2010 Formula Nippon season

2010 Formula Nippon season
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The 2010 Formula Nippon season was the 24th season of the premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing series. The series for Formula Nippon racing cars was contested over eight races at seven rounds, beginning on April 18 at Suzuka and ending at the same venue on November 7. A non-championship meeting at Fuji Speedway completed the season's racing a week later.

Having missed the 2009 season to focus on his Super GT commitments, João Paulo de Oliveira returned to the series and claimed his first championship title since winning the 2005 All-Japan Formula Three Championship. Team Impul's de Oliveira had held the championship lead by a point over TOM'S driver André Lotterer before the final double-header round at Suzuka, but de Oliveira's victory – his second victory after a win at Twin Ring Motegi – and fourth against Lotterer's second and a third, de Oliveira won the championship by 4.5 points. As well as his win at Autopolis, Lotterer won both non-championship races at Fuji.

Third place was disputed by reigning champion Loïc Duval, who had moved from Nakajima Racing to Docomo Team Dandelion Racing over the off-season, and his former Nakajima team-mate Takashi Kogure, which was resolved in favour of Duval by 1.5 points; both drivers' championship chances had been stunted by no points at Autopolis, as Duval failed to start and Kogure retired from the race. Duval did tie with de Oliveira for most victories during the season with two – Motegi and Suzuka – while Kogure won the season-opening race at Suzuka. De Oliveira's team-mate Kohei Hirate finished the season fifth with a victory at Fuji, ahead of the season's other race-winner Kazuya Oshima of the TOM's team.

Contents

Teams and drivers

Team # Driver Engine Rounds
Docomo Team
Dandelion Racing		 1 Loïc Duval[1] Honda HR10E All *
2 Takuya Izawa[1] All *
Kondo Racing 3 Tsugio Matsuda[2] Toyota RV8K 4–7 *
Team LeMans 7 Kei Cozzolino[2] Toyota RV8K All *
8 Hiroaki Ishiura[2] All *
HFDP Racing 10 Koudai Tsukakoshi[1] Honda HR10E All *
Motul Team 16 Yuji Ide[2] Honda HR10E All *
KCMG 18 Katsuyuki Hiranaka[2] Toyota RV8K All *
Team Impul 19 João Paulo de Oliveira[2] Toyota RV8K All *
20 Kohei Hirate[2] All *
Deliziefollie/Cerumo-Inging 29 Takuto Iguchi[2] Toyota RV8K All *
Nakajima Racing 31 Naoki Yamamoto[1] Honda HR10E All *
32 Takashi Kogure[1] All *
Petronas Team TOM'S 36 André Lotterer[2] Toyota RV8K All *
37 Kazuya Oshima[2] All *

* Drivers who participated in the non-championship round at Fuji Speedway.

Race calendar and results

Round Circuit Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver Winning Team
1 Suzuka Circuit April 18 Takashi Kogure Kohei Hirate Takashi Kogure Nakajima Racing
2 Twin Ring Motegi May 23 João Paulo de Oliveira João Paulo de Oliveira João Paulo de Oliveira Team Impul
3 Fuji Speedway July 18 Loïc Duval Kohei Hirate Kohei Hirate Team Impul
4 Twin Ring Motegi August 8 Takashi Kogure João Paulo de Oliveira Loïc Duval Dandelion Racing
5 Sportsland SUGO September 26 Loïc Duval André Lotterer Kazuya Oshima Petronas Team TOM'S
6 Autopolis October 17 Kazuya Oshima Kei Cozzolino André Lotterer Petronas Team TOM'S
7 Suzuka Circuit November 7 Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Dandelion Racing
João Paulo de Oliveira Takashi Kogure João Paulo de Oliveira Team Impul
NC Fuji Speedway
(Fuji Sprint Cup)		 November 13 Kei Cozzolino André Lotterer André Lotterer Petronas Team TOM'S
November 14 André Lotterer André Lotterer André Lotterer Petronas Team TOM'S

Championship standings

Pos Driver SUZ
 MOT
 FUJ
 MOT
 SUG
 AUT
 SUZ †
 FUJ ‡
 Points
1 João Paulo de Oliveira 2 1 3 6 11 2 4 1 10 DSQ 47.5
2 André Lotterer 3 3 2 Ret 3 1 3 2 1 1 43
3 Loïc Duval 6 4 14 1 2 DNS 1 4 Ret 5 39.5
4 Takashi Kogure 1 6 5 2 5 Ret 2 3 6 DSQ 38
5 Kohei Hirate 4 7 1 3 12 8 9 6 5 6 25.5
6 Kazuya Oshima 12 8 4 5 1 DNS 5 7 2 8 24
7 Naoki Yamamoto 7 5 7 4 Ret 5 6 5 8 2 20.5
8 Hiroaki Ishiura 10 Ret 6 8 4 3 7 10 13 12 16
9 Koudai Tsukakoshi 8 2 11 10 Ret DSQ 10 12 3 7 9
10 Kei Cozzolino Ret 10 8 13 7 4 13 14 9 Ret 8
11 Takuya Izawa 5 11 9 11 6 DNS 11 11 7 4 7
12 Katsuyuki Hiranaka Ret DNS 13 7 Ret 7 12 13 12 11 4
13 Takuto Iguchi 11 Ret 12 12 10 6 15 Ret 14 9 3
14 Yuji Ide 9 9 10 9 9 DNS 8 8 4 3 1
15 Tsugio Matsuda Ret 8 Ret 14 9 11 10 1
Pos Driver SUZ
 MOT
 FUJ
 MOT
 SUG
 AUT
 SUZ †
 FUJ ‡
 Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Finished, in points
Blue Finished, no points
Not classified (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
Round Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Pole
1–6 Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 1
7† 8 4 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 1

† Round with two races and points scoring system for each race.
‡ Non-championship round, with no points awarded.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "2010年Hondaモータースポーツ活動の概要" (in Japanese). honda.co.jp (Honda). 2010-02-19. http://www.honda.co.jp/news/2010/c100219.html. Retrieved 2010-02-20. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "2010年エントリーリスト" (in Japanese). Formula Nippon (Japan Race Promotion Co. Ltd.). 2010-03-07. http://www.f-nippon.co.jp/fn/fnap/app/NList02.dll/?No=NS013884. Retrieved 2010-03-07. 

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