1998 Formula Nippon Championship

1998 Formula Nippon Championship

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1997

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1999

Related series:
1998 International Formula 3000 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 in the series. 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

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

^ Masao Yamada died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage on 12 July 1998.

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	19 April	Template:Flagicon Ralph Firman	Template:Flagicon Tom Coronel	Template:Flagicon Masahiko Kageyama	Maziora Team Impul
2	Mine Circuit	17 May	Template:Flagicon Juichi Wakisaka	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	LEMONed Racing Team LeMans
3	Fuji Speedway	31 May	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	Template:Flagicon Katsutomo Kaneishi	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	LEMONed Racing Team LeMans
4	Twin Ring Motegi	14 June	Template:Flagicon Norberto Fontana	Template:Flagicon Hideki Noda	Template:Flagicon Juichi Wakisaka	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri
5	Suzuka Circuit	5 July	Template:Flagicon Masahiko Kageyama	Template:Flagicon Juichi Wakisaka	Template:Flagicon Masahiko Kageyama	Maziora Team Impul
6	Sportsland SUGO	2 August	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama	Shionogi Team Nova
7	Fuji Speedway	30 August	Template:Flagicon Takuya Kurosawa	Race cancelled
8	Mine Circuit	20 September	Template:Flagicon Hideki Noda	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	LEMONed Racing Team LeMans
9	Fuji Speedway	18 October	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama	Template:Flagicon Hideki Noda	Template:Flagicon Norberto Fontana	LEMONed Racing Team LeMans
10	Suzuka Circuit	29 November	Template:Flagicon Satoshi Motoyama	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama	Template:Flagicon Masami Kageyama	Shionogi Team Nova

Race 7 was not held due to bad weather conditions

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

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

Teams' Championship

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
		8	Ret	1	1	2	Ret	4	C	1	2	Ret
2	Shionogi Nova	1	2	10	Ret	3	3	1	C	6	4	1	51
		2	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	C	4	3	7
3	ARTA	55	4	5	2	Ret	Ret	7	C	5	10	Ret	38
		56	Ret	2	Ret	1	4	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	2
4	Maziora Impul	19	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	5	27
		20	1	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	6
5	5ZIGEN	5	6	4	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	C	3	Ret	4	14
		6	10	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	10
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
		12			8	Ret	Ret	9	C	Ret	5	12
8	PIAA Nakajima	64	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	6	6	C	Ret	Ret	11	10
		65	8	6	Ret	4	5	5	C	Ret	Ret	14
9	Team TMS	17	9	8	11	10	7	8	C	7	7	Ret	2
		18	14	Ret	9	5	Ret	Ret	C	Ret	Ret	9
10	Be Brides	21	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	11	C	Ret	6	16	1
		22	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	9	10	C	Ret	8	15
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
		37		Ret	15	Ret	DNQ
13	Team LeyJun	62	11	Ret	12	12	Ret	Ret	C	10	Ret	Ret	0
		63	13	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	13	C	9	Ret	18
14	Kyoetsu Stellar Stellar International	35	Ret						C	Ret	12		0

External links

• 1998 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon