Shinji Nakano

Shinji Nakano (中野 信治, born 1 April 1971[1]) is a Japanese professional racing driver.

Shinji Nakano
Nakano in 2009
Born (1971-04-01) 1 April 1971
Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Japanese
Active years19971998
TeamsProst, Minardi, Jordan (Test Driver)
Entries33
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points2
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1997 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry1998 Japanese Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years20052008, 20112014, 2016
TeamsCourage Compétition, Creation Autosportif, Epsilon Euskadi, OAK Racing
Best finish14th (2011)
Class wins0

His father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship.

Racing career

Pre Formula One Career

1984-'88: Karting, several Japanese titles.(Mugen)
1989: 7th in Japanese Formula 3 championship
1990: European Formula Opel Lotus Championship, 1 victory
1991: Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries
1992: Japanese Formula 3 and Formula 3000 championship
1993-'94: Japanese Formula 3 championship
1995-'96: Japanese Formula 3000 championship

Formula One Career

Nakano in the 1998 Spanish Grand Prix, driving a Minardi.

Nakano made his debut at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne for the Prost Grand Prix team, owned by legendary four times Formula One World Champion Alain Prost. The 1997 season saw him score two world championship points with a pair of sixth places.

With his place at Prost heavily reliant on their engine partners Mugen-Honda, Nakano was dropped in favour of Jarno Trulli, with the second cockpit taken by Olivier Panis, when Prost switched to Peugeot engines. He subsequently joined Minardi for the 1998 season, alongside Esteban Tuero. [2]

Nakano struggled in the under-powered, under-financed Italian team. He failed to score any points in 1998 and bowed out of Formula One racing for good at his home Grand Prix at Suzuka, Japan, having contested a total of 33 Grands Prix. He spent 1999 as an occasional test driver for the Jordan team, which also used Mugen-Honda engines.[3]

After Formula One

After Formula One, Nakano went to race in Champ Car for Walker Racing and Fernandez Racing. He made 56 starts from 2000 to 2002 with a best points finish of 17th in 2002 and a best race result of 4th at the 2002 Molson Indy Toronto. He also started 15th in the 2003 Indianapolis 500 for Beck Motorsports, finishing 14th. He competed in the 2006 and 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans races and returned to the event in 2011 with OAK Racing and 2012 with the Boutsen Ginon squad.

Helmet

Nakano's helmet was black with a black circle on the top surrounded by a white halo, with a red and silver flame design surrounding the visor and a black and silver checkered flag behind of it, in CART he changed the black for white, the halo became blue, the black circle became red, the checkered flag disappeared and the flame became red with blue outline. in LeMans, he added more flames in the point where the checkered flag was.

Racing career

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1992 Nakajima Racing SUZ
DNQ
FUJ
12
MIN
Ret
SUZ
DNQ
AUT
Ret
SUG
Ret
FUJ
12
FUJ
13
SUZ
14
FUJ
16
SUZ
9
NC 0
1994 Team Nova SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ
Ret
FUJ FUJ NC 0
Nakajima Racing SUZ
Ret
1995 Speed Star Wheel Racing SUZ
Ret
FUJ
C
MIN
7
SUZ
Ret
SUG
3
FUJ
Ret
TOK
5
FUJ
9
SUZ
8
11th 6
1996 Team Dome with Mugen SUZ
2
MIN
13
FUJ
Ret
TOK
9
SUZ
6
SUG
7
FUJ
3
MIN
2
SUZ
9
FUJ
4
6th 20

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WDC Points
1997 Prost Gauloises Blondes Prost JS45 Mugen-Honda MF-301HB 3.0 V10 AUS
7
BRA
14
ARG
Ret
SMR
Ret
MON
Ret
ESP
Ret
CAN
6
FRA
Ret
GBR
11
GER
7
HUN
6
BEL
Ret
ITA
11
AUT
Ret
LUX
Ret
JPN
Ret
EUR
10
18th 2
1998 Fondmetal Minardi Team SpA Minardi M198 Ford JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10 AUS
Ret
BRA
Ret
ARG
13
SMR
Ret
ESP
14
MON
9
CAN
7
FRA
17
GBR
8
AUT
11
GER
Ret
HUN
15
BEL
8
ITA
Ret
LUX
15
JPN
Ret
NC 0

Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete American Open-Wheel Racing results

(key)

CART

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points
2000 Walker Racing Reynard 2Ki Honda HR-0 V8t MIA
8
LBH RIO MOT
14
NZR
Wth
MIL
23
DET
15
POR
11
CLE
15
TOR
14
MIS
20
CHI
13
MDO
19
ROA
22
VAN
19
LS
26
STL
21
HOU
8
SRF
21
FON
16
24th 12
2001 Fernández Racing Reynard 01i Honda HR-1 V8t MTY
18
LBH
12
TXS
NH
NZR
15
MOT
8
MIL
16
DET
13
POR
22
CLE
22
TOR
9
MIS
22
CHI
16
MDO
18
ROA
15
VAN
14
LAU
22
ROC
17
HOU
15
LS
21
SRF
12
FON
21
26th 11
2002 Fernández Racing Lola B02/00 Honda HR-2 V8t MTY
15
LBH
12
MOT
10
MIL
18
LS
14
POR
11
CHI
5
TOR
4
CLE
10
VAN
11
MDO
9
ROA
11
MTL
9
DEN
16
ROC
16
MIA
14
SRF
13
FON
15
MXC
14
17th 43

IRL IndyCar Series

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points
2003 Beck Motorsports Dallara IR-03 Honda HMS PHX MOT
11
INDY
14
TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MIS STL KTY NZR CHI FON TX2 29th 35

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2005 Courage Compétition Jonathan Cochet
Bruce Jouanny
Courage C60H-Judd LMP1 52 DNF DNF
2006 Courage Compétition Jean-Marc Gounon
Haruki Kurosawa
Courage LC70-Mugen LMP1 35 DNF DNF
2007 Creation Autosportif Ltd. Jamie Campbell-Walter
Felipe Ortiz
Creation CA07-Judd LMP1 55 DNF DNF
2008 Epsilon Euskadi Stefan Johansson
Jean-Marc Gounon
Epsilon Euskadi EE1-Judd LMP1 158 DNF DNF
2011 OAK Racing Nicolas de Crem
Jan Charouz
OAK Pescarolo 01 Evo-Judd LMP2 313 14th 5th
2012 Boutsen Ginion Racing Bastien Brière
Jens Petersen
Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 325 24th 10th
2013 Delta-ADR Tor Graves
Archie Hamilton
Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 101 DNF DNF
2014 Team Taisan Martin Rich
Pierre Ehret
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTE
Am
327 28th 8th
2016 Race Performance Nicolas Leutwiler
James Winslow
Oreca 03R-Judd LMP2 289 44th 17th

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2012 ADR-Delta LMP2 Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SEB SPA LMS SIL SÃO BHR FUJ
8
SHA 41st 4
2013 Delta-ADR LMP2 Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS
Ret
SÃO COA FUJ
4
SHA BHR 26th 6
2016 Manor LMP2 Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ
11
SHA BHR 32nd 0.5

References

  1. Jenkins, Richard. "The World Championship drivers — Where are they now?". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  2. Guilmeau, Mickael. "Que sont-ils devenus ? Shinji Nakano". France Racing (in French). Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  3. "Shinji Nakano". crash.net. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
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