2009 Formula Nippon Championship

The 2009 Formula Nippon Championship was the thirty-seventh season of the premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing series. The series for Formula Nippon racing cars was contested over eight rounds. Nakajima Racing's Loïc Duval claimed four victories en route to the championship, ending a six-year streak of championships by the Impul team.

Teams and drivers

  • All drivers competed in Swift 017.n chassis and Honda HR09E or Toyota RV8K engines.
Team # Driver Engine
Lawson Team Impul 1 Tsugio Matsuda Toyota RV8K
2 Benoît Tréluyer
Team LeMans 7 Keisuke Kunimoto Toyota RV8K
8 Hiroaki Ishiura
HFPD Racing 10 Koudai Tsukakoshi Honda HR09E
ahead Team Impul 20 Kohei Hirate Toyota RV8K
Nakajima Racing 31 Loïc Duval Honda HR09E
32 Takashi Kogure
Petronas Team TOM'S 36 André Lotterer Toyota RV8K
37 Kazuya Oshima
DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 40 Richard Lyons Honda HR09E
41 Takuya Izawa
Cerumo/Inging 48 Yuji Tachikawa Toyota RV8K

Race calendar and results

Round Circuit Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver Winning Team
1 Fuji Speedway 5 April Kohei Hirate André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Lawson Team Impul
2 Suzuka Circuit 17 May Benoît Tréluyer Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Nakajima Racing
3 Twin Ring Motegi 31 May Takashi Kogure Koudai Tsukakoshi Takashi Kogure Nakajima Racing
4 Fuji Speedway 28 June Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Nakajima Racing
5 Suzuka Circuit 12 July Loïc Duval Takashi Kogure Loïc Duval Nakajima Racing
6 Twin Ring Motegi 9 August Takashi Kogure Takashi Kogure André Lotterer Petronas Team TOM'S
7 Autopolis 30 August Takashi Kogure Keisuke Kunimoto Takashi Kogure Nakajima Racing
8 Sportsland SUGO 27 September Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Loïc Duval Nakajima Racing

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Pole
Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 1
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT AUT SUG Points
1 Loïc Duval 4 1 Ret 1 1 2 3 1 62
2 Benoît Tréluyer 1 2 2 Ret 3 3 8 9 40
3 André Lotterer 10 3 5 8 7 1 2 2 39
4 Takashi Kogure 8 Ret 1 7 2 6 1 10 37
5 Kohei Hirate 3 4 Ret 5 5 8 4 3 32
6 Hiroaki Ishiura 11 8 3 4 4 4 5 5 30
7 Koudai Tsukakoshi 6 5 4 6 9 10 Ret 4 20
8 Takuya Izawa 2 7 Ret Ret 8 9 6 11 14
9 Kazuya Oshima 7 Ret Ret 2 10 11 9 6 13
10 Richard Lyons Ret 6 7 3 13 Ret 10 13 11
11 Tsugio Matsuda Ret Ret 6 Ret 12 5 7 7 11
12 Yuji Tachikawa 5 Ret Ret 9 6 7 Ret 12 9
13 Keisuke Kunimoto 9 9 Ret 10 11 Ret 11 8 1
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT AUT SUG Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points classification
Blue Non-points classification
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired, not classified (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

Teams' Championship

Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Pos Team Car FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT AUT SUG Pts
1 Nakajima Racing 31 4 1 Ret 1 1 2 3 1 93
32 8 Ret 1 7 2 6 1 10
2 Petronas Team TOM'S 36 10 3 5 8 7 1 2 2 52
37 7 Ret Ret 2 10 11 9 6
3 Lawson Team Impul 1 Ret Ret 6 Ret 12 5 7 7 50
2 1 2 2 Ret 3 3 8 9
4 ahead Team Impul 20 3 4 Ret 5 5 8 4 3 31
5 Team LeMans 7 9 9 Ret 10 11 Ret 11 8 31
8 11 8 3 4 4 4 5 5
6 Dandelion Racing 40 Ret 6 7 3 13 Ret 10 13 25
41 2 7 Ret Ret 8 9 6 11
7 HFDP Racing 10 6 5 4 6 9 10 Ret 4 20
8 Cerumo/Inging 48 5 Ret Ret 9 6 7 Ret 12 9