2006 Formula Nippon Championship

The 2006 Formula Nippon Championship was the thirty-fourth season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the eleventh under the Formula Nippon moniker. It was contested over nine rounds at five venues, with Autopolis returning to the calendar for the first time since 1992, replacing Miné Circuit. 12 teams and 25 drivers competed in the championship.

For the first time since 1997, multiple companies supplied engines to Formula Nippon teams, with Toyota and Honda each introducing new three-litre, naturally-aspirated V8 engines derived from their previous offerings in the IndyCar Series. Lola also introduced a new spec chassis, the B06/51 (aka FN06), to replace the previous B03/51 that had served the series since 2003.

Team Impul driver Benoît Tréluyer won his first series championship.

Teams and drivers

All teams used tyres supplied by Bridgestone and Lola B06/51 chassis.

Team	#	Driver	Engine	Rounds
arting Racing Team with Impul	1	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	Toyota RV8J	All
2	Japan Kazuki Hoshino	All
Kondo Racing	3	Japan Sakon Yamamoto	Toyota RV8J	1–3
Japan Seiji Ara	4–9
4	Japan Masataka Yanagida	All
Team Reckless 5ZIGEN Team 5ZIGEN M&O with Team 5ZIGEN	5	Japan Ryō Michigami	Honda HF386E	All
6	Japan Ryo Orime	1–8
Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira	9
Team LeMans	7	Japan Tatsuya Kataoka	Toyota RV8J	All
8	Japan Toranosuke Takagi	All
Team Cerumo Team Reckless Cerumo	11	Japan Yuji Tachikawa	Toyota RV8J	All
EMS Racing	17	Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka	Honda HF386E	5–9
mobilecast Team Impul	19	France Benoît Tréluyer	Toyota RV8J	All
20	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	All
DPR Direxiv	27	Japan Shogo Mitsuyama	Honda HF386E	1–4
PIAA Nakajima Racing	31	France Loïc Duval	Honda HF386E	All
32	Japan Hideki Mutoh	All
Team BOSS INGING Formula Nippon	33	Italy Ronnie Quintarelli	Toyota RV8J	All
34	Japan Naoki Yokomizo	All
DHG TOM'S Racing	36	Germany André Lotterer	Toyota RV8J	All
37	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	All
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing	40	Sweden Björn Wirdheim	Honda HF386E	All
41	Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka	1–3
Japan Yuji Ide	4–9
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	55	Japan Toshihiro Kaneishi	Honda HF386E	All
56	Japan Takashi Kogure	All

Race calendar and results

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	Fuji Speedway	2 April	France Benoît Tréluyer	Japan Masataka Yanagida	France Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
2	Suzuka Circuit	16 April	France Benoît Tréluyer	France Benoît Tréluyer	France Loïc Duval	PIAA Nakajima
3	Twin Ring Motegi	28 May	Japan Takashi Kogure	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	Germany André Lotterer	DHG TOM'S
4	Suzuka Circuit	9 July	France Benoît Tréluyer	France Benoît Tréluyer	France Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
5	Autopolis	6 August	Japan Takashi Kogure	France Loïc Duval	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	mobilecast IMPUL
6	Fuji Speedway	27 August	Japan Takashi Kogure	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	France Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
7	Sportsland SUGO	17 September	Japan Takashi Kogure	Japan Hideki Mutoh	France Loïc Duval	PIAA Nakajima
8	Twin Ring Motegi	22 October	Japan Takashi Kogure	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	France Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
9	Suzuka Circuit	19 November	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	France Benoît Tréluyer	Germany André Lotterer	DHG TOM'S

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

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

Rank	Name	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	SUZ	ATP	FUJ	SGO	MOT	SUZ	Points
1	France Benoît Tréluyer	1	3	2	1	7	1	2	1	Ret	51
2	Japan Tsugio Matsuda	2	9	5	2	1	7	3	2	2	37
3	Germany André Lotterer	8	5	1	5	8	2	Ret	Ret	1	30
4	France Loïc Duval	11	1	6	Ret	18	9	1	4	6	25
5	Japan Satoshi Motoyama	3	8	3	3	Ret	3	5	Ret	Ret	16
6	Sweden Björn Wirdheim	4	2	4	Ret	6	6	6	11	9	13.5
7	Japan Tatsuya Kataoka	13	7	Ret	6	3	Ret	9	3	3	13
8	Japan Yuji Tachikawa	12	Ret	10	4	4	5	7	5	Ret	10
9	Japan Toshihiro Kaneishi	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	4	Ret	Ret	7	9
10	Italy Ronnie Quintarelli	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	10	4	9	12	6
11	Japan Sakon Yamamoto	6	4	14							3.5
12	Japan Takashi Kogure	10	17	Ret	9	19	Ret	DSQ	Ret	4	3
13	Japan Takeshi Tsuchiya	9	10	Ret	7	9	Ret	8	8	5	2
14	Japan Hideki Mutoh	19	6	8	Ret	17	16	10	10	Ret	1
15	Japan Masataka Yanagida	7	Ret	9	13	13	12	Ret	6	13	1
16	Japan Ryō Michigami	20	18	7	Ret	11	15	12	Ret	11	0
17	Japan Naoki Yokomizo	14	13	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	11	7	Ret	0
18	Japan Toranosuke Takagi	22	16	11	8	16	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
19	Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira									8	0
20	Japan Seiji Ara				10	10	18	13	Ret	Ret	0
21	Japan Yuji Ide				12	12	11	Ret	Ret	10	0
22	Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka	17	11	Ret		15	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
23	Japan Ryo Orime	21	15	12	Ret	Ret	17	DSQ	12		0
24	Japan Shogo Mitsuyama	15	12	13	Ret						0
25	Japan Kazuki Hoshino	18	14	Ret	Ret	14	13	Ret	Ret	14	0

Note:

‡ Because of heavy rain at Fuji during the race, the event ended after two laps. Half points were awarded because of the stoppage before the 75% point.

Teams' Championship