2009 Formula Challenge Japan

The 2009 Formula Challenge Japan was a multi-event motor racing championship for open-wheel formula racing cars, and the fourth season of the Formula Challenge Japan racing series, a young driver development series jointly supported by Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. The championship featured a mix of manufacturer-affiliated drivers and independent entries, and commenced on 4 April and ended on 27 September.[1][2] All championship rounds were run in support of the Formula Nippon Championship.

Honda Formula Dream Project driver Kazuki Miura [ja] won the championship in his second year in the series, taking four consecutive race victories to claim the title over Nissan-supported Daiki Sasaki. All race winners - Miura, Sasaki, third-placed finisher Naoya Gamou, and his Honda stablemates Makoto Kanai and Tsubasa Mekaru - won both races of their winning race weekends, with the first round at Fuji Speedway being the only round to have two different race winners.

Teams and drivers

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All drivers competed in identical Tatuus FC106 chassis powered by Nismo-maintained Renault F4R engines. The entry list originally consisted of 27 entries, but would drop to 18 entries, largely due to the repercussions of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis in Japan.[3]

Team No. Driver Rounds
FTRS RAJAS FCJ
Takagi Planning FTRS
FTRS Team NATS [ja]
FTRS Scholarship
1   Yūichi Nakayama All
2   Kazuya Ishii All
3   Makoto Kanai All
5   Tsubasa Mekaru 1–12
6   Tobio Ohtani All
16   Naoya Gamou All
18   Ryō Ohtani All
NDDP Autobacs FCJ
NDDP Provile FCJ
NDDP Azillion FCJ
NDDP FCJ
4   Daiki Sasaki All
12   Takeshi Matsumoto All
14   Shōgo Suzuki All
15   Tatsuya Hattori All
Avanzza × BOMEX 6   Igor Sushko All
Nichiryo 7   Kazusa Ōuchi All
HFDP/SRS-F/ARTA
HFDP/SRS-F Scholarship
8   Tomoki Nojiri All
11   Ryōji Motojima All
18   Kazuki Miura [ja] All
Dragon Knight 10   Zhu Daiwei All
Project KK 13   Kazuki Kawamura All
Source[2]

Race calendar and results

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All races were held in Japan in support of Formula Nippon.

Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver
1 Fuji Speedway, Oyama 4 April   Naoya Gamou   Daiki Sasaki   Daiki Sasaki
2 5 April   Daiki Sasaki   Tsubasa Mekaru   Naoya Gamou
3 Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka 16 May   Tomoki Nojiri   Tomoki Nojiri   Makoto Kanai
4 17 May   Takeshi Matsumoto   Tomoki Nojiri   Makoto Kanai
5 Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi 30 May   Daiki Sasaki   Daiki Sasaki   Daiki Sasaki
6 31 May   Daiki Sasaki   Tomoki Nojiri   Daiki Sasaki
7 Fuji Speedway, Oyama 27 June   Tsubasa Mekaru   Tsubasa Mekaru   Kazuki Miura
8 28 June   Tsubasa Mekaru   Kazuya Ishii   Kazuki Miura
9 Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka 11 July   Kazuki Miura   Kazuki Miura   Kazuki Miura
10 12 July   Kazuki Miura   Kazuki Miura   Kazuki Miura
11 Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi 8 August   Kazuki Miura   Kazuya Ishii   Tsubasa Mekaru
12 9 August   Kazuki Miura   Daiki Sasaki   Tsubasa Mekaru
13 Sportsland SUGO, Murata 26 September   Naoya Gamou   Yūichi Nakayama   Naoya Gamou
14 27 September   Naoya Gamou   Yūichi Nakayama   Naoya Gamou

Championship standings

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Drivers' Championship

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Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers, with one point awarded for pole position and fastest lap respectively.

1 2 3 4 5 6 PP FL
10 7 5 3 2 1 1 1
Pos. Driver FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT SUG Points
1   Kazuki Miura 9 5 5 9 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 3 6 6 76
2   Daiki Sasaki 1 4 6 4 1 1 2 6 3 4 6 4 5 3 70
3   Naoya Gamou 2 1 2 12 3 10 8 4 4 3 5 7 1 1 65
4   Yūichi Nakayama 3 3 14 Ret 6 7 3 2 11 5 18 8 2 2 41
5   Tomoki Nojiri 12 18 3 3 7 Ret 7 11 2 2 4 10 3 4 39
6   Makoto Kanai 8 6 1 1 9 2 12 5 5 6 8 5 7 7 35
7   Tsubasa Mekaru Ret 17 17 10 5 5 11 15 6 16 1 1 29
8   Kazuya Ishii Ret 2 7 Ret 11 11 10 13 7 8 3 2 13 Ret 21
9   Takeshi Matsumoto 6 8 4 2 10 4 4 7 15 17 9 17 4 13 21
10   Ryō Ohtani 5 9 11 5 13 9 5 3 13 9 7 6 8 5 14
11   Tobio Ohtani 13 12 8 7 4 6 6 8 8 7 13 9 11 9 5
12   Kazuki Kawamura 4 7 18 Ret 17 Ret 15 16 Ret 10 11 14 10 12 3
13   Zhu Daiwei 7 10 15 6 8 8 Ret 12 17 11 15 12 12 14 1
-   Shōgo Suzuki 16 11 10 8 Ret 15 13 14 14 12 10 11 15 8 0
-   Tatsuya Hattori 10 16 12 Ret 16 16 9 9 10 18 16 13 9 10 0
-   Ryōji Motojima 11 13 9 13 12 13 Ret 10 9 15 12 Ret Ret 15 0
-   Kazusa Ōuchi 14 15 16 11 15 14 16 17 16 13 17 16 14 11 0
-   Igor Sushko 15 14 13 Ret 14 12 14 18 12 14 14 15 Ret 16 0
Pos. Driver FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT SUG Points
Key
Colour Result
Gold Race winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
Excluded (EX)
White Did not start (DNS)
Race cancelled (C)
Withdrew (WD)
Blank Did not participate

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

References

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  1. ^ "2009 Formula Challenge Japan - rounds". Super Formula | Formula Challenge Japan official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  2. ^ a b "2009 Formula Challenge Japan - Rd. 9 Result". Super Formula | Formula Challenge Japan official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  3. ^ Ōuchi, Kazusa (13 March 2009). "18人". Kazusaのブログ (in Japanese). Ameba.jp. Retrieved 4 January 2024.