2023 F4 Japanese Championship

The 2023 F4 Japanese Championship season was the ninth season of the F4 Japanese Championship. It was competed with 14 races over seven double-header rounds.^[1]

Teams and drivers

All teams & drivers were Japanese-registered.

Team No. Driver Class Rounds Akiland Racing 2 Keiji Nakao I All 10 Masayuki Ueda I All 12 Ryota Horachi All 18 Kazuya Oshima 1 Norio Tsukamoto I 2–5 Aoto Nagahara 6 22 Yuta Fujiwara All 71 Masayoshi Oyama I All 96 Makio Saito I All DayDream Racing 4 Yuichi Sasaki I 5–7 Honda Formula Dream Project 5 Yusuke Mitsui All 6 Yuto Nomura All 7 Tosei Moriyama All Team GMB 8 Masamune Handa 1–5 Spread 6–7 Rn-sports 11 Isao Nakashima I All 99 Yoshitsugu Kondo I 1, 5 Kazuaki Yasui I 3 B-Max Racing Team 13 Makoto Fujiwara I All 27 "Syuji" I 6 30 "Dragon" I All 44 Nobuhiro Imada I 1–6 "Syuji" I 7 Zap Speed 14 Souryuu Tagami 1–4, 7 86 Hachiro Osaka I 1–4 87 Rio Shimono 1–4 88 Rin Arakawa 1–4 Media Do Kageyama Racing 15 Tomohito Watabe 1–5 16 Kazuma Nishimura 1–5, 7 26 Reijiro Yamazaki I All Eagle Sports 21 Tadakazu Kojima I 1–6 49 Bunsei Okawa I 1–2 Akito Itsuki 3 Daitetsu Ueno 4 Shoichiro Akamatsu I 5–6 NSPEED 23 "Yugo" I All Tsuyoshi Usui 24 Tsuyoshi Usui I 2, 6 TOM'S Youth 28 Yoshiaki Nakamura All Buzz Racing 31 Ryoma Henzan All 32 Taiga Imoto 2 41 3–4 Masahiro Aoai I 1–2 Drago Corse 34 Hironobu Shimizu All TGR-DC Racing School 35 Jin Nakamura All 36 Rikuto Kobayashi All 37 Yuki Sano All 38 Shunji Okumoto All PONOS Racing 45 Kento Omiya All Fujita Pharmacy Racing 46 Kohei Tokumasu 1–5, 7 48 Fuma Horio 1–5 Field Motorsports 55 "Kentaro" I All HELM Motorsports 61 Jiei Okuzumi 3 62 Itsuki Sato All 63 Yutaka Toriba I 1–3, 5–7 Skill Speed 77 Hibiki Komatsu All 78 Yohei Ono All OTG Motor Sports 80 Yuto Nozawa All Bionic Jack Racing 81 Kazuhisa Urabe All 97 Shion Tsujimoto 1–2 Hiroyuki Saka I 3–4 Jiei Okuzumi 5–7 98 Yuki Mishima All Dr.Dry 86 Hachiro Osaka I 5–7 87 Rio Shimono 5–7 88 Rin Arakawa 5–7 Sources: [2][3]

Icon Class I Independent Cup

Race calendar and results

All rounds were held in Japan and supported the Super GT events.^[1]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Independent Cup winner
1	R1	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	3 May	Rikuto Kobayashi	Rin Arakawa	Rikuto Kobayashi	TGR-DC Racing School	Yutaka Toriba
	R2		4 May	Rikuto Kobayashi	Yusuke Mitsui	Jin Nakamura[a]	TGR-DC Racing School	Makoto Fujiwara
2	R3	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	3 June	Yusuke Mitsui	Rikuto Kobayashi	Yusuke Mitsui	Honda Formula Dream Project	Masayuki Ueda
	R4		4 June	Yusuke Mitsui	Yusuke Mitsui	Yusuke Mitsui	Honda Formula Dream Project	Masayuki Ueda
3	R5	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	5 August	Yuto Nomura	Ryota Horachi	Rikuto Kobayashi	TGR-DC Racing School	Nobuhiro Imada
	R6		6 August	Yuto Nomura	Rikuto Kobayashi	Rikuto Kobayashi	TGR-DC Racing School	Yutaka Toriba
4	R7	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	26 August	Yusuke Mitsui	Yuto Nomura	Yusuke Mitsui	Honda Formula Dream Project	Makio Saito
	R8		27 August	Yusuke Mitsui	Yuto Nomura	Yusuke Mitsui	Honda Formula Dream Project	Nobuhiro Imada
5	R9	Sportsland Sugo, Murata	16 September	Yuto Nomura	Jin Nakamura	Yuto Nomura	Honda Formula Dream Project	Makoto Fujiwara
	R10		17 September	Kazuhisa Urabe	Yuto Nomura	Kazuhisa Urabe	Bionic Jack Racing	Makoto Fujiwara
6	R11	Autopolis, Hita	14 October	Rikuto Kobayashi	Yusuke Mitsui	Rikuto Kobayashi	TGR-DC Racing School	Yutaka Toriba
	R12		15 October	Jin Nakamura	Jin Nakamura	Jin Nakamura	TGR-DC Racing School	Yutaka Toriba
7	R13	Mobility Resort Motegi, Motegi	4 November	Rikuto Kobayashi	Rikuto Kobayashi	Jin Nakamura	TGR-DC Racing School	Yutaka Toriba
	R14		5 November	Rikuto Kobayashi	Rin Arakawa	Rikuto Kobayashi	TGR-DC Racing School	Keiji Nakao

Championship standings

Points were awarded as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver FUJ1 SUZ1 FUJ2 SUZ2 SUG AUT MOT Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Rikuto Kobayashi 1 3 2 4 1 1 33 5 6 22 1 3 2 1 221 2 Jin Nakamura Ret 1 Ret 6 3 2 2 3 4 4 2 1 1 2 209 3 Yusuke Mitsui Ret 28 1 1 4 4 1 1 2 2 3 10 10 8 181 4 Yuto Nomura Ret 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 1 24 6 5 Ret 5 167 5 Tosei Moriyama 9 5 4 2 5 6 Ret 9 5 3 7 6 11 Ret 101 6 Rin Arakawa 34 4 5 5 7 8 8 20 8 7 11 8 3 12 75 7 Yuki Sano 3 9 8 11 Ret 5 6 Ret 3 5 5 40 Ret 37 74 8 Kazuhisa Urabe 20 8 43† 10 10 12 9 6 7 1 10 7 5 6 72 9 Shunji Okumoto 2 7 10 7 11 10 15 10 12 11 4 2 12 20 63 10 Ryota Horachi 6 13 9 8 15 37 4 4 11 10 8 4 Ret 10 56 11 Kento Omiya 15 Ret 7 9 8 11 5 8 19 9 9 Ret 6 3 53 12 Ryoma Henzan Ret Ret 11 15 Ret 7 7 7 Ret 8 14 9 4 4 48 13 Itsuki Sato 28 6 6 13 9 9 10 11 9 12 12 11 9 9 27 14 Jiei Okuzumi 6 39 10 13 13 15 8 7 19 15 Kazuma Nishimura 4 12 14 19 18 Ret DNS 16 18 23 16 19 12 16 Yuki Mishima 5 10 17 18 Ret 31 18 15 17 19 20 18 20 17 11 17 Yuta Fujiwara 10 14 13 12 12 14 12 12 Ret 6 15 13 34 13 9 18 Souryuu Tagami 12 15 18 17 20 Ret 14 24 7 11 6 19 Rio Shimono 7 18 19 20 19 24 19 19 16 17 17 16 17 15 6 20 Hibiki Komatsu 8 19 15 16 13 13 Ret 13 21 20 18 12 Ret Ret 4 21 Hironobu Shimizu Ret 11 12 14 22 18 13 18 14 16 22 28 15 21 0 22 Kohei Tokumasu Ret 17 16 23 21 15 11 14 13 14 18 18 0 23 Tomohito Watabe 11 37 21 24 14 17 16 17 WD WD 0 24 Yuto Nozawa 19 20 23 25 16 16 22 21 15 15 16 17 13 14 0 25 Kazuya Oshima 13 16 0 26 Yoshiaki Nakamura 14 DNS 24 26 24 21 23 23 Ret 18 19 14 14 16 0 27 Yutaka Toriba 16 Ret 36 34 Ret 19 33 29 23 20 19 28 0 28 Keiji Nakao 17 23 30 31 26 27 26 28 29 28 40† 26 32 23 0 29 Akito Itsuki 17 23 0 30 Daitetsu Ueno 17 38 0 31 Fuma Horio 18 Ret 25 28 Ret 25 21 29 20 20 0 32 Yohei Ono 27 26 28 29 32 38 25 31 Ret Ret 24 19 26 29 0 33 Taiga Imoto 22 21 23 20 20 22 0 34 Shion Tsujimoto Ret Ret 20 22 0 35 Masamune Handa 33 27 Ret Ret 34 26 27 26 25 30 21 21 21 22 0 36 Makoto Fujiwara 22 21 31 41 28 28 Ret 32 22 25 25 22 24 26 0 37 Nobuhiro Imada 21 38 37 Ret 25 DNS Ret 25 23 Ret 27 24 0 38 Masayuki Ueda 38 22 26 27 29 29 32 Ret 31 27 Ret 33 22 27 0 39 Makio Saito 26 33 27 30 27 22 24 39 27 40 26 41 23 24 0 40 "Dragon" 23 24 29 Ret DNQ DNQ 29 27 26 26 Ret 25 25 25 0 41 Aoto Nagahara 38 23 0 42 Reijiro Yamazaki 24 25 DNQ DNQ 39† 35 Ret 30 Ret Ret 28 29 27 30 0 43 "Kentaro" 31 30 33 42† 30 Ret Ret 40† 24 34 31 36 Ret 34 0 44 Yoshitsugu Kondo 25 29 28 31 0 45 Tadakazu Kojima 30 36 42 38 33 Ret 28 Ret 32 38 29 27 0 46 Yuichi Sasaki 36 33 34 34 28 Ret 0 47 Masayoshi Oyama 32 32 35 33 36 33 Ret 34 30 32 30 32 29 31 0 48 Hachiro Osaka 29 Ret 41 40 40† Ret Ret 36 37 37 35 35 30 32 0 49 Isao Nakashima 35 31 34 32 38 34 Ret DNS 35 35 32 30 31 33 0 50 Hiroyuki Saka 31 30 Ret 33 0 51 Norio Tsukamoto 38 36 35 32 30 35 38 36 0 52 "Yugo" DNQ DNQ 40 39 37 36 31 37 39 Ret 39 39 33 36 0 53 Shoichiro Akamatsu 34 39 37 31 0 54 Bunsei Okawa 36 35 32 35 0 55 Tsuyoshi Usui DNS DNS 33 38 0 56 Masahiro Aoai 37 34 39 37 0 57 "Syuji" 36 37 Ret 35 0 – Kazuaki Yasui DNQ DNQ – Pos Driver R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 Pts FUJ1 SUZ1 FUJ2 SUZ2 SUG AUT MOT

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (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 † — Did not finish but classified

Independent Cup

Pos	Driver	FUJ1		SUZ1		FUJ2		SUZ2		SUG		AUT		MOT		Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1	Makoto Fujiwara	4	1	5	13	4	4	Ret	5	1	1	2	2	4	4	191
2	Keiji Nakao	2	3	4	3	2	3	2	3	7	4	16†	5	11	1	179
3	Makio Saito	8	10	2	2	3	2	1	11	5	15	3	18	3	2	157
4	Yutaka Toriba	1	Ret	10	6	Ret	1			11	5	1	1	1	6	152
5	Masayuki Ueda	16	2	1	1	5	5	7	Ret	9	3	Ret	11	2	5	139
6	"Dragon"	5	4	3	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	4	2	4	2	Ret	4	5	3	134
7	Nobuhiro Imada	3	14	11	Ret	1	DNS	Ret	1	2	Ret	4	3			110
8	Reijiro Yamazaki	6	5	DNQ	DNQ	13†	10	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	5	7	6	7	61
9	Masayoshi Oyama	12	9	9	5	10	8	Ret	7	8	7	7	10	8	8	50
10	"Kentaro"	11	7	7	14†	6	Ret	Ret	12	3	9	8	14	Ret	11	41
11	Tadakazu Kojima	10	13	16	10	8	Ret	3	Ret	10	13	6	6			38
12	Isao Nakashima	13	8	8	4	12	9	Ret	DNS	13	10	9	8	10	10	31
13	Yoshitsugu Kondo	7	6							6	6					30
14	Norio Tsukamoto			12	8	9	7	5	8	16	11					26
15	Hiroyuki Saka					7	6	Ret	6							22
16	Bunsei Okawa	14	12	6	7											14
17	Yuichi Sasaki									14	8	11	12	7	Ret	10
18	"Yugo"	DNQ	DNQ	14	11	11	11	6	10	17	Ret	15	17	12	13	9
19	Hachiro Osaka	9	Ret	15	12	14†	Ret	Ret	9	15	12	12	13	9	9	8
20	Masahiro Aoai	15	11	13	9											2
21	Shoichiro Akamatsu									12	14	14	9			2
22	Tsuyoshi Usui			DNS	DNS							10	16			1
23	"Syuji"											13	15	Ret	12	0
–	Kazuaki Yasui					DNQ	DNQ									–
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pts
		FUJ1		SUZ1		FUJ2		SUZ2		SUG		AUT		MOT

Teams' standings

Only the best finisher scored points for their team.

Pos	Team	Points
1	TGR-DC Racing School	290
2	Honda Formula Dream Project	232
3	Bionic Jack Racing	82
4	Akiland Racing	63
5	Zap Speed	58
6	PONOS Racing	53
7	Buzz Racing	48
8	HELM Motorsports	33
9	Dr.Dry	29
10	Media Do Kageyama Racing	12
11	Skill Speed	4

Notes

1. Yusuke Mitsui finished as the first but received a drive through penalty converted into 40 seconds for an illegal start on a safety car restart. Nakamura inherited the win.

References

1. "2023年地方レース選手権カレンダー". JAF Motorsport (in Japanese). 12 December 2022.
2. "参戦台数は過去最多の46台。2023年FIA-F4選手権 第1戦・第2戦富士 エントリーリスト". AUTO SPORT web (in Japanese). 2023-05-02.
3. "【順位結果】2023FIA-F4選手権 第3戦鈴鹿 決勝". AUTO SPORT web (in Japanese). 2023-06-03.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)