Formula Toyota

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CategorySingle seaters
Inaugural season1990
Folded2007
ConstructorsArgo-Tom's (1990–1994)
Tom's (1995–2001)
Toyota (2002–2007)
Engine suppliersToyota
Tyre suppliersBridgestone (2002–2007)
Last Drivers' championItaly Kei Cozzolino
Last Teams' championJapan Team Le Beauset
Official websiteFormula Toyota

Formula Toyota was a spec racing series in Japan between 1991 and 2007. Many Japanese Formula One drivers, like Kazuki Nakajima and Toranosuke Takagi, made their racing debut in the Formula Toyota. The class folded after the 2007 season when it was effectively replaced by the Formula Challenge Japan.

History

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The Formula Toyota held its inaugural race in 1990, this race was won by Masami Kageyama. Toyota launched their first Formula 3 engine in 1991 and won both the drivers title and engine title in the 1991 Japanese Formula Three Championship.[1] Together with their Formula 3 engine Toyota launched their own racing class, Formula Toyota. The first generation car, the Argo-Tom's FT10, uses an aluminium monocoque. The car was powered by a Toyota 4A-GE engine, which produced 140hp. The FT10 was used until 1994 when it was replaced by a Tom's built FT20. This car was powered by a 5-valve engine, replacing the previous 4-valve engine. In 1995 the Formula Toyota Racing School was founded and the best driver from each class won a fully funded drive in the Formula Toyota championship. Between 1991 and 1999 there were two Formula Toyota championships, Main and West. But after the fields became smaller Toyota merged the two classes into one class for the 2000 season. The championships last race was on November 25, 2007 at Fuji International Speedway. The race was won by Italian-Japanese driver Kei Cozzolino. Team Le Beauset was the most successful team in Formula Toyota, their drivers won the championship six times.

The series folded after the creation of the Formula Challenge Japan. Nissan, Honda and Toyota joined forces and created this racing class in 2006. The Formula Challenge Japan was replaced by the Japan Formula 4 after the 2013 season. In New Zealand the Toyota Racing Series, also known as Formula Toyota, currently uses a Tatuus built Toyota FT40. There is no relationship between the Japanese series and this one except the use of Toyota engines.

Champions

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Year Championship Car
1990 Japan Masami Kageyama[2] Argo-Tom's FT10
Main West
1991 Japan Eiichi Tajima Japan Hidehiro Mochizuki Argo-Tom's FT10
1992 Japan Tomoyuki Hosono Japan Masayuki Yamamoto Argo-Tom's FT10
1993 Japan Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Japan Eiji Sengoku Argo-Tom's FT10
1994 Japan Shigeaki Hattori Japan Jiro Nakatani Argo-Tom's FT10
1995 Japan Takahiro Fujita Japan Yuji Tachikawa Tom's FT20
1996 Japan Yasuhisa Fujiwara Japan Shinya Kurushima Tom's FT20
1997 Argentina Rubén Derfler Japan Shinichi Takagi Tom's FT20
1998 Japan Masahiro Tsukiji Japan Tomoyuki Inoue Tom's FT20
1999 Japan Kaichi Sato Japan Satoshi Inoue Tom's FT20
Championship
2000 Japan Satoshi Goto[3] Tom's FT20
2001 Japan Naoki Yokomizo[4] Tom's FT20
2002 Japan Wataru Kobayakawa[5] FT30
2003 Japan Kazuki Nakajima[6] FT30
2004 Japan Hideto Yasuoka[7] FT30
2005 Japan Kazuya Oshima[8] FT30
2006 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi[9] FT30
2007 Italy Kei Cozzolino[10] FT30

Other notable drivers

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References

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