Shinji_Nakano

Shinji Nakano

Japanese racing driver (born 1971)

For the Japanese track cyclist, see Shinji Nakano (cyclist). For the Japanese MotoGP rider, see Shinya Nakano.

Shinji Nakano (中野信治, born 1 April 1971^[1]) is a Japanese professional racing driver.

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Quick Facts Born, Formula One World Championship career ...

Shinji Nakano
Formula One World Championship career
Nakano in 2009
Born	(1971-04-01) 1 April 1971 (age 53) Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Active years	1997–1998
Teams	Prost, Minardi, Jordan (Test Driver)
Entries	33
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	2
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1997 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	1998 Japanese Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2005–2008, 2011–2014, 2016
Teams	Courage Compétition, Creation Autosportif, Epsilon Euskadi, OAK Racing
Best finish	14th (2011)
Class wins	0

His father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship.

Racing career

Pre Formula One Career

1984-'88:	Karting, several Japanese titles.(Mugen)
1989:	7th in Japanese Formula 3 championship
1990:	European Formula Opel Lotus Championship, 1 victory
1991:	Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries
1992:	Japanese Formula 3 and Formula 3000 championship
1993-'94:	Japanese Formula 3 championship
1995-'96:	Japanese Formula 3000 championship

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 1997 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 1998 season, alongside Esteban Tuero.^[2]

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 1999 as an occasional test driver for the Jordan team, which also used Mugen-Honda engines.^[3]

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 17th in 2002 and a best race result of 4th at the 2002 Molson Indy Toronto. He also started 15th in the 2003 Indianapolis 500 for Beck Motorsports, finishing 14th. 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 LeMans, he added more flames in the point where the checkered flag was.

Career statistics

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Entrant ...

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1992	Nakajima Racing	SUZ DNQ	FUJ 12	MIN Ret	SUZ DNQ	AUT Ret	SUG Ret	FUJ 12	FUJ 13	SUZ 14	FUJ 16	SUZ 9	NC	0
1994	Team Nova	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ Ret	FUJ	FUJ			NC	0
1994	Nakajima Racing										SUZ Ret		NC	0
1995	Speed Star Wheel Racing	SUZ Ret	FUJ C	MIN 7	SUZ Ret	SUG 3	FUJ Ret	TOK 5	FUJ 9	SUZ 8			11th	6
1996	Team Dome with Mugen	SUZ 2	MIN 13	FUJ Ret	TOK 9	SUZ 6	SUG 7	FUJ 3	MIN 2	SUZ 9	FUJ 4		6th	20