Shinji Nakano (中野 信治, born 1 April 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver.
Nakano's father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship.
Racing career
Pre-Formula One career YearSeries1986All Japan Karting Championship9th1987All Japan Karting Championship2ndInternational Kart Grand Prix 1st1988All Japan Karting Championship3rd1989Japanese Formula Three7th1990Formula Vauxhall Lotus5thFormula Opel Lotus17th1991Formula Opel Lotus12th1992Japanese Formula Three24thJapanese Formula 3000NC1993Japanese Formula Three5th1994Japanese Formula Three3rdJapanese Formula 3000NC1995Japanese Formula 300011th1996Formula Nippon6th
Formula One career
Nakano made his debut at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne for the Prost Grand Prix team, owned by legendary four times Formula One World Champion Alain Prost. The season saw him score two world championship points with a pair of sixth places.
With his place at Prost heavily reliant on their engine partners Mugen-Honda, Nakano was dropped in favour of Jarno Trulli, with the second cockpit taken by Olivier Panis, when Prost switched to Peugeot engines. He subsequently joined Minardi for the season, alongside Esteban Tuero.
Nakano struggled in the under-powered, under-financed Italian team. He failed to score any points in 1998 and bowed out of Formula One racing for good at his home Grand Prix at Suzuka, Japan, having contested a total of 33 Grands Prix. He spent as an occasional test driver for the Jordan team, which also used Mugen-Honda engines.
After Formula One After Formula One, Nakano went to race in CART for Walker Racing and Fernandez Racing. He made 56 starts from 2000 to 2002 with a best points finish of seventeenth in 2002 and a best race result of fourth at the 2002 Molson Indy Toronto. He also started fifteenth in the 2003 Indianapolis 500 for Beck Motorsports, finishing fourteenth. He competed in the 2006 and 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans races and returned to the event in 2011 with OAK Racing and 2012 with the Boutsen Ginon squad.
Helmet Nakano's helmet was black with a black circle on the top surrounded by a white halo, with a red and silver flame design surrounding the visor and a black and silver checkered flag behind of it, in CART he changed the black for white, the halo became blue, the black circle became red, the checkered flag disappeared and the flame became red with blue outline. in Le Mans, he added more flames in the point where the checkered flag was.
Media appearances Since 2016, Nakano has served as a commentator on Formula One races for DAZN Japan. He was a guest on the TV Asahi variety programme Aruaru Gijido in March 2017.
Career statistics
Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points 1992 Nakajima Racing SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ AUT SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ NC 0 1994 Team Nova SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ FUJ FUJ NC 0 Nakajima Racing SUZ 1995 Speed Star Wheel Racing SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ TOK FUJ SUZ 11th 6 1996 Team Dome with Mugen SUZ MIN FUJ TOK SUZ SUG FUJ MIN SUZ FUJ 6th 20
Complete Formula One results (key) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WDC Points Prost Gauloises Blondes Prost JS45 Mugen-Honda MF-301HB 3.0 V10 AUS BRA ARG SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR11 GER HUN BEL ITA AUT LUX JPN EUR 18th 2 Fondmetal Minardi Team SpA Minardi M198 Ford JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10 AUS BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA17 GBR AUT GER HUN BEL ITA LUX JPN 18th 0 Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete American Open-Wheel Racing results (key)
CART Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points Ref 2000 Walker Racing 5 Reynard 2Ki Honda HR-0 V8tMIALBHRIOMOTNZRWthMILDETPORCLETORMISCHIMDOROAVANLSSTLHOUSRFFON24th12 2001 Fernández Racing 52 Reynard 01i Honda HR-1 V8tMTYLBHTXSNHNZRMOTMILDETPORCLETORMISCHIMDOROAVANLAUROCHOULSSRFFON 26th 11 2002 Fernández Racing Lola B02/00 Honda HR-2 V8tMTYLBHMOTMILLSPORCHITORCLEVANMDOROAMTLDENROCMIASRFFONMXC17th43
IRL IndyCar Series Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points Ref 2003 Beck Motorsports Dallara IR-03 54 HondaHMSPHXMOTINDYTXSPPIRRIRKANNSHMISSTLKTYNZRCHIFONTX2 29th 35
Complete JGTC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Points 2004 Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft Honda NSX GT500TAISUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZ 13th 9
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Courage Compétition Jonathan Cochet Bruce Jouanny Courage C60H-Judd LMP1 52 DNF DNF Courage Compétition Jean-Marc Gounon Haruki Kurosawa Courage LC70-Mugen LMP1 35 DNF DNF Creation Autosportif Ltd. Jamie Campbell-Walter Felipe Ortiz Creation CA07-Judd LMP1 55 DNF DNF Epsilon Euskadi Stefan Johansson Jean-Marc Gounon Epsilon Euskadi EE1-Judd LMP1 158 DNF DNF OAK Racing Nicolas de Crem Jan Charouz OAK Pescarolo 01 Evo-Judd LMP2 313 14th 5th Boutsen Ginion Racing Bastien Brière Jens Petersen Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 325 24th 10th Delta-ADR Tor Graves Archie Hamilton Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 101 DNF DNF Team Taisan Martin Rich Pierre Ehret Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEAm 327 28th 8th Race Performance Nicolas Leutwiler James Winslow Oreca 03R-Judd LMP2 289 44th 17th
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points 2012 ADR-Delta LMP2 Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SEB SPA LMS SIL SÃO BHR FUJ SHA 41st 4 2013 Delta-ADR LMP2 Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS SÃO COA FUJ SHA BHR 26th 6 2016 Manor LMP2 Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 32nd 0.5
References
External links
Shinji Nakano official website