2010 Formula Challenge Japan

2010 Formula Challenge Japan

Drivers' champion: Yūichi Nakayama

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The 2010 Formula Challenge Japan was a multi-event motor racing championship for open-wheel formula racing cars, and the fifth 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 22 May and ended on 7 November. Four race weekends were run in support of Formula Nippon, with the October round at Suzuka being held in support of the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix.

Toyota junior driver Yūichi Nakayama dominated the championship, taking pole position in every qualifying session and winning ten of the twelve races on the calendar to complete the most successful campaign in series history. Nissan-supported Takamitsu Matsui finished the season as runner-up with one race win, having scored less than half of Nakayama's total points, ahead of top-placed rookie and Honda junior Kazuki Hiramine. Honda stablemate Yūya Motojima claimed the remaining race victory.

Teams and drivers

Team No. Driver Rounds TDP Scholarship TMC FCJ 1 Yūichi Nakayama All 6 Ryōsuke Kagami All HFDP/SRS-F/ARTA/Kotira R HFDP/SRS Scholarship/Kotira R 2 Tomoki Nojiri All 7 Kazuki Hiramine All 18 Masashi Nakamura All 19 Yūya Motojima All Dragon Knight 3 Zhu Huan All Clarion FCJ 4 Ryō Hirakawa All R.Houka Racing 5 Ryō Ogawa All Winds Garage 8 Kei Yamaura All K-office FCJ 9 Syunsuke Matsuzaki All Luck 10 Takamoto Katsuta All MediaDo FCJ 11 Ryōta Tateishi All NDDP FCJ NDDP Maruso FCJ 12 Mitsunori Takaboshi All 13 Zhu Daiwei All 20 Takamitsu Matsui All 21 Tsubasa Kondō All Biltmore 14 Tobio Ohtani All Yagura Animal Hospital 15 Yūki Shiraishi All Dunlop Team Naoki 16 Keishi Niki All TAKAGI PLANNING 17 Kazuya Ishii All Source

Race calendar and results

All races were held in Japan. Rounds 1–2, 5–8, and 10–12 were held in support of the Formula Nippon championship, and Round 9 at Suzuka was held as a support race for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix, the sixteenth round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship.

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver
1	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	22 May	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
2		23 May	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
3	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	12 June	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
4		13 June	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
5	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	17 July	Yūichi Nakayama	Ryō Hirakawa	Yūichi Nakayama
6		18 July	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūya Motojima	Yūya Motojima
7	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	7 August	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
8		8 August	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūya Motojima	Takamitsu Matsui
9	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	9 October	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
10	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	6 November	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
11			Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama
12		7 November	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama	Yūichi Nakayama

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

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 MOT FUJ FUJ MOT SUZ SUZ Points 1 Yūichi Nakayama 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 135 2 Takamitsu Matsui 2 3 3 2 6 Ret 17 1 2 18 2 2 56 3 Kazuki Hiramine 3 2 2 7 4 6 3 17 3 2 4 3 48 4 Yūya Motojima 7 4 5 6 2 1 20 4 6 11 7 4 32 5 Tomoki Nojiri 12 14 21 11 5 5 2 3 4 3 5 6 27 6 Ryō Hirakawa 4 8 14 4 3 3 12 Ret Ret 13 10 10 17 7 Tobio Ohtani 6 6 8 5 Ret 8 5 13 5 6 6 5 12 8 Takamoto Katsuta 20 15 4 3 7 14 8 16 12 9 Ret 18 8 9 Zhu Daiwei 5 5 6 10 8 9 4 Ret Ret 20 13 11 8 10 Tsubasa Kondō 15 17 9 12 Ret 16 6 8 8 8 3 Ret 6 11 Kazuya Ishii 8 7 7 9 10 4 Ret 5 7 14 Ret 9 5 12 Ryōta Tateishi 9 10 10 Ret 11 7 13 10 11 4 8 8 3 13 Masashi Nakamura 11 11 13 Ret 13 11 10 6 16 5 Ret 7 3 - Yūki Shiraishi 10 9 20 8 Ret 19 7 12 15 7 9 Ret 0 - Zhu Huan Ret Ret 16 15 12 13 14 7 Ret 21 15 15 0 - Syunsuke Matsuzaki 14 16 17 16 14 15 9 9 10 10 12 12 0 - Mitsunori Takaboshi 19 13 11 14 9 10 11 DSQ 14 12 14 14 0 - Keishi Niki 13 12 15 13 15 12 15 11 9 15 11 13 0 - Ryō Ogawa 18 19 12 18 17 20 18 14 Ret 19 18 17 0 - Ryōsuke Kagami 17 DSQ 18 17 16 17 19 Ret 13 17 17 16 0 - Kei Yamaura 16 18 19 19 18 18 16 15 17 16 16 19 0 Pos. Driver MOT FUJ FUJ MOT SUZ SUZ 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