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

Race calendar and results

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	Fuji Speedway	2 April	Benoît Tréluyer	Masataka Yanagida	Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
2	Suzuka Circuit	16 April	Benoît Tréluyer	Benoît Tréluyer	Loïc Duval	PIAA Nakajima
3	Twin Ring Motegi	28 May	Takashi Kogure	Tsugio Matsuda	André Lotterer	DHG TOM'S
4	Suzuka Circuit	9 July	Benoît Tréluyer	Benoît Tréluyer	Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
5	Autopolis	6 August	Takashi Kogure	Loïc Duval	Tsugio Matsuda	mobilecast IMPUL
6	Fuji Speedway	27 August	Takashi Kogure	Satoshi Motoyama	Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
7	Sportsland SUGO	17 September	Takashi Kogure	Hideki Mutoh	Loïc Duval	PIAA Nakajima
8	Twin Ring Motegi	22 October	Takashi Kogure	Satoshi Motoyama	Benoît Tréluyer	mobilecast IMPUL
9	Suzuka Circuit	19 November	Tsugio Matsuda	Benoît Tréluyer	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	Benoît Tréluyer	1	3	2	1	7	1	2	1	Ret	51
2	Tsugio Matsuda	2	9	5	2	1	7	3	2	2	37
3	André Lotterer	8	5	1	5	8	2	Ret	Ret	1	30
4	Loïc Duval	11	1	6	Ret	18	9	1	4	6	25
5	Satoshi Motoyama	3	8	3	3	Ret	3	5	Ret	Ret	16
6	Björn Wirdheim	4	2	4	Ret	6	6	6	11	9	13.5
7	Tatsuya Kataoka	13	7	Ret	6	3	Ret	9	3	3	13
8	Yuji Tachikawa	12	Ret	10	4	4	5	7	5	Ret	10
9	Toshihiro Kaneishi	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	4	Ret	Ret	7	9
10	Ronnie Quintarelli	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	10	4	9	12	6
11	Sakon Yamamoto	6	4	14							3.5
12	Takashi Kogure	10	17	Ret	9	19	Ret	DSQ	Ret	4	3
13	Takeshi Tsuchiya	9	10	Ret	7	9	Ret	8	8	5	2
14	Hideki Mutoh	19	6	8	Ret	17	16	10	10	Ret	1
15	Masataka Yanagida	7	Ret	9	13	13	12	Ret	6	13	1
16	Ryō Michigami	20	18	7	Ret	11	15	12	Ret	11	0
17	Naoki Yokomizo	14	13	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	11	7	Ret	0
18	Toranosuke Takagi	22	16	11	8	16	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
19	João Paulo de Oliveira									8	0
20	Seiji Ara				10	10	18	13	Ret	Ret	0
21	Yuji Ide				12	12	11	Ret	Ret	10	0
22	Katsuyuki Hiranaka	17	11	Ret		15	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
23	Ryo Orime	21	15	12	Ret	Ret	17	DSQ	12		0
24	Shogo Mitsuyama	15	12	13	Ret						0
25	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

Rank	Team	Car	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	SUZ	ATP	FUJ	SGO	MOT	SUZ	Points
1	mobilecast Impul	19	1	3	2	1	7	1	2	1	Ret	88
1	mobilecast Impul	20	2	9	5	2	1	7	3	2	2	88
2	DHG TOM'S	36	8	5	1	5	8	2	Ret	Ret	1	32
2	DHG TOM'S	37	9	10	Ret	7	9	Ret	8	8	5	32
3	PIAA Nakajima	31	11	1	6	Ret	18	9	1	4	6	26
3	PIAA Nakajima	32	19	6	8	Ret	17	16	10	10	Ret	26
4	arting Impul	1	3	8	3	3	Ret	3	5	Ret	Ret	16
4	arting Impul	2	18	14	Ret	Ret	14	13	Ret	Ret	14	16
5	DoCoMo Dandelion	40	4	2	4	Ret	6	6	6	11	9	13.5
5	DoCoMo Dandelion	41	17	11	Ret	12	12	11	Ret	Ret	10	13.5
6	Team LeMans	7	13	7	Ret	6	3	Ret	9	3	3	13
6	Team LeMans	8	22	16	11	8	16	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	13
7	ARTA	55	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	4	Ret	Ret	7	12
7	ARTA	56	10	17	Ret	9	19	Ret	DSQ	Ret	4	12
8	Reckless Cerumo	11	12	Ret	10	4	4	5	7	5	Ret	10
9	BOSS INGING	33	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	10	4	9	12	6
9	BOSS INGING	34	14	13	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	11	7	Ret	6
10	Kondo Racing	3	6	4	14	10	10	18	13	Ret	Ret	4.5
10	Kondo Racing	4	7	Ret	9	13	13	12	Ret	6	13	4.5
11	Team 5ZIGEN	5	20	18	7	Ret	11	15	12	Ret	11	0
11	Team 5ZIGEN	6	21	15	12	Ret	Ret	17	DSQ	12	8	0
12	DPR Direxiv	27	15	12	13	Ret						0

External links

2006 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon