The 2003 Formula Nippon Championship was the thirty-first season of premier Japanese single-seater racing, and the eighth under the Formula Nippon moniker. The series was contested over 10 races at five venues, including the final races at Fuji Speedway before a comprehensive renovation of the circuit began later that year.

10 different teams and 21 different drivers competed in the series. For the first time, the series adopted a spec chassis supplied by Lola, who replaced Reynard as the series' chassis supplier.

Satoshi Motoyama of Team Impul won his third series championship, becoming only the third driver after Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Satoru Nakajima to win three or more championships in Japanese top formula racing. Motoyama also became the second driver to win both the Formula Nippon and All-Japan Grand Touring Car GT500 Championships in the same year.

Teams and drivers All teams used tyres supplied by Bridgestone, Lola B03/51 chassis, and Mugen MF308 engines. Team # Driver RoundsPIAA Nakajima Racing1 Takashi KogureAll2 André LottererAllOlympic Kondo Racing Team3 Yuji TachikawaAll4 Dominik SchwagerAllTeam 5ZIGEN5 Ryō MichigamiAll6 Ryo Fukuda1–5 James Courtney7–10Forum Engineering ARTA Team LeMans7 Toshihiro KaneishiAll8 Takeshi TsuchiyaAllPlanex EBBRO NovaKacchao TCPRO NovaTeam NovaOizumi Team Nova9 Haruki KurosawaAll10 Tetsuya Fujisawa1–4 Yudai Igarashi5–7 Hiroki Katoh8–10Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo11 Tsugio MatsudaAll12 Yuji IdeAllTeam Impul19 Satoshi MotoyamaAll20 Benoît TréluyerAllTeam 2222 Juichi WakisakaAllCarrozzeria Team MOHN28 Hideki NodaAllDoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing40 Richard LyonsAll41 Naoki HattoriAll

Race calendar and results

All races were held in Japan.

Race Track Date Pole position Fastest race lap Winning driver Winning team 1 Suzuka Circuit 23 March Ryō Michigami Richard Lyons Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul 2 Fuji Speedway 6 April Satoshi Motoyama Takeshi Tsuchiya Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul 3 Mine Circuit 27 April Satoshi Motoyama Yuji Tachikawa Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul 4 Twin Ring Motegi 8 June Juichi Wakisaka Satoshi Motoyama Juichi Wakisaka Team 22 5 Suzuka Circuit 6 July Richard Lyons Satoshi Motoyama Richard Lyons DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 6 Sportsland SUGO 27 July André Lotterer Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul 7 Fuji Speedway 31 August Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer Team Impul 8 Mine Circuit 21 September Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer Team Impul 9 Twin Ring Motegi 19 October Toshihiro Kaneishi Takeshi Tsuchiya Toshihiro Kaneishi Forum Engineering ARTA Team LeMans 10 Suzuka Circuit 2 November Satoshi Motoyama Richard Lyons Juichi Wakisaka Team 22

For Round 5, an 18-lap (104.526 km) sprint race set the grid for the main race. The sprint race winner Richard Lyons started from pole in the main race. Takeshi Tsuchiya set pole position for the sprint race.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship Scoring system Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Points 10 6 4 3 2 1 Rank Name SUZ FUJ MIN MOT SUZ SGO FUJ MIN MOT SUZ Points 1 Satoshi Motoyama 1 1 1 9 14 1 2 13 2 3 56 2 Benoît Tréluyer Ret 2 Ret NC 2 4 1 1 9 Ret 35 3 Juichi Wakisaka Ret 5 Ret 1 3 3 Ret 6 Ret 1 31 4 Toshihiro Kaneishi 3 8 5 7 Ret 8 Ret 2 1 Ret 22 5 André Lotterer 2 4 7 6 Ret 2 3 9 5 Ret 22 6 Richard Lyons 9 Ret Ret 3 1 5 Ret Ret 3 9 20 7 Yuji Ide 4 7 3 2 7 10 Ret 3 12 5 19 8 Takeshi Tsuchiya Ret NC 2 4 5 7 6 12 6 4 16 9 Ryō Michigami Ret 3 4 5 4 NC Ret NC 13 6 13 10 Takashi Kogure 12 6 Ret DNS 6 Ret Ret 14 4 2 11 11 Tsugio Matsuda 5 9 Ret Ret 15 6 5 5 14 Ret 7 12 James Courtney 4 7 Ret Ret 3 13 Naoki Hattori 8 Ret Ret 11 8 9 9 4 7 11 3 14 Hideki Noda 6 10 8 DNS 12 Ret Ret 10 Ret 10 1 15 Ryo Fukuda 7 Ret 6 Ret 13 1 16 Dominik Schwager Ret Ret Ret 8 9 11 7 8 10 8 0 17 Hiroki Katoh Ret 11 7 0 18 Yuji Tachikawa 10 12 10 Ret Ret NC Ret Ret 8 Ret 0 19 Haruki Kurosawa Ret Ret 9 10 11 Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret 0 20 Yudai Igarashi 10 12 Ret 0 21 Tetsuya Fujisawa 11 11 Ret 12 0

Teams' Championship Rank Team Car SUZ FUJ MIN MOT SUZ SGO FUJ MIN MOT SUZ Points1 Impul 19 1 1 1 9 14 1 2 13 2 3 91 20 Ret 2 Ret NC 2 4 1 1 9 Ret2 Team LeMans 7 3 8 5 7 Ret 8 Ret 2 1 Ret 38 8 Ret NC 2 4 5 7 6 12 6 43 PIAA Nakajima 1 12 6 Ret DNS 6 Ret Ret 14 4 2 33 2 2 4 7 6 Ret 2 3 9 5 Ret 4 Team 22 22 Ret 5 Ret 1 3 3 Ret 6 Ret 1 315 Cosmo Oil Cerumo 11 5 9 Ret Ret 15 6 5 5 14 Ret 23 12 4 7 3 2 7 10 Ret 3 12 56 DoCoMo Dandelion 40 9 Ret Ret 3 1 5 Ret Ret 3 9 23 41 8 Ret Ret 11 8 9 9 4 7 117 5ZIGEN 5 Ret 3 4 5 4 NC Ret NC 13 6 17 6 7 Ret 6 Ret 13 4 7 Ret Ret 8 Team MOHN 28 6 10 8 DNS 12 Ret Ret 10 Ret 10 19 Team Nova 9 Ret Ret 9 10 11 Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret 0 10 11 11 Ret 12 10 12 Ret Ret 11 710 Kondo Racing Team 3 10 12 10 Ret Ret NC Ret Ret 8 Ret 0 4 Ret Ret Ret 8 9 11 7 8 10 8

External links 2003 Japanese Championship Formula Nippon