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Wikipedia / 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 NovaKacchao TCPRO NovaTeam NovaOizumi 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 (104.526km) 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

  1. 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