2002 Formula Nippon Championship

The 2002 Formula Nippon Championship was the thirtieth season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the seventh under the Formula Nippon moniker. The series was contested over 10 rounds at five venues. 11 different teams and 22 different drivers completed in the series.

Reynard became the sole supplier of chassis to all teams after the withdrawal of G-Force Technologies, but this would only last one season after the company declared bankruptcy in February 2002.

Nakajima Racing driver Ralph Firman won the series championship before moving to Formula One in 2003.

Teams and drivers

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

Team	#	Driver	Chassis	Rounds
Xbox Team Impul	1	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Reynard 01L	All
2	Germany Michael Krumm	Reynard 99L	1–2
Olympic Kondo Racing Team	3	Japan Seiji Ara	Reynard 99L	All
4	Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi	Reynard 99L Reynard 2KL	All
Team 5ZIGEN	5	Japan Naoki Hattori	Reynard 01L	All
6	Japan Ryō Michigami	1–2, 5–10
Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	3–4
Team LeMans	7	Japan Masami Kageyama	Reynard 99L Reynard 01L	1–2
Germany Dominik Schwager	3–10
8	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	Reynard 01L	All
Soft On Demand Team Nova Forward Team Nova	9	Japan Kiyoto Yamamoto	Reynard 99L	All
10	Japan Haruki Kurosawa	All
Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	11	France Benoît Tréluyer	Reynard 99L Reynard 01L	1–5
Japan Yuji Tachikawa	6–10
Mooncraft	14	Japan Yudai Igarashi	Reynard 01L	All
Team 22	22	Japan Daisuke Itō	Reynard 99L	All
PIAA Nakajima Racing	31	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Reynard 01L	All
32	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Reynard 99L Reynard 01L	All
56	Japan Toshihiro Kaneishi	Reynard 01L	All
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	68	France Jonathan Cochet	Reynard 2KL	1–2
United Kingdom Richard Lyons	3–10

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	24 March	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	PIAA Nakajima Racing
2	Fuji Speedway	7 April	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Japan Naoki Hattori	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Xbox Team Impul
3	Mine Circuit	19 May	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Xbox Team Impul
4	Suzuka-East Circuit	7 July	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	PIAA Nakajima Racing
5	Twin Ring Motegi	21 July	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Xbox Team Impul
6	Sportsland SUGO	4 August	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	Japan Naoki Hattori	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	PIAA Nakajima Racing
7	Fuji Speedway	1 September	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	Japan Ryō Michigami	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri
8	Mine Circuit	22 September	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Xbox Team Impul
9	Twin Ring Motegi	20 October	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	PIAA Nakajima Racing
10	Suzuka Circuit	3 November	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	Japan Ryō Michigami	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Xbox Team Impul

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

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

Rank	Name	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	MOT	SGO	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ	Points
1	Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jr.	1	2	Ret	1	9	1	2	2	1	3	62
2	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Ret	1	1	5	1	Ret	3	1	3	1	60
3	Japan Juichi Wakisaka	5	3	Ret	3	3	Ret	1	8	2	4	33
4	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	2	6	3	Ret	2	4	Ret	7	6	2	27
5	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	3	10	2	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	4	4	6	19
6	Japan Ryō Michigami	4	DNS			4	3	4	3	12	11	17
7	Japan Toshihiro Kaneishi	Ret	Ret	4	6	5	6	5	5	Ret	7	11
8	Japan Naoki Hattori	6	Ret	Ret	4	6	12	6	6	8	5	9
9	Japan Hidetoshi Mitsusada			5	2							8
10	United Kingdom Richard Lyons			7	8	11	2	7	Ret	7	Ret	6
11	Japan Seiji Ara	8	4	9	10	Ret	Ret	NC	9	11	10	3
12	Japan Haruki Kurosawa	9	5	Ret	Ret	12	10	12	Ret	Ret	12	2
13	Germany Dominik Schwager			Ret	11	Ret	8	9	10	5	Ret	2
14	France Benoît Tréluyer	11	Ret	6	7	7						1
15	Germany Michael Krumm	7	7									0
16	Japan Yudai Igarashi	Ret	Ret	11	13	10	7	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	0
17	Japan Daisuke Itō	10	9	10	9	8	9	8	11	10	8	0
18	Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi	12	Ret	8	12	Ret	11	10	12	14	9	0
19	France Jonathan Cochet	13	8									0
20	Japan Yuji Tachikawa						Ret	11	Ret	9	Ret	0
21	Japan Kiyoto Yamamoto	15	11	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	DNS	15	13	0
22	Japan Masami Kageyama	Ret	Ret									0

Teams' Championship