2015 F4 Japanese Championship Explained

The 2015 F4 Japanese Championship was the inaugural season of the F4 Japanese Championship. It began on 4 April in Okayama and finished on 15 November on Twin Ring Motegi after seven double header rounds.^[1]

Teams and drivers

Team		Driver	Rounds
Hanashima Racing^[2]	2	Katsuaki Kubota^[3]	1–2, 7
Hanashima Racing^[2]	2	Shuma Sato	3–5
Sutekina Racing Team	3	Takahiro Ban	1
		Miku Ikejima	2–3
		Sena Sakaguchi	4–7
RS Fine	4	Shunsuke Kohno	All
RS Fine	5	Yuya Hiraki	All
Clear Corporation	6	Masanori Yonekura	1, 3–4, 6
Honda Formula Dream Project	7	Hiroki Otsu^[4]	All
	8	Yuta Kamimura	All
	9	Mizuki Ishizaka	All
	10	Katsuhide Kaneishi	All
Rn-sports	11	Tadasuke Makino	All
Rn-sports	57	Nobuhiro Yoshida	6
Team A-ONE with SECNA	12	Yuki Shiraishi	1–4, 6
KCMG	14	Yuki Nemoto^[5]	All
	18	James Munro	1–2
	18	Paul Ip	3
Media Do Kageyama Racing	16	Tsubasa Mekaru^[6]	1–5
ARN Racing	17	Hiroaki Nagai	5–7
VSR Lamborghini S.C.Formula Jr^[7]	19	Takuro Shinohara	All
	63	Nicolas Costa	1–4
	63	Gustavo Myasava	5–7
miNami aoYama with SARD^[8]	20	Kotoka Goibuchi	2, 4
		Ayaka Imahashi	3, 5
		Miki Koyama	6–7
	28	Yoshiaki Katayama	1–2
	39	Junpei Kato	All
RSS	21	Turbo Asahi	3–4, 7
RSS	22	Ritomo Miyata	5–7
N-SPEED	23	Yugo Tanabe	All
Mars Racing Factory	24	Hideki Nakahara	7
Field Motorsport	25	Tomoki Takahashi	2–4, 7
	55	Takashi Hata	1–2, 4, 6–7
	75	Yuya Tezuka	All
Zap Speed Racing Team^[9]	27	Hwang Do-yun	1–4, 7
Shunsuke Sato	32	Shunsuke Sato	4
Sfida Racing Team	34	"Flying Rat"	2–4
Sfida Racing Team	35	"Motor Mouse"	2–4
TOM'S Spirit	36	Sho Tsuboi	All
TOM'S Spirit	37	Kazuto Kotaka	2–7
Garage Chabatake	38	Ryo Yamada	1–3
Garage Chabatake	38	Tsuyoshi Tajima	5, 7
Buzz International^[10]	44	View Yamauchi	All
Buzz International^[10]	45	Yosuke Yamazaki	7
B-MAX Racing Team^[11]	50	Shinnosuke Yamada	All
B-MAX Racing Team^[11]	51	Yuichi Mikasa	All
Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave	52	Taku Bamba	1–3, 5–7
Le Beausset Motorsports^[12]	62	Noa Satomi	All
Skill Speed	66	Riku Hashimoto	All
leprix sport	70	Tsubasa Amano	2–7
NRS	80	Yudai Jinkawa	1
	80	Satoshi Kosugi	2
	81	Musashi Nakanishi	2–3
	81	Yuichi Sasaki	7
Succeed Sports	88	Shintaro Kawabata	All
	89	Takahiro Ban	3–5
	89	Ryota Kiyohara	6–7

Race calendar and results

The calendar was published on 19 January 2015.^[1] All rounds were held in Japan and were part of the Super GT events.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	1	Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka	4 April	Sho Tsuboi	Tadasuke Makino	Tadasuke Makino	Rn-sports
1	R2	Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka	5 April	Tsubasa Mekaru	Tadasuke Makino	Tadasuke Makino	Rn-sports
2	R1	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	2 May	Tadasuke Makino	Sho Tsuboi	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
2	R2	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	3 May	Tadasuke Makino	Sho Tsuboi	Tadasuke Makino	Rn-sports
3	R1	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	8 August	Katsuhide Kaneishi	Yuya Hiraki	Tadasuke Makino	Rn-sports
3	R2	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	9 August	Katsuhide Kaneishi	Yuya Hiraki	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
4	R1	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	29 August	Sho Tsuboi	Yuya Hiraki	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
4	R2	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	30 August	Tadasuke Makino	Tadasuke Makino	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
5	R1	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	19 September	Sho Tsuboi	Shunsuke Kohno	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
5	R2	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	20 September	Sho Tsuboi	Sena Sakaguchi	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
6	R1	Autopolis, Hita	31 October	Hiroki Otsu	Sho Tsuboi	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S Spirit
6	R2	Autopolis, Hita	1 November	Yuya Hiraki	Kazuto Kotaka	Shinnosuke Yamada	B-MAX Racing Team
7	R1	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	14 November	Yuki Nemoto	Yuta Kamimura	Tadasuke Makino	Rn-sports
7	R2	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	15 November	Tadasuke Makino	Sho Tsuboi	Tadasuke Makino	Rn-sports

Championship standings

Drivers' Championships

Only the best eleven results counted towards the championship. Points were awarded as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	20	15	12	10	8	6	4	3	2	1

Overall

Pos	Driver	OKA		FUJ1		FUJ2		SUZ		SUG		AUT		MOT		Points
1	Sho Tsuboi	2	2	1	9	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	17	5	2
2	Tadasuke Makino	1	1	2	1	1	26	2	2	2	3	9	5	1	1
3	Hiroki Otsu	9	3	4	11	2	4	4	17	5	7	2	2	3	24	108
4	Shinnosuke Yamada	Ret	Ret	3	3	7	6	7	7	10	Ret	3	1	6	8	84
5	Yuya Hiraki	3	7	6	Ret	3	2	3	3	12	13	4	20	Ret	13	83
6	Kazuto Kotaka			10	13	6	5	6	4	6	7	8	6	16	11	50
7	Yuki Nemoto	Ret	10	8	7	12	Ret	10	5	15	14	14	8	2	3	47
8	Shunsuke Kohno	10	20	17	21	17	18	9	9	3	2	10	10	9	6	42
9	Mizuki Ishizaka	DNS	16	13	5	5	Ret	5	14	20	16	6	4	11	9	42
10	Sena Sakaguchi							30†	6	7	8	5	7	3	7	41
11	Takuro Shinohara	17	18	Ret	4	18	8	18	8	9	4	7	9	10	22	35
12	Yuta Kamimura	Ret	5	11	15	Ret	12	8	10	8	6	16	15	7	4	35
13	Shintaro Kawabata	15	Ret	5	10	11	13	28	11	14	11	15	11	4	5	27
14	Yuichi Mikasa	5	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	9	22	18	13	12	21	16	Ret	17	25
15	Ritomo Miyata									4	9	Ret	3	14	27	24
16	Katsuhide Kaneishi	19	9	21	28	Ret	3	16	19	21	22	27	13	15	12	14
17	Tsubasa Mekaru	6	Ret	7	32†	8	25	12	13	16	15					13
18	Nicolas Costa	4	15	12	14	DNS	16	13	24							10
19	James Munro	Ret	4	16	Ret											10
20	Yuki Shiraishi	7	6	18	16	16	24	15	15			12	Ret			10
21	Musashi Nakanishi			33†	6	21	23									6
22	Turbo Asahi					10	7	20	30					23	23	5
23	Noa Satomi	20	8	Ret	20	19	31	17	16	17	Ret	11	12	12	Ret	3
24	Riku Hashimoto	11	17	19	8	24	Ret	19	20	27	21	24	23	15	Ret	3
25	Ryo Yamada	8	12	15	Ret	20	19									3
26	Taku Bamba	WD	WD	9	12	14	15			18	17	13	21	Ret	10	3
27	Tsubasa Amano			22	19	9	11	Ret	12	Ret	19	18	14	17	14	2
28	Shuma Sato					13	14	31†	22	11	10					1
29	Junpei Kato	13	19	14	24	15	10	14	DNS	26	23	19	27	Ret	25	1
30	Takahiro Ban	18	11			26	20	32†	23	23	26					0
31	Tomoki Takahashi			31	18	Ret	21	11	26					WD	WD	0
32	Masanori Yonekura	12	23†			WD	WD	24	25			26	24			0
33	View Yamauchi	WD	WD	20	25	22	17	Ret	31	24	24	25	22	13	21	0
34	Yoshiaki Katayama	21	13	DNS	Ret											0
35	Yuya Tezuka	22	14	23	17	23	22	21	27	22	20	17	18	19	Ret	0
36	Katsuaki Kubota	14	22	26	31									Ret	Ret	0
37	Hwang Do-yun	WD	WD	25	Ret	Ret	33	23	21					25	16	0
38	Yugo Tanabe	16	24	32	29	Ret	32	29	33	30	29	30	28	28	32	0
39	Gustavo Myasava									19	38	23	Ret	Ret	18	0
40	Yosuke Yamazaki													18	Ret	0
41	Hiroaki Nagai									25	25	29	29†	21	19	0
42	Nobuhiro Yoshida											22	19			0
43	Ryota Kiyohara											20	Ret	Ret	20	0
44	Takashi Hata	Ret	21	28	Ret			25	29			Ret	25	20	30	0
45	Satoshi Kosugi			24	22											0
46	Tsuyoshi Tajima									29	28			22	31	0
47	Kotoka Goibuchi			27	23			27	DNS							0
48	Yuichi Sasaki													24	29	0
49	Ayaka Imahashi					25	28									0
50	Miki Koyama											28	26	26	26	0
51	"Motor Mouse"			29	26	27	27	WD	WD							0
52	"Flying Rat"			30	27	28	30	26	32							0
53	Hideki Nakahara													27	28	0
54	Shunsuke Sato							Ret	28							0
55	Miku Ikejima			Ret	30	Ret	29									0
	Yudai Jinkawa	WD	WD													0
	Paul Ip					WD	WD									0
Pos	Driver	OKA		FUJ1		FUJ2		SUZ		SUG		AUT		MOT		Points

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
† — Did not finish, but classified

Teams' standings

Pos	Team	Pts.
1	TOM'S Spirit	225
2	Rn-sports	216
3	Honda Formula Dream Project	144
4	RS Fine	133
5	B-Max Racing Team	109
6	KCMG	70
7	VSR Lamborghini S.C.Formula Jr	59
8	Sutekina Racing Team	55
9	Succeed Sports	41
10	RSS	39
11	Media Do Kageyama Racing	23
12	Eagle Sport	20
13	Le Beausset Motorsports	17
14	Skill Speed	17
15	miNami aoYama with SARD	14
16	N-Speed	14
17	Field Motorsport	14
18	Leprix Sport	14
19	Garage Chabatake	13
20	Hanamashima Racing	13
21	Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave	13
22	NRS	10
23	Buzz International	10
24	Zap Speed Racing Team	8
25	Sfida Racing Team	6
26	Clear Corporation	6
27	ARN Racing	6

Notes and References

News: 2015年 SUPER GT カレンダー変更および F4 日程変更について. 19 January 2015. F4 Japanese Championship. GT-Association. Japanese. 15 February 2015.
News: 「2015FIA-F4選手権」年間登録リスト. F4 Japanese Championship. GT-Association. Japanese. 2 March 2015. 25 March 2015. "2015FIA-F4 Championship" year entry list.
News: 「2015FIA-F4選手権」岡山大会エントリーリスト. F4 Japanese Championship. GT-Association. Japanese. 25 March 2015. 25 March 2015. "2015FIA-F4 Championship" Okayama entry list.
Web site: Honda 2015 Motorsports Program Overview. 13 February 2015. 15 February 2015. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Web site: Yuki Nemoto joins KCMG for FIA Japanese F4. 15 March 2015. 16 March 2015. KC Motorgroup Ltd..
News: 『メディアドゥ影山レーシング』がFIA-F4に参戦. as-web.jp. 5 March 2015. 5 March 2015. Japanese. "Media de Kageyama racing" is competing in the FIA-F4.
News: VSR Lamborghini Formula Junior Team confirms programme in Japanese F4. Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. 27 February 2015. 27 February 2015.
News: サード、来季F4／S耐参戦を決定。NRAと提携強化. as-web.jp. 29 October 2014. 19 February 2015. SARD, to determine the competing in next season F4 and Super taikyu. NRA affiliated with strengthening.
News: ZAP SPEED、FIA-F4参戦ドライバー3名を発表. as-web.jp. 7 January 2015. 19 February 2015. ZAP SPEED, announced the three FIA-F4 drivers.
News: 全日本カートFS125クラス王者がFIA-F4に参戦. as-web.jp. 17 February 2015. 19 February 2015. All-Japan cart FS125 class champion, joined FIA-F4.
News: B-MAX、FIA-F4に2台を投入。初代王者目指す. as-web.jp. 9 February 2015. 19 February 2015. B-MAX Participated two to FIA-F4. Aim the first champion..
News: ２０１５年Le Beausset Motorsports参戦体制を発表！. Le Beausset Motorsports. 20 February 2015. 2 March 2015. 2015 Le Beausset Motorsports Announces competed order..