2008 Formula Challenge Japan

The 2008 Formula Challenge Japan was a multi-event motor racing championship for open-wheel formula racing cars, and the third season of the Formula Challenge Japan racing series, a young driver development series jointly supported by Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. The championship featured a mix of manufacturer-affiliated drivers and independent entries, and commenced on 5 April and ended on 21 September.^[1]^[2] All but one of the race weekends were run in support of the Formula Nippon Championship.

Toyota junior driver Yūji Kunimoto, whose brother Keisuke had won the previous year's title, dominated the championship in his second year of competition. Kunimoto took eight wins and seven pole positions from the season's sixteen races, and finished all but one race on the podium to secure a 101-point lead over his nearest rival, Nissan junior and former Formula BMW UK driver Kimiya Satō. Nissan stablemate Katsumasa Chiyo won thrice to finish third in the standings, while Takamitsu Matsui and Tsubasa Mekaru took the remaining race victories.

Teams and drivers

Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
XGamut Mitsuba-ya FCJ	1	Hikaru Abe	All
C-SPAN San-M FCJ	2	Kazuumi Kobayashi	All
Rêve RT FCJ	3	Kazuki Kawamura	All
SRS-F Scholarship SRS-F SANAI FCJ	4	Takashi Kobayashi	All
	6	Shigetomo Shimono	All
	15	Kazuki Miura [ja]	All
	26	Kazuma Kokubu	All
FTRS TDP Scholarship Sugamata Sekkotsuin FTRS Café Julia FTRS Team Samurai FTRS FTRS Team NATS [ja] Citykart FTRS	5	Naoya Gamou	All
	8	Yūji Kunimoto	All
	9	Tsubasa Mekaru	All
	13	Toshihiro Hinata	All
	17	Tohjirō Azuma	All
	20	Takamitsu Matsui	All
	21	Makoto Kanai	All
	22	Yūichi Nakayama	All
	23	Kōta Matsui	All
Iwasaki Industry	7	Yūki Iwasaki	All
NDDP NDDP MyBrans	10	Kimiya Satō	All
	12	Daiki Sasaki	All
	18	Katsumasa Chiyo	All
	19	Masayuki Yamashita	All
DL Team Naoki	11	Mika Kagoshima [ja]	All
Broval.jp NAC	14	Kenji Hosokawa	All
A-Project FCJ	16	Kōta Lee	All
H.I.S. Travel FCJ	24	Igor Sushko	All
Winds Nikoya FCJ	25	Kōtarō Hatano	All
Source^[2]

Race calendar and results

All races were held in Japan. All rounds, with the exception of rounds 7–8, were run in support of Formula Nippon.

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver
1	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	5 April	Takamitsu Matsui	Yūji Kunimoto	Takamitsu Matsui
2	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	6 April	Yūji Kunimoto	Takamitsu Matsui	Yūji Kunimoto
3	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	10 May	Takamitsu Matsui	Kenji Hosokawa	Katsumasa Chiyo
4	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	11 May	Katsumasa Chiyo	Katsumasa Chiyo	Katsumasa Chiyo
5	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	24 May	Takamitsu Matsui	Yūji Kunimoto	Yūji Kunimoto
6	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	25 May	Yūji Kunimoto	Takamitsu Matsui	Katsumasa Chiyo
7	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	28 June	Yūji Kunimoto	Yūji Kunimoto	Yūji Kunimoto
8	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	29 June	Yūji Kunimoto	Takamitsu Matsui	Takamitsu Matsui
9	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	12 July	Yūji Kunimoto	Kimiya Satō	Yūji Kunimoto
10	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	13 July	Naoya Gamou	Kimiya Satō	Kimiya Satō
11	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	9 August	Tsubasa Mekaru	Takashi Kobayashi	Tsubasa Mekaru
12	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi	10 August	Kimiya Satō	Takashi Kobayashi	Takamitsu Matsui
13	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	30 August	Masayuki Yamashita	Kimiya Satō	Yūji Kunimoto
14	Fuji Speedway, Oyama	31 August	Makoto Kanai	Yūji Kunimoto	Yūji Kunimoto
15	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	20 September	Yūji Kunimoto	Yūji Kunimoto	Yūji Kunimoto
16	Sportsland SUGO, Murata	21 September	Yūji Kunimoto	Takamitsu Matsui	Yūji Kunimoto

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers, with one point awarded for pole position and fastest lap respectively.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	PP	FL
20	15	12	10	8	6	4	3	2	1	1	1

Pos.	Driver	FUJ		SUZ		MOT		FUJ		SUZ		MOT		FUJ		SUG		Points
1	Yūji Kunimoto	2	1	3	3	1	2	1	4	1	3	3	3	1	1	1	1	272
2	Kimiya Satō	4	6	4	6	6	7	2	2	2	1	14	2	3	3	6	2	171
3	Katsumasa Chiyo	3	14	1	1	2	1	7	9	7	5	15	4	2	21	7	Ret	136
4	Takamitsu Matsui	1	2	DNS	22	23	6	3	1	10	16	6	1	4	14	9	4	129
5	Makoto Kanai	16	15	6	5	13	16	13	5	21	10	2	5	9	2	5	6	78
6	Masayuki Yamashita	14	10	Ret	2	12	4	4	3	3	6	Ret	24	17	12	18	17	67
7	Tsubasa Mekaru	7	5	Ret	4	4	Ret	9	Ret	12	19	1	6	16	9	DNS	15	63
8	Naoya Gamou	13	12	13	7	24	Ret	6	Ret	4	2	10	10	15	22	3	3	62
9	Takashi Kobayashi	5	3	Ret	16	Ret	9	26	13	11	9	7	8	8	Ret	2	21	51
10	Kazuki Miura	6	19	11	Ret	25	3	23	6	5	4	22	17	Ret	24	10	8	46
11	Kōta Lee	17	Ret	7	14	7	8	5	24	Ret	12	17	11	5	6	12	10	34
12	Tohjirō Azuma	11	13	Ret	8	5	18	10	11	18	18	8	7	14	4	11	7	33
13	Yūichi Nakayama	10	4	8	13	20	Ret	12	8	6	Ret	5	Ret	11	10	13	13	32
14	Kenji Hosokawa	18	8	2	18	11	Ret	14	7	13	11	21	12	7	7	15	Ret	31
15	Daiki Sasaki	9	11	Ret	12	10	DNS	15	21	15	14	Ret	18	12	5	4	5	29
16	Kazuma Kokubu	23	21	5	Ret	8	Ret	8	10	16	21	4	9	13	13	14	12	27
17	Yūki Iwasaki	8	9	9	11	3	12	11	14	14	13	12	14	18	11	16	16	19
18	Toshihiro Hinata	12	7	Ret	9	18	5	17	16	9	Ret	Ret	21	10	18	19	9	19
19	Shigetomo Shimono	15	16	DNS	20	9	10	16	15	Ret	7	11	15	22	8	22	14	10
20	Hikaru Abe	20	24	15	Ret	15	14	21	12	8	22	9	13	19	19	8	18	8
21	Kōtarō Hatano	26	22	10	15	14	13	19	20	17	15	Ret	23	6	15	20	11	7
22	Igor Sushko	22	18	12	10	19	15	22	19	Ret	8	13	16	24	16	17	22	4
-	Kazuumi Kobayashi	21	23	14	19	17	11	18	18	19	20	18	19	20	17	24	20	0
-	Mika Kagoshima	25	20	16	21	16	Ret	24	17	23	23	16	Ret	21	20	23	24	0
-	Kōta Matsui	19	17	Ret	Ret	21	17	25	22	22	24	19	22	23	23	21	23	0
-	Kazuki Kawamura	24	25	Ret	17	22	Ret	20	23	20	17	20	20	Ret	25	Ret	19	0
Pos.	Driver	FUJ		SUZ		MOT		FUJ		SUZ		MOT		FUJ		SUG		Points

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Race winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
Black	Excluded (EX)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Race cancelled (C)
	Withdrew (WD)
Blank	Did not participate

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

References

^ "2008 Formula Challenge Japan - rounds". Super Formula | Formula Challenge Japan official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-11.
^ a b "2008 Formula Challenge Japan - Point standings". Super Formula | Formula Challenge Japan official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-11.

[1] "2008 Formula Challenge Japan - rounds". Super Formula | Formula Challenge Japan official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-11.

[:0-2] "2008 Formula Challenge Japan - Point standings". Super Formula | Formula Challenge Japan official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-11.