1999 Formula Nippon Championship

The 1999 Formula Nippon Championship was the twenty-seventh season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the fourth under the Formula Nippon name and Japan Race Promotion (JRP) management. The series was contested over ten rounds at five venues. 14 different teams, 26 different drivers, and three different chassis suppliers competed in the championship. Nakajima Racing driver Tom Coronel won the championship in his second season.

The series introduced the Exciting Point championship in 1999, which awarded points to drivers for setting the fastest laps of the race, running in the top six at each quarter of the race, and improving position throughout the race.

Teams and drivers

All teams used tyres supplied by Bridgestone and Mugen MF308 engines.

Team	#	Driver	Chassis	Rounds
Unlimited Racing Team LeMans	1	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 99L	All
2	Japan Koji Yamanishi	All
Asahi Kiko Sports	3	Japan Atsushi Kawamoto	Reynard 99L	All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Japan Shigekazu Wakisaka	Reynard 99L	1–3
Japan Tetsuya Tanaka	5–10
6	Japan Tetsuya Tanaka	1
Germany Michael Krumm	2–10
Shionogi Team Nova	9	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	G-Force GF03B	All
10	Japan Hiroki Katoh	All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	Japan Yuji Tachikawa	Reynard 99L	All
12	Japan Akira Iida	All
Speedmaster Mooncraft	14	Japan Ryō Michigami	Lola B99/51	All
15	Japan Masahiko Kageyama	All
Team TMS	17	Germany Dominik Schwager	Lola B99/51	1–6
18	Japan Takuya Kurosawa	1–6
Be Brides Team Impul	19	Japan Masami Kageyama	Lola B99/51 Reynard 99L	All
20	Japan Hideki Noda	All
Mirai	32	Japan Masahiko Kondo	Lola B99/51	1–3
Takagi B-1 Racing	36	Japan Tetsuji Tamanaka	Lola B99/51 Reynard 99L	1, 3–10
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi	Lola B99/51 Reynard 99L	All
56	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	All
Team LeyJun	62	United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck	Reynard 99L	All
63	Japan "Osamu"	Reynard 99L Lola B99/51	1–3
Japan Shinsuke Shibahara	6–10
PIAA Nakajima Racing	64	Netherlands Tom Coronel	Reynard 99L	All
65	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	All
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	68	Argentina Rubén Derfler	Reynard 99L	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	18 April	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Unlimited Racing Team LeMans
2	Twin Ring Motegi	9 May	Netherlands Tom Coronel	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	PIAA Nakajima Racing
3	Mine Circuit	23 May	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Unlimited Racing Team LeMans
4	Fuji Speedway	6 June	United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck	Japan Koji Yamanishi	Netherlands Tom Coronel	PIAA Nakajima Racing
5	Suzuka Circuit	4 July	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Netherlands Tom Coronel	Japan Masami Kageyama	Be Brides Team Impul
6	Sportsland SUGO	1 August	Netherlands Tom Coronel	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Netherlands Tom Coronel	PIAA Nakajima Racing
7	Fuji Speedway	5 September	Netherlands Tom Coronel	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Netherlands Tom Coronel	PIAA Nakajima Racing
8	Mine Circuit	19 September	Netherlands Tom Coronel	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	PIAA Nakajima Racing
9	Twin Ring Motegi	3 October	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Japan Hideki Noda	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Unlimited Racing Team LeMans
10	Suzuka-East Circuit	14 November	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Japan Yuji Tachikawa	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Shionogi Team Nova

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

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

Rank	Name	SUZ	MOT	MIN	FUJ	SUZ	SGO	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ	Points
1	Netherlands Tom Coronel	2	Ret	3	1	2	1	1	Ret	3	Ret	50
2	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	1	2	1	Ret	Ret	2	3	Ret	1	Ret	46
3	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	3	1	8	10	5	11	4	1	5	9	31
4	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Ret	3	2	9	Ret	6	10	9	8	1	21
5	Germany Michael Krumm		5	Ret	3	11	4	9	4	Ret	2	19
6	Japan Masami Kageyama	Ret	Ret	6	12	1	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	4	17
7	United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck	4	6	5	2	Ret	Ret	5	5	10	10	16
8	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Ret	15	10	Ret	9	5	2	3	11	3	16
9	Japan Takuya Kurosawa	Ret	Ret	12	5	3	3					10
10	Japan Ryō Michigami	6	8	7	8	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	2	5	9
11	Japan Hideki Noda	Ret	16	13	14	6	Ret	Ret	2	9	11	7
12	Japan Koji Yamanishi	DNS	DNS	4	4	8	9	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	6
13	Japan Yuji Tachikawa	5	4	Ret	7	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	8	6
14	Japan Tetsuya Tanaka	Ret				4	Ret	11	Ret	14	Ret	3
15	Germany Dominik Schwager	Ret	7	Ret	6	Ret	7					1
16	Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi	9	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	8	6	Ret	Ret	7	1
17	Japan Masahiko Kageyama	Ret	12	Ret	13	Ret	13	Ret	6	12	13	1
18	Japan Hiroki Katoh	Ret	10	Ret	15	10	12	12	Ret	7	6	1
19	Japan Atsushi Kawamoto	8	Ret	11	18	13	Ret	13	7	Ret	16	0
20	Japan Akira Iida	7	Ret	Ret	16	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	13	12	0
21	Japan Shinsuke Shibahara						Ret	Ret	8	15	14	0
22	Argentina Rubén Derfler	Ret	11	9	17	12	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	15	0
23	Japan Shigekazu Wakisaka	Ret	9	Ret								0
24	Japan Tetsuji Tamanaka	Ret		14	19	14	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	17	0
25	Japan Masahiko Kondo	Ret	13	Ret								0
26	Japan "Osamu"	Ret	14	Ret								0

Teams' Championship