Fuji Intl. Speedway, Japan -RIJ- Young German Ralf Schumacher won the 1996 All Japan Formula Nippon Championship after he and his rivals were all retired in wet race.
Younger brother of Michael Schumacher and 1997 Jordan Peugoet's Formula One driver started from ninth grid of tenth and final round of Formula Nippon Series, but first start was red flagged after big incidents at 1-2 corner on first lap. When pole winner Kazuyoshi Hoshino spun, following drivers tried to avoid Hoshino's Lola-Mugen, then Satoshi Motoyama, Naoki Hattori, Takuya Kurosawa crashed at 1-2 corner, but Ralf Schumacher was not involved in this big accident. There was no injury driver, but Motoyama's Super Aguri team couldn't repair his Reynard Mugen until re-start.
On re-start after free practice, there was no incident and Toranosuke Takagi led the race from fourth grid at first corner, but he was passed by Hoshino and Hattori, soon.
On third lap, Ralf Schumacher spun off at Dunlop Corner and retired. At this point, if Hattori would get 4th or higher result, he would be 1996 Champion and if Hoshino won and Hattori failed to get points, Hoshino would be Champion. But, Hoshino stopped at pit after he completed fourth lap.
After Hoshino retired, Hattori led the race until about 20th lap, but he was passed by Katsutomo Kaneishi, another Super Aguri Team's driver.
Hattori kept second position until 38th lap, but he got collision with Spanish Pedoro De La Rosa and retired. At this point, Ralf Schumacher won 1996 Formula Nippon Championship.
Katsutomo Kaneishi won the race, followed by De La Rosa and Masahiko Kageyama. Shinji Nakano, expected to drive Ligier Mugen-Honda Formula One car in 1997, got fourth after 10 seccond pit stop penalty and marked fastest lap time.
After Formula Nippon final race has been delayed, F3 Championship's final race was canceled because of sunset.
Fuji, Japan -RIJ- Here are the Results of Sunday's All Japan Championship, Formula Nippon Round-10 (Final Round) at Fuji International Sppeedway:
RACE RESULTS:
October 20, 1996. Weather: Rain, Course: Wet
Po No Driver Car Engine Lap Time km/h
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1 55 Katsutomo Kaneiishi(J) Reynard 95D Mugen 45 1:13'56.568 163.008
2 9 Pedoro De La Rosa (E) Lola T96/51 Mugen 45 1:14'30.406 161.774
3 27 Masahiko Kageyama (J) Reynard 95D Mugen 45 1:14'36.964 161.537
4 8 Shinji Nakano (J) Dome F104i Mugen 45 1:14'42.306 161.345
5 20 Andrew G.Scott (GB) Reynard 96D Mugen 44 1:15'30.661 156.071
6 28 Masahjiko Kondo (J) Reynard 95D Mugen 43 1:14'29.144 154.619
7 72 Atsushi Kawamoto (J) Lola T93 DFV 43 1:15'20.661 152.857
-------[ Did Not Classified:]------------------------------------------
73 Tetsuji Tamanaka (J) Lola T93 DFV 39 1:14'03.252 141.033
24 Naoki Hattori (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 38
12 Yukihiro Hane (J) Lola T94/50 Mugen 36
10 Norberto Fontana (RA) Lola T96/51 Mugen 30
7 Masami Kageyama (J) Lola T95/50 Mugen 23
65 Takuya Kurosawa (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 16
2 Katsumi Yamamoto (J) Dome104i Mugen 10
1 Toshio Suzuki (J) Lola T96/94 Mugen 9
6 Hidetoshi Mitsusada(J) Lola T94/50 Judd 7
64 Toranosuke Takagi (J) Reynard 96D Mugen 6
15 Masao Yamada (J) Lola T93 Mugen 5
19 Kazuyoshi Hoshino (J) Lola T96/52 Mugen 4
17 Taichiro Onishi (J) Lola T94/50 Mugen 3
25 Ralf Schumacher (D) Reynard 96D Mugen 2
5 Marco Apicella (I) Reynard 95D Judd 2
21 Michael Krumm (D) Reynard 95D Mugen 0
56 Satoshi Motoyama (J) Reynard 95D Mugen DNS
31 Hideki Okada (J) Lola T95 Mugen DNS
30 Eiichi Tajima (J) Lola T94 Mugen DNS
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Penalty: #8, Shnji Nakano, 10 second pit stop because of passing under
yellow flag.
Fastest Lap: #8, Shnji Nakano, 1'34.827, On Lap 22/45, 169.699 km/h
Championship Standing: (unofficial) (10-6-4-3-2-1)
Total Round
Pos.Driver Point ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10)
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1, Ralf Schumacher, 40 ( 4-10- 0-10- 3- 0- 0-10- 3- 0)
2, Naoki Hattori, 38 ( 0- 0- 6- 4- 4- 0-10- 4-10- 0)
3, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, 31 (10- 0- 4- 3- 2- 6- 0- 0- 6- 0)
4, Toranosuke Takagi, 25 ( 0- 4- 0- 0-10-10- 0- 0- 1- 0)
5, Norberto Fontana, 22 ( 0- 6-10- 0- 0- 6- 0- 0- 0- 0)
6, Shinji Nakano, 20 ( 6- 0- 0- 0- 1- 0- 4- 6- 0- 3)
7, Katsutomo Kaneishi, 19 ( 1- 0- 3- 2- 0- 0- 3- 0- 0-10)
8, Pedro De La Rosa, 13 ( 2- 0- 1- 1- 0- 0- 1- 0- 2- 6)
9, Takuya Kurosawa, 10 ( 0- 0- 0- 0- 6- 2- 0- 2- 0- 0)
10, Satoshi Motoyama, 9 ( 0- 0- 2- 0- 0- 4- 2- 1- 0- 0)
11, Masami Kageyama, 8 ( 0- 2- 0- 6- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0)
12, Toshio Suzuki, 7 ( 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 3- 4- 0)
13 Masahiko Kageyama, 4 ( 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 4)
14, Michael Krumm, 4 ( 3- 1- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0)
15, Andrew G.Scott, 5 ( 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 3- 0- 0- 0- 2)
16, Marco Apicella, 3 ( 0- 3- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0)
17, Katsumi Yamamoto, 1 ( 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 1- 0- 0- 0- 0)
-- Masahiko Kondo, 1 ( 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 0- 1)
Data: NIFTY-Serve Auto Racing Forum.
RIJ-Mitsuru Sugaya/Tokyo,