Asian trio set for Formula Nippon?

After the two day pre-season official test sessions at the TwinRing Motegi, Asia's Andre Couto and India's Narain Karthikeyan looks set to join Malaysia's Alex Yoong in the 2001 Formula Nippon championship.

Andre Couto impressed the Morinaga Nova team by setting his best time over the 2 days of 1min 35.287secs, to be placed sixth overall in the combined results, after completing 64 laps. He is expected to sign up with the Morinaga Nova team that ran Britain's Ralph Firman in the last two seasons.

Narain Karthikeyan only had two hours of testing (32 laps) due to an engine change on the second day after Satoshi Motoyama's extensive development tests with the Impul team. Given his limited running he seemed to have done enough to also impress the Impul team principal, twice Formula Nippon champion, Kazuyoshi Hoshino to warrant consideration of a seat at the team. Karthikeyan clocked 1min 36.235secs to be placed fourteenth fastest.

Alex Yoong maintained his third fastest position over two days (despite not running on the second day) with his time of 1min 35.029secs set in the last lap of 72 laps on day 1. He is already confirmed to drive with Malaysia Team LeMans in 2001.

1998 Formula Nippon champion Satoshi Motoyama (J) reinforced his strong intention to reclaim the title by topping the two day times with 1min 34.060secs in just 52 laps of running. He was the runner-up in 1999 and third in this year's championship behind Team Nakajima's Toranasuke Takagi and Team 5Zigen's Michael Krumm from Germany.

Japan's Ryo Michigami who had the most laps run (155 laps) over the two days, tested with both the Mooncraft and Docomo Dandelion team's to clock the second fastest time with a lap of 1min 34.327secs. Team Nakajima's Tsugio Matsuda who is expected to pilot car #1 next year was fourth fastest at 1min 35.053secs.

Team ARTA's veteran Formula Nippon racer and LeMans 24hr. campaigner, Juichi Wakisaka finished fifth in Alex Yoong's #21 Malaysia Team LeMans car after 58 laps of running.

Other top drivers from Europe who tested were Donimik Schwager of Germany with Team Nakajima, who set a best time of 1min 35.297secs - good enough for seventh fastest after 89 laps. Christijan Albers of Holland was the next quickest European on a 1min 36.208secs (thirteenth quickest) after 101 laps.

Former British F3 driver, Ben Collins, managed a 1min 36.250secs lap for fifteenth, while putting 91 laps in a Formula Nippon car under his belt. Behind Collins, Sebastien Phillipe (France) would end the test sixteenth fastest after 85 laps, while Germany's Alex Muller finished eighteenth fastest.

Italian F3 champion Peter Sundberg of Sweden, is also chasing a Formula Nippon drive and was seen at Motegi over the two day test. While it has become an open secret that South Africa's Jaguar F1 team's test driver, Tomas Scheckter, the French F3 Champion Jonathan Cochet and the Austrian Japan F3 campaigner Robert Lechner are also interested in a Formula Nippon drive next year.

Meanwhile Britain's 1996 F3 Champion Ralph Firman is scouting the States for an IRL seat and may well return for yet another season in Formula Nippon if his trip to the States fails to turn up something positive.

With last year's Formula Nippon runner up, Michael Krumm expected to be retained along with N. Hattori at Team 5Zigen (which did not test at Motegi) and with only five seats left unfilled, some of the 10 top European racers chasing for seats are bound to be left disappointed, with no drive available for the 2001 season.

The Formula Nippon championship appears rejuvenated and is expecting a boom year for the start of the new millennium. Time will tell if it can evolve further to be the FIA Asian Formula 3000 Championship with rounds in Malaysia, China and Korea in addition to Japan in the years to come.

Pre-Season joint testing times from TwinRing Motegi (7-8 Dec)

1.Satoshi Motoyama (J) IMPUL 1min 34.060secs
2.Ryo Michigami (J) MOONCRAFT 1min 34.327secs
3.Alex Yoong (MAL) TEAM MALAYSIA LeMans 1min 35.029secs
4.Tsugio Matsuda (J) PIAA NAKAJIMA 1min 35.053secs
5.Juichi Wakisa (J) TEAM MALAYSIA LeMans 1min 35.278secs
6.Andre Couto (MAC) Morinaga NOVA 1min 35.287secs
7.Dominik Schwager (D) PIAA NAKAJIMA 1min 35.297secs
8.Daisuke Ito (J) PIAA NAKAJIMA 1min 35.298secs
9.Seiji Ara (J) COSMO OIL CERUMO 1min 35.369secs
10.Masami Kageyama (J) COSMO OIL CERUMO 1min 35.859secs
11.Ryo Michigami (J) DoCoMo DANDELION 1min 36.027secs
12.Koji Yamanishi(J) Morinaga NOVA 1min 36.091secs
13.Christijan Albers (F) COSMO OIL CERUMO 1min 36.208secs
14.Narain Karthikeyan (IND) IMPUL 1min 36.235secs
15.Ben Collins (GB) DoCoMo DANDELION 1min 36.250secs
16.Sebastien Philippe (F) ARTA 1min 36.385secs
17.Hidetoshi Mitsusada (J) Morinaga NOVA 1min 36.611secs
18.Alexander Muller (D) Morinaga NOVA 1min 37.892secs
19.Kosuke Matsuura (J) ARTA 1min 38.570secs
20.Masataka Yanagida (J) ARTA 1min 39.124secs