Japanese Formula 3 Championship

Japanese Formula 3 Championship (全日本F3選手権, Zen'nihon F3 Senshuken) is a national motor racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses small single seater Formula Three chassis.

Japanese Formula 3 Championship
CategorySingle seaters
CountryJapan
Inaugural season1979
Folded2019
ConstructorsDallara
Engine suppliersToyota-TOM'S
Mugen-Honda
TODA Racing
Tyre suppliersYokohama
Last Drivers' champion Sacha Fenestraz
Last Teams' champion B-Max Racing with Motopark
Official websitewww.j-formula3.com

As a result of Formula 3 naming regulations by the FIA, on 13 August 2019, series promoter Japan Race Promotion (jp), split from the Regional Formula 3 formula and rebranded their series as Super Formula Lights to comply with FIA regulations, and remain as the Super Formula feeder championship since the series is prohibited from using "Formula 3" (which belongs to the FIA for the European-based FIA Formula 3 Championship) and "Formula Regional" (which all regional Formula 3 series are being renamed by the 2020 season, first with the Formula Regional European Championship in 2019 for Europe, and the renaming of the North American F3 championship from Formula 3 Americas to Formula Regional Americas Championship). The Series will adopt Euroformula Open Championship regulations.[1]

Subsequently, the FIA awarded rights to an Formula Regional championship in Japan to K2, promoters of the F4 Japanese Championship, which will name their series the Formula Regional Japanese Championship.

With the rebranding of the series to Super Formula Lights, the Japanese Formula 3 championship officially ended after 41 years. The Japan Formula 3 Association will continue to run the new championship as stated on 28 February 2020.[2][3]


History

The first Formula Three championship to take place in Japan was held by Nippon Formula 3 Association (Japanese Formula 3 Association) in 1979, which was won by Toshio Suzuki. By 1981, it had evolved into a national-level series, the Japanese Championship, and was organised by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF).

Foreign drivers' participation has increased since the 1980s and the majority of champions have been foreign since the beginning of the 1990s.

Since 2008 a two-tier championship system was adopted as a bid to increase driver and team participation. The "Championship" class was open to cars conforming to the current three-year cycle, whilst the lower tier "National" class was open to cars meeting the previous three-year cycle and using the spec Toyota engine.

Prior to the changing of super license requirements for the 2016 Formula One season onward, the series used to be one of the four major Formula Three championships that guaranteed the winner an FIA Super Licence.[4] Under the new requirements the winner of the championship earns 10 points towards their super license, with drivers finishing from 2nd to 5th in the final standings receiving a smaller number of points.[5]

Equipment
All competitors in the championship use Dallara chassis, as of 2010.

Like most Formula Three championships, competitors in the Japanese Championship are permitted to use any eligible chassis.

Champions
SeasonChampionTeam ChampionNational Class Champion
1979 Toshio Suzuki Heros Racing not held
1980 Shuroko Sasaki Gallop Racing
1981 Osamu Nakako Hayashi Racing
1982 Kengo Nakamoto Hayashi Racing
1983 Yoshimasa Fujiwara Umeda Racing
1984 Shuji Hyoudo Hayashi Racing
1985 Koji Sato Le Garage Cox Racing
1986 Akio Morimoto LeMans Company
1987 Ross Cheever TOM'S
1988 Akihiko Nakaya Le Garage Cox Racing
1989 Masahiko Kageyama Leyton House Racing
1990 Naoki Hattori Le Garage Cox Racing
1991 Paulo Carcasci TOM'S
1992 Anthony Reid Tomei Sport
1993 Tom Kristensen TOM'S
1994 Michael Krumm TOM'S
1995 Pedro de la Rosa TOM'S
1996 Juichi Wakisaka Nakajima Racing
1997 Tom Coronel TOM'S
1998 Peter Dumbreck TOM'S
1999 Darren Manning TOM'S
2000 Sébastien Philippe Mugen Dome Project
2001 Benoît Tréluyer TOM'S
2002 Takashi Kogure Dome Racing Team
2003 James Courtney TOM'S
2004 Ronnie Quintarelli Inging
2005 João Paulo de Oliveira TOM'S
2006 Adrian Sutil TOM'S
2007 Kazuya Oshima TOM'S
2008 Carlo van Dam TOM'S Hideki Yamauchi
2009 Marcus Ericsson TOM'S Naoki Yamamoto
2010 Yuji Kunimoto TOM'S Takashi Kobayashi
2011 Yuhi Sekiguchi ThreeBond Racing Katsumasa Chiyo
2012 Ryo Hirakawa RSS Daiki Sasaki
2013 Yuichi Nakayama TOM'S Mitsunori Takaboshi
2014 Nobuharu Matsushita TOM'S Hiroshi Koizumi
2015 Nick Cassidy TOM'S Ryo Ogawa
2016 Kenta Yamashita TOM'S Yoshiaki Katayama
2017 Mitsunori Takaboshi B-MAX Racing Team 'Dragon'
2018 Sho Tsuboi TOM'S Jake Parsons
2019 Sacha Fenestraz B-Max Racing Team with Motopark 'Dragon'

References
  1. Thukral, Rachit; Tanaka, Ken (17 August 2019). "All-Japan F3 rebranded as Super Formula Lights". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  2. "About Japanese Super Formula Lights Championship". Super Formula Lights. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. "Super Formula Lights series champion will be privileged to test in the Super Formula". Super Formula Lights. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. "APPENDIX L TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPORTING CODE" (PDF). FIA. 2007-03-27. pp. Qualifi cation for the Super licence (Article 5.1 iii-f). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2009. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  5. Noble, Jonathan (6 January 2015). "FIA reveals details of new F1 superlicence points system — F1 news — AUTOSPORT.com". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  6. ハンコックタイヤ・オフィシャルテストレポート (in Japanese). All-Japan Formula Three official website. 2008-12-25. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
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