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
7	R1	Tsukuba Circuit, Shimotsuma	9 August	Tatsuya Kataoka	Koji Yamanishi	Koji Yamanishi	Dome Racing Team
	R2		10 August	Tatsuya Kataoka	Tatsuya Kataoka	Tatsuya Kataoka	Dome Racing Team
8	R1	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	6 September	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		7 September	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
9	R1	Mine Circuit, Mine	20 September	Tatsuya Kataoka	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		21 September	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
10	R1	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	18 October	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S
	R2		19 October	James Courtney	James Courtney	James Courtney	TOM'S

Notes

Standings

• Points are awarded as follows, with only the best 16 results to count:

Pos Driver SUZ FUJ OKA MOT SUZ SUG TSU SUG MIN MOT Pts 1 James Courtney 1 8 1 1 1 1 2 2 5 2 1 1 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 Paolo Montin 5 2 4 4 5 12 1 1 2 1 Ret 4 3 4 2 Ret 3 3 6 3 3 Tatsuya Kataoka 11 Ret 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 3 2 1 5 2 2 4 5 5 4 Ronnie Quintarelli 3 3 3 5 3 3 5 6 6 6 2 2 4 2 4 3 4 2 2 2 5 Naoki Yokomizo 2 7 8 6 4 6 6 5 Ret 9 Ret 8 6 8 3 Ret 8 6 3 6 6 Shinya Hosokawa 8 9 6 3 Ret 4 4 3 1 3 87 7 Shinya Sato 4 Ret 10 7 9 8 9 7 3 7 6 5 7 6 8 NC 6 8 9 9 8 Yuki Shibata 6 1 5 Ret Ret DNS 8 12 10 5 7 Ret 9 7 56 9 Koji Yamanishi 1 5 7 Ret DNS Ret 4 4 52 10 Hiroki Yoshimoto Ret DNS 11 Ret 6 9 7 8 8 12 8 6 12 9 Ret 8 5 7 7 7 52 11 align=left nowrap Wataru Kobayakawa 7 4 9 10 Ret 5 11 11 Ret Ret Ret 7 8 12 6 6 7 9 Ret 10 51 12 Hiroyoshi Shibata 10 6 7 8 7 7 13 9 7 11 5 Ret 11 11 10 4 9 10 10 12 51 13 Taku Bamba 9 5 12 11 DNS 10 10 Ret 11 8 3 Ret 10 10 9 5 Ret Ret 8 11 42 14 Rob Austin 10 5 Ret 8 12 15 Takahiro Ogawa 12 Ret 14 Ret 8 11 12 10 9 10 7 16 Atsushi Katsumata 11 7 4 17 Masataka Yanagida 13 9 2 Pos Driver SUZ FUJ OKA MOT SUZ SUG TSU SUG MIN MOT Pts

Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

External links

• Official Site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Race Calendar: All-Japan Formula 3 Championship – Season 2003. speedsport-magazine.com. Speedsport Magazine. 2 February 2013.
2. Web site: Formula 3 Japan 2003. driverdb.com. Driver Database. 2 February 2013.
3. Web site: Entrylist: All-Japan Formula 3 Championship – Season 2003. speedsport-magazine.com. Speedsport Magazine. 2 February 2013.
4. The qualifying session were abandoned due to heavy rain. The grid of the second race was equal to the first race.