2003 Formula Nippon Championship

The 2003 Formula Nippon Championship was the thirty-first season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the eighth under the Formula Nippon moniker. The series was contested over 10 races at five venues, including the final races at Fuji Speedway before a comprehensive renovation of the circuit began later that year.

10 different teams and 21 different drivers competed in the series. For the first time, the series adopted a spec chassis supplied by Lola, who replaced Reynard as the series' chassis supplier.

Satoshi Motoyama of Team Impul won his third series championship, becoming only the third driver after Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Satoru Nakajima to win three or more championships in Japanese top formula racing. Motoyama also became the second driver to win both the Formula Nippon and All-Japan Grand Touring Car GT500 Championships in the same year.

Teams and drivers

All teams used tyres supplied by Bridgestone, Lola B03/51 chassis, and Mugen MF308 engines.

Team # Driver Rounds
PIAA Nakajima Racing 1 Takashi Kogure All
2 André Lotterer All
Olympic Kondo Racing Team 3 Yuji Tachikawa All
4 Dominik Schwager All
Team 5ZIGEN 5 Ryō Michigami All
6 Ryo Fukuda 1–5
James Courtney 7–10
Forum Engineering ARTA Team LeMans 7 Toshihiro Kaneishi All
8 Takeshi Tsuchiya All
Planex EBBRO Nova
Kacchao TCPRO Nova
Team Nova
Oizumi Team Nova 		9 Haruki Kurosawa All
10 Tetsuya Fujisawa 1–4
Yudai Igarashi 5–7
Hiroki Katoh 8–10
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo 11 Tsugio Matsuda All
12 Yuji Ide All
Team Impul 19 Satoshi Motoyama All
20 Benoît Tréluyer All
Team 22 22 Juichi Wakisaka All
Carrozzeria Team MOHN 28 Hideki Noda All
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 40 Richard Lyons All
41 Naoki Hattori All

Race calendar and results

All races were held in Japan.

Race Track Date Pole position Fastest race lap Winning driver Winning team
1 Suzuka Circuit 23 March Ryō Michigami Richard Lyons Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul
2 Fuji Speedway 6 April Satoshi Motoyama Takeshi Tsuchiya Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul
3 Mine Circuit 27 April Satoshi Motoyama Yuji Tachikawa Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul
4 Twin Ring Motegi 8 June Juichi Wakisaka Satoshi Motoyama Juichi Wakisaka Team 22
5 Suzuka Circuit 6 July Richard Lyons Satoshi Motoyama Richard Lyons DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing
6 Sportsland SUGO 27 July André Lotterer Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul
7 Fuji Speedway 31 August Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer Team Impul
8 Mine Circuit 21 September Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer Team Impul
9 Twin Ring Motegi 19 October Toshihiro Kaneishi Takeshi Tsuchiya Toshihiro Kaneishi Forum Engineering ARTA Team LeMans
10 Suzuka Circuit 2 November Satoshi Motoyama Richard Lyons Juichi Wakisaka Team 22
  • For Round 5, an 18-lap (104.526 km) sprint race set the grid for the main race. The sprint race winner Richard Lyons started from pole in the main race. Takeshi Tsuchiya set pole position for the sprint race.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Points 10 6 4 3 2 1
Rank Name SUZ FUJ MIN MOT SUZ SGO FUJ MIN MOT SUZ Points
1 Satoshi Motoyama 1 1 1 9 14 1 2 13 2 3 56
2 Benoît Tréluyer Ret 2 Ret NC 2 4 1 1 9 Ret 35
3 Juichi Wakisaka Ret 5 Ret 1 3 3 Ret 6 Ret 1 31
4 Toshihiro Kaneishi 3 8 5 7 Ret 8 Ret 2 1 Ret 22
5 André Lotterer 2 4 7 6 Ret 2 3 9 5 Ret 22
6 Richard Lyons 9 Ret Ret 3 1 5 Ret Ret 3 9 20
7 Yuji Ide 4 7 3 2 7 10 Ret 3 12 5 19
8 Takeshi Tsuchiya Ret NC 2 4 5 7 6 12 6 4 16
9 Ryō Michigami Ret 3 4 5 4 NC Ret NC 13 6 13
10 Takashi Kogure 12 6 Ret DNS 6 Ret Ret 14 4 2 11
11 Tsugio Matsuda 5 9 Ret Ret 15 6 5 5 14 Ret 7
12 James Courtney 4 7 Ret Ret 3
13 Naoki Hattori 8 Ret Ret 11 8 9 9 4 7 11 3
14 Hideki Noda 6 10 8 DNS 12 Ret Ret 10 Ret 10 1
15 Ryo Fukuda 7 Ret 6 Ret 13 1
16 Dominik Schwager Ret Ret Ret 8 9 11 7 8 10 8 0
17 Hiroki Katoh Ret 11 7 0
18 Yuji Tachikawa 10 12 10 Ret Ret NC Ret Ret 8 Ret 0
19 Haruki Kurosawa Ret Ret 9 10 11 Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret 0
20 Yudai Igarashi 10 12 Ret 0
21 Tetsuya Fujisawa 11 11 Ret 12 0

Teams' Championship

Rank Team Car SUZ FUJ MIN MOT SUZ SGO FUJ MIN MOT SUZ Points
1 Impul 19 1 1 1 9 14 1 2 13 2 3 91
20 Ret 2 Ret NC 2 4 1 1 9 Ret
2 Team LeMans 7 3 8 5 7 Ret 8 Ret 2 1 Ret 38
8 Ret NC 2 4 5 7 6 12 6 4
3 PIAA Nakajima 1 12 6 Ret DNS 6 Ret Ret 14 4 2 33
2 2 4 7 6 Ret 2 3 9 5 Ret
4 Team 22 22 Ret 5 Ret 1 3 3 Ret 6 Ret 1 31
5 Cosmo Oil Cerumo 11 5 9 Ret Ret 15 6 5 5 14 Ret 23
12 4 7 3 2 7 10 Ret 3 12 5
6 DoCoMo Dandelion 40 9 Ret Ret 3 1 5 Ret Ret 3 9 23
41 8 Ret Ret 11 8 9 9 4 7 11
7 5ZIGEN 5 Ret 3 4 5 4 NC Ret NC 13 6 17
6 7 Ret 6 Ret 13 4 7 Ret Ret
8 Team MOHN 28 6 10 8 DNS 12 Ret Ret 10 Ret 10 1
9 Team Nova 9 Ret Ret 9 10 11 Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret 0
10 11 11 Ret 12 10 12 Ret Ret 11 7
10 Kondo Racing Team 3 10 12 10 Ret Ret NC Ret Ret 8 Ret 0
4 Ret Ret Ret 8 9 11 7 8 10 8
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.