2024 F4 Japanese Championship Explained

The 2024 F4 Japanese Championship season is the tenth season of the F4 Japanese Championship. It began on 3 May at Fuji Speedway and finishes on 8 December at Suzuka International Racing Course.

This is the first season for the second-generation MCSC-24 chassis constructed by Toray Carbon Magic, and the new TOM'S TMA43 engine which produces 180 horsepower, 20 more than its predecessor.

Teams and drivers

All teams will compete with an identical Toray Carbon Magic MCSC-24 chassis and TOM'S 2-litre naturally aspirated engine.^[1]

Team Driver Class Rounds Akiland Racing 2 Keiji Nakao^[2] 1–3 Aoto Nagahara^[3] 5 71 Masayoshi Oyama All 96 Makio Saito All DayDream Racing 4 Yuichi Sasaki All Team 5ZIGEN 5 Motohiro Kotani All Buzz Racing 9 "Ken Alex" All 90 Lin Chenghua All Rn-sports 10 Hibiki Komatsu 1 Isao Nakashima^[4] 2–7 11 Masayuki Ueda All Zap Speed 14 Masaki Murata All 57 Anri Sugihara^[5] 6 HYDRANGEA Kageyama Racing 16 Kotaro Shimbara All Eagle Sports 21 nowrap Tadakazu Kojima^[6] 7 40 nowrap Shoichiro Akamatsu All N-SPEED 23 "” All Falcon Motorsport 26 Takumi Saigusa nowrap 1–3, 6–7 B-Max Racing Team HFPD with B-Max Racing Team 30 "Dragon"^[7] All 44 Nobuhiro Imada All 50 Yuto Nomura^[8] All 51 Ryota Horachi All Drago Corse 33 Itsuki Sato All 34 Hironobu Shimizu All TGR-DC Racing School 35 Yuki Sano^[9] All 36 Kazuhisa Urabe All 37 Tokiya Suzuki All 38 Kiyoshi Umegaki All PONOS Racing 45 Kento Omiya All 54 Rintaro Sato All Fujita Pharmacy Racing 46 Shouma Arimura All TGM Grand Prix 53 Shota Sakai 7 Field Motorsports 55 "Kentaro" All OTG Motor Sports 60 Kenta Kumagai All HELM Motorsports 61 William Sakai 1–3, 7 62 Tosei Moriyama All 63 Yutaka Toriba All 64 "" 1–2, 5 Ethan Ho^[10] 3 Skill Speed 77 Daiki Matsuda 1–4, 7 Dr.Dry 86 Hachiro Osaka All 87 Rio Shimono All Bionic Jack Racing 97 Ryo Shirasaki All 98 "Ikari" All

Icon Class Champion Class Independent Class

Race calendar

All rounds were held in Japan and supported the Super GT events.^[11] On 28 August 2024, it was announced that the 2nd Suzuka round was postponed to 7–8 December due to the threat of Typhoon Shanshan.^[12] After Race 11 was not held due to bad weather in Autopolis, the race was moved to the Mobility Resort Motegi round.^[13]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	3 May	Kotaro Shimbara	Ryota Horachi	Yuki Sano	TGR-DC Racing School	"Dragon"
	R2		4 May	Tosei Moriyama	Hironobu Shimizu	Tosei Moriyama	HELM Motorsports	"Kentaro"
2	R3	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	1 June	Yuto Nomura	Ryota Horachi	Yuto Nomura	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team	Nobuhiro Imada
	R4		2 June	Yuto Nomura	Tosei Moriyama	Yuto Nomura	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team
3	R5	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	3 August	Ryota Horachi	Ryota Horachi	Ryota Horachi	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team	Yutaka Toriba
	R6		4 August	Ryota Horachi	Ryota Horachi	Hironobu Shimizu	Drago Corse	"Kentaro"
4	R9	Sportsland Sugo, Murata	21 September	Yuki Sano	Kento Omiya	Yuki Sano	TGR-DC Racing School	Nobuhiro Imada
	R10		22 September	Yuki Sano	Yuki Sano	Yuki Sano	TGR-DC Racing School	Nobuhiro Imada
5	R11	Autopolis, Hita	19 October	The race was cancelled due to severe bad weather. The race was rescheduled to the next round in Motegi.
	R12		20 October	Yuto Nomura	Yuto Nomura	Yuto Nomura	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team
6	R11	Mobility Resort Motegi, Motegi	2 November	Ryota Horachi	Kiyoshi Umegaki	Yuto Nomura	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team
	R13			Ryota Horachi	Yuto Nomura	Yuto Nomura	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team	Nobuhiro Imada
	R14		3 November		Yuto Nomura	Yuto Nomura	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team
7	R7	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	7 December
	R8		8 December

Championship standings

Points were awarded as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver FUJ1 SUZ1 FUJ2 SUG AUT MOT SUZ2 Pts R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R9 R10 R11 R12 R11 R13 R14 R7 R8 Champion Class 1 Yuto Nomura 2 DNS 1 1 3 8 7 4 C 1 1 1 1 193 2 Ryota Horachi 3 DNS 2 3 1 2 8 5 C 4 2 3 4 152 3 Yuki Sano 1 DNS 11 6 10 7 1 1 C 2 3 7 3 119 4 Kotaro Shimbara Ret 4 3 4 7 4 9 8 C 3 7 2 2 116 5 Hironobu Shimizu 4 2 5 5 4 1 13 13 C 11 9 17 9 91 6 Tosei Moriyama 15 1 4 2 2 11 10 9 C Ret 15 Ret 11 74 7 Kento Omiya 12 DNS 7 8 11 3 2 2 C 8 4 4 17 68 8 Kiyoshi Umegaki Ret DNS 9 7 6 5 6 10 C 5 6 6 8 64 9 Rintaro Sato 14 DNS 6 9 18 6 3 6 C 7 17 8 6 54 10 Tokiya Suzuki 7 DNS 12 13 5 16 5 7 C 6 10 16 7 41 11 Kazuhisa Urabe 5 DNS 8 10 20 Ret 4 3 C 9 13 5 Ret 39 12 Itsuki Sato Ret 3 10 11 9 10 11 12 C 10 8 10 5 35 13 Ryo Shirasaki 6 Ret 13 21 8 12 14 18 C 12 5 15 10 23 14 Kenta Kumagai 10 5 18 12 12 9 15 19 C 15 12 Ret 12 13 15 Takumi Saigusa 8 7 16 18 DNS DNS Ret 12 15 10 16 Hibiki Komatsu Ret 6 8 17 Daiki Matsuda 9 8 20 14 14 15 16 16 6 18 Rio Shimono Ret 11 15 19 13 Ret 12 11 C 13 11 9 13 2 19 "" Ret 9 14 15 WD WD 2 20 Lin Chenghua Ret 10 21 20 19 Ret 19 17 C 16 18 14 16 1 21 Masaki Murata 13 Ret 19 16 15 17 17 14 C 17 14 11 14 0 22 Shouma Arimura 11 DNS 18 17 17 14 18 15 C 18 16 13 18 0 23 Ethan Ho 16 13 0 24 Aoto Nagahara C 14 0 Shota Sakai Independent Class 1 "Dragon" 1 DNS 2 1 9 4 3 2 C 1 1 7 1 187 2 Nobuhiro Imada WD WD 1 2 5 3 1 1 C 3 2 1 15 163.5 3 Makio Saito 7 2 4 5 Ret 2 11 6 C 6 4 5 4 110 4 "Kentaro" 4 1 3 7 2 1 Ret 9 C 9 Ret 8 9 108 5 Masayuki Ueda WD WD 6 4 3 8 6 5 C 5 3 9 2 97 6 "Ken Alex" 9 7 Ret 10 4 10 2 3 C 2 7 3 11 86.5 7 Isao Nakashima 5 3 7 6 4 4 C 4 8 4 10 86 8 Shoichiro Akamatsu 6 6 8 16 6 7 5 7 C 8 5 14 5 71 9 "Ikari" 3 5 7 9 8 5 9 12 C 13 13 12 3 64 10 Yutaka Toriba 13 6 1 Ret 7 11 C 12 9 2 13 59 11 Masayoshi Oyama 5 Ret 12 13 12 9 8 8 C 10 14 6 8 32 12 Hachiro Osaka 10 4 14 12 14 13 12 10 C 11 11 10 6 23.5 13 Keiji Nakao 2 10 Ret 8 11 DNS 23 14 Motohiro Kotani 8 3 Ret 15 10 11 13 14 C Ret 10 11 14 21 15 Yuichi Sasaki WD WD 11 11 13 14 10 13 C 7 6 15 7 21 16 "” 11 8 10 17 15 15 Ret 15 C 14 12 13 12 5 17 William Sakai Ret 9 9 14 16 12 4 — Anri Sugihara WD WD WD — Tadakazu Kojima Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R9 R10 R11 R12 R11 R13 R14 R7 R8 Pts FUJ1 SUZ1 FUJ2 SUG AUT MOT SUZ2

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

Teams' standings

Only the best finisher scored points for their team.

Pos	Team	FUJ1		SUZ1		FUJ2		SUG		AUT		MOT			SUZ2		Pts
		R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R9	R10	R11	R12	R11	R13	R14	R7	R8
Champion Class
1	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team	2	DNS	1	1	1	2	7	4	C	1	1	1	1			217
2	TGR-DC Racing School	1	DNS	8	6	5	5	1	1	C	2	3	5	3			140
3	HYDRANGEA Kageyama Racing	Ret	4	3	4	7	4	9	8	C	3	7	2	2			116
4	Drago Corse	4	2	5	5	4	1	11	13	C	10	8	10	5			107
5	PONOS Racing	12	DNS	6	8	11	3	2	2	C	7	4	4	6			83
6	HELM Motorsports	15	1	4	2	2	11	10	9	C	Ret	15	Ret	11			74
8	Bionic Jack Racing	6	Ret	13	21	8	12	14	18	C	12	5	15	10			23
7	OTG Motor Sports	10	5	18	12	12	9	15	19	C	15	12	Ret	12			13
9	Falcon Motorsport	8	7	16	18	DNS	DNS					Ret	12	15			10
10	Rn-sports	Ret	6														8
11	Skill Speed	9	8	20	14	14	15	16	16								6
12	Dr. Dry	Ret	11	15	19	13	Ret	12	11	C	13	11	9	13			2
13	Buzz Racing	Ret	10	21	20	19	Ret	19	17	C	16	18	14	16			1
14	Zap Speed	13	Ret	19	16	15	17	17	14	C	17	14	11	14			0
15	Akiland Racing									C	14						0
	TGM Grand Prix
Independent Class
1	B-Max Racing Team	1	DNS	1	1	5	3	1	1	C	1	1	1	1			237.5
2	Akiland Racing	2	2	4	5	11	2	8	6	C	6	4	5	4			124
3	Rn-sports	WD	WD	5	3	3	8	4	4	C	5	3	4	2			123
4	Field Motorsports	4	1	3	7	2	1	Ret	9	C	9	Ret	8	9			108
5	Buzz Racing	9	7	Ret	10	4	10	2	3	C	2	7	3	11			86.5
6	Eagle Sports	6	6	8	16	6	7	5	7	C	8	5	14	5			71
7	Bionic Jack Racing	3	5	7	9	8	5	9	12	C	13	13	12	3			64
8	HELM Motorsports	Ret	9	9	6	1	12	7	11	C	12	9	2	13			63
9	Dr. Dry	10	4	14	12	14	13	12	10	C	11	11	10	6			23.5
10	Team 5ZIGEN	8	3	Ret	15	10	11	13	14	C	Ret	10	11	14			21
11	DayDream Racing	WD	WD	11	11	13	14	10	14	C	7	6	15	7			21
12	N-SPEED	11	8	10	17	15	15	Ret	15	C	14	12	13	12			5
—	Zap Speed											WD	WD	WD			—
Pos	Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R9	R10	R11	R12	R11	R13	R14	R7	R8	Pts
		FUJ1		SUZ1		FUJ2		SUG		AUT		MOT			SUZ2

Notes and References

1. News: 10 August 2022 . Japanese F4 reveals Gen2 design to be introduced in 2024 . 10 August 2022 . formulascout.
2. Web site: エントリーリスト：2024-第1戦・第2戦-富士. 24 April 2024. fiaf4.wordpress.com. 24 April 2024.
3. Web site: エントリーリスト：2024-第11戦・第12戦-富士. 9 October 2024. fiaf4.wordpress.com. 9 October 2024.
4. Web site: エントリーリスト：2024-第1戦・第2戦-富士. 24 April 2024. fiaf4.wordpress.com. 24 April 2024.
5. Web site: エントリーリスト：2024-第1戦・第2戦-富士. 24 April 2024. fiaf4.wordpress.com. 24 April 2024.
6. Web site: エントリーリスト：2024-第1戦・第2戦-富士. 24 April 2024. fiaf4.wordpress.com. 24 April 2024.
7. News: 2024 FIA-F4 B-Max 参戦体制. 21 March 2024. b-maxracing.co.jp. 21 March 2024.
8. Web site: Honda 2024 Motorsports Program Overview. 19 January 2024. Honda Racing. 19 January 2024.
9. News: 19 January 2024 . Honda confirms Iori Kimura’s place on 2024 Super Formula grid. 19 January 2024 . formulascout.
10. Web site: エントリーリスト：2024-第5戦・第6戦-富士. 27 July 2024. fiaf4.wordpress.com. 27 July 2024.
11. Web site: Formula 4 Calendar. 3 February 2024. honda.racing. 3 February 2024.
12. News: Klein . Jamie . Suzuka Round Postponed; Circuit to Host Season Finale . sportscar365.com . 28 August 2024. 28 August 2024.
13. Web site: オートポリスで悪天候のため中止となったFIA-F4第11戦がもてぎ大会に加わる。1大会3レース開催に. 26 October 2024.