1998 Formula Nippon Championship

The 1998 Formula Nippon Championship was scheduled over 10 rounds and contested over 9 rounds. 14 different teams, 29 different drivers, 3 different chassis and only 1 engine competed. Each round saw a Special Stage after the original qualifying. The best six qualifiers had to compete in a separate session for the pole.

Teams and drivers[edit]

Team	#	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Shionogi Team Nova	1	Masami Kageyama	Lola T97/51	Mugen MF308	All
Shionogi Team Nova	2	Ralph Firman	Lola T96/51	Mugen MF308	All
Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Atsushi Kawamoto	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Marc Goossens	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
Team 5ZIGEN	6	Shigekazu Wakisaka	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
LEMONed Racing Team LeMans	7	Norberto Fontana	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
LEMONed Racing Team LeMans	8	Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	Hideki Noda	Lola T98/51	Mugen MF308	All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	12	Akira Iida	Lola T96/52	Mugen MF308	3–10
Jaccs Mooncraft M.S.P	14	Ryo Michigami	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
Team TMS	17	Masahiko Kondo	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	All
	18	Tsuyoshi Takahashi			1–2
	18	Yuji Tachikawa			3–10
Maziora Team Impul	19	Takuya Kurosawa	Lola T98/51	Mugen MF308	All
Maziora Team Impul	20	Masahiko Kageyama	Lola T96/52	Mugen MF308	All
Be Brides Racing	21	Tetsuya Tanaka	Lola T95/50	Mugen MF308	All
Be Brides Racing	22	Akira Ishikawa	Lola T96/52	Mugen MF308	All
Kyoetsu Stellar Stellar International	35	Tokiyasu Soda	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	1
Kyoetsu Stellar Stellar International	35	Dilantha Malagamuwa	Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	7–9
Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Lola T96/51	Mugen MF308	All
Takagi B-1 Racing	37	Masao Yamada^[1]	Lola T95/50 Lola T94/50	Mugen MF308	2–5
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Katsutomo Kaneishi	Lola T98/51	Mugen MF308	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	56	Juichi Wakisaka	Lola T97/51	Mugen MF308	All
Team LeyJun	62	Shinsuke Shibahara	Reynard 95D Reynard 96D	Mugen MF308	All
	63	"Osamu"	Reynard 95D Reynard 97D		1, 4–10
	63	Taichiro Oonishi	Reynard 95D Reynard 97D		2–3
PIAA Nakajima Racing	64	Koji Yamanishi	Reynard 97D	Mugen MF308	1–4, 6–10
	64	Tsugio Matsuda			5
	65	Tom Coronel			All

^ Masao Yamada passed away from a subarachnoid hemorrhage on 12 July, 1998.^[1]

Calendar[edit]

Race No	Track	Country	Date	Laps	Distance	Time	Speed	Winner	Pole Position	Fastest Race Lap
1	Suzuka	Japan	19 April 1998	35	5.864=205.241 km	1'04:11.637	191.832 km/h	Masahiko Kageyama	Ralph Firman, Jr. (ss) Juichi Wakisaka (fq)	Tom Coronel
2	Mine	Japan	17 May 1998	62	3.239=200.818 km	1'20:35.683	149.502 km/h	Satoshi Motoyama	Juichi Wakisaka	Satoshi Motoyama
3	Fuji	Japan	31 May 1998	45	4.470=201.15 km	1'00:28.148	199.589 km/h	Satoshi Motoyama	Satoshi Motoyama (ss) Norberto Fontana (fq)	Katsutomo Kaneishi
4	Motegi	Japan	14 June 1998	43	4.796=206.228 km	1'20:19.652	154.040 km/h	Juichi Wakisaka	Norberto Fontana (ss) Hideki Noda (fq)	Hideki Noda
5	Suzuka	Japan	5 July 1998	35	5.864=205.241 km	1'04:46.239	190.124 km/h	Masahiko Kageyama	Masahiko Kageyama	Juichi Wakisaka
6	Sugo	Japan	2 August 1998	54	3.704=200.016 km	1'34:08.018	127.489 km/h	Masami Kageyama	Masami Kageyama (ss) Masahiko Kageyama (fq)	Masami Kageyama
7	Fuji	Japan	30 August 1998	cancelled due to bad weather conditions
8	Mine	Japan	20 September 1998	62	3.239=200.818 km	1'21:54.617	147.101 km/h	Satoshi Motoyama	Hideki Noda	Satoshi Motoyama
9	Fuji	Japan	18 October 1998	45	4.470=201.15 km	1'46:45.819	113.044 km/h	Norberto Fontana	Masami Kageyama	Hideki Noda
10	Suzuka	Japan	29 November 1998	35	5.864=205.241 km	1'03:42.152	193.312 km/h	Masami Kageyama	Satoshi Motoyama	Masami Kageyama

Race 7 no special stage held due to bad weather conditions

(ss) indicate the winner of the special stage, who started from pole - (fq) indicate the original fastest qualifier. In all other races, the fastest qualifier was also the winner of the special stage.

Championship standings[edit]

Drivers' Championship[edit]

Scoring system

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Points	10	6	4	3	2	1

Rank	Name	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	Points
1	Satoshi Motoyama	Ret	1	1	2	Ret	4	C	1	2	Ret	45
2	Masami Kageyama	2	10	Ret	3	3	1	C	6	4	1	38
3	Juichi Wakisaka	Ret	2	Ret	1	4	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	2	25
4	Norberto Fontana	3	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	2	1	8	21
5	Masahiko Kageyama	1	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	6	21
6	Marc Goossens	6	4	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	C	3	Ret	4	17
7	Katsutomo Kaneishi	4	5	2	Ret	Ret	7	C	5	10	Ret	13
8	Ralph Firman	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	C	4	3	7	13
9	Ryo Michigami	7	3	4	9	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	3	11
10	Hideki Noda	5	Ret	5	6	Ret	3	C	Ret	9	Ret	9
11	Tom Coronel	8	6	Ret	4	5	5	C	Ret	Ret	14	8
12	Takuya Kurosawa	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	5	6
13	Yuji Tachikawa			9	5	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	9	2
14	Akira Iida			8	Ret	Ret	9	C	Ret	5	12	2
15	Tsugio Matsuda					6						1
16	Koji Yamanishi	Ret	7	Ret	Ret		6	C	Ret	Ret	11	1
17	Tetsuya Tanaka	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	11	C	Ret	6	16	1
18	Masahiko Kondo	9	8	11	10	7	8	C	7	7	Ret	0
19	Shigekazu Wakisaka	10	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	10	0
20	Akira Ishikawa	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	9	10	C	Ret	8	15	0
21	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Ret	11	14	13	Ret	Ret	C	8	Ret	17	0
22	"Osamu"	13			Ret	Ret	13	C	9	Ret	18	0
23	Atsushi Kawamoto	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	13	0
24	Shinsuke Shibahara	11	Ret	12	12	Ret	Ret	C	10	Ret	Ret	0
25	Dilantha Malagamuwa							C	Ret	12		0
26	Taichiro Oonishi		Ret	13								0
27	Tsuyoshi Takahashi	14	Ret									0
28	Masao Yamada		Ret	15	Ret	DNQ						0
29	Tokiyasu Soda	Ret										0

Teams' Championship[edit]

Rank	Name	Car	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	Points
1	LEMONed LeMans	7	3	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	2	1	8	66
1	LEMONed LeMans	8	Ret	1	1	2	Ret	4	C	1	2	Ret	66
2	Shionogi Nova	1	2	10	Ret	3	3	1	C	6	4	1	51
2	Shionogi Nova	2	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	C	4	3	7	51
3	ARTA	55	4	5	2	Ret	Ret	7	C	5	10	Ret	38
3	ARTA	56	Ret	2	Ret	1	4	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	2	38
4	Maziora Impul	19	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	5	27
4	Maziora Impul	20	1	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	6	27
5	5ZIGEN	5	6	4	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	C	3	Ret	4	14
5	5ZIGEN	6	10	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	10	14
6	Jaccs Mooncraft	14	7	3	4	9	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	3	14
7	Cosmo Oil Cerumo	11	5	Ret	5	6	Ret	3	C	Ret	9	Ret	11
7	Cosmo Oil Cerumo	12			8	Ret	Ret	9	C	Ret	5	12	11
8	PIAA Nakajima	64	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	6	6	C	Ret	Ret	11	10
8	PIAA Nakajima	65	8	6	Ret	4	5	5	C	Ret	Ret	14	10
9	Team TMS	17	9	8	11	10	7	8	C	7	7	Ret	2
9	Team TMS	18	14	Ret	9	5	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	9	2
10	Be Brides	21	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	11	C	Ret	6	16	1
10	Be Brides	22	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	9	10	C	Ret	8	15	1
11	Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	13	0
12	Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Ret	11	14	13	Ret	Ret	C	8	Ret	17	0
12	Takagi B-1 Racing	37		Ret	15	Ret	DNQ						0
13	Team LeyJun	62	11	Ret	12	12	Ret	Ret	C	10	Ret	Ret	0
13	Team LeyJun	63	13	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	13	C	9	Ret	18	0
14	Kyoetsu Stellar Stellar International	35	Ret						C	Ret	12		0

References[edit]

^ "FN_NEWS:訃報:山田政夫選手急逝". モータースポーツフォーラム (in Japanese). 1998-07-13. Retrieved 2020-12-08.

External links[edit]

1998 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon

[1] "FN_NEWS:訃報:山田政夫選手急逝". モータースポーツフォーラム (in Japanese). 1998-07-13. Retrieved 2020-12-08.

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