Dandelion Racing

Dandelion Racing

Founded	1993
Base	Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture
Team principal(s)	Kiyoshi Muraoka
Current series	Super Formula
Former series	JTCC Japanese Formula 3 Championship
Current drivers	Tadasuke Makino Kakunoshin Ohta
Teams' Championships	2012 2019
Drivers' Championships	2004: Richard Lyons 2020: Naoki Yamamoto

Koudai Tsukakoshi driving the Honda-powered Swift 017.n for Dandelion Racing in 2012

Dandelion Racing is a Japanese racing team, mainly running in Super Formula. The team was founded by Kiyoshi Muraoka in 1989 as "Dandelion Racing Project".

Early years (1993–1998)

The team made a small sponsor contract with NTT Docomo in 1993. It made a way to enter the Japanese local racing series. The team ran in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship (1993 and 1994 seasons) and Japanese Touring Car Championship (1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998), and suffered from poor results through the 1990s.

The relationship with NTT Docomo will continue to date, though there is no capital ties.

Formula Nippon/Super Formula (1999–)

In 1999, the team switched from the defunct JTCC to Formula Nippon as a Honda engine user. Though the team continuously suffered from poor result at first, the fortune was changed in the 2002 season when Richard Lyons scored team's first point-finish in the series with finishing 2nd at the SUGO round.

In the 2003 season, Lyons won the Suzuka round in July. It was also the first race win for the team. In the 2004 season, Lyons became the drivers' champion of the series and the team finished as 3rd in the teams' championship. During the following years, the team came to leave steady results. In 2012, the last season of Formula Nippon, the team became the teams' champion of the series with beating TOM'S at the final round of the season.

Kakunoshin Ohta and Tadasuke Makino driving for Dandelion Racing in 2024.

Nobuharu Matsushita returned to Japan after two seasons in the GP2 Series and one season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, joining the team. He takes the seat of Takuya Izawa, who moved to Nakajima Racing.[1] 2018 champion Naoki Yamamoto moves to the team in 2019 after eight seasons driving for Team Mugen. He is joined by Nirei Fukuzumi, who completed a partial season with Mugen in 2018 alongside FIA Formula 2. Nobuharu Matsushita leaves Team Dandelion after a single season, returning to Formula 2 with Carlin.[2] Yamamoto won his title in 2020, and the teams title in 2019. Yamamoto only stayed with the team for 2 seasons, and he replaced by Tadasuke Makino.[3] Fukuzumi clinched runners up in 2021, then he replaced by Rookie champion Hiroki Otsu for 2022.[4][5] Otsu then replaced by Kakunoshin Ohta.[6]

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results

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

Year	Chassis	Engine	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	D.C.	Pts	T.C.	Pts
Formula Nippon
1999	Reynard 99L	Mugen	68	Rubén Derfler	SUZ Ret	MOT 11	MIN 9	FUJ 17	SUZ 12	SUG 14	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	MOT Ret	SUZ 15		22nd	0	12th	0
2000	Reynard 2KL	Mugen	68	Ryo Michigami	SUZ Ret	MOT 13	MIN Ret	FUJ Ret	SUZ 10	SUG Ret	MOT 8	FUJ 7	MIN 9	SUZ Ret		16th	0	11th	0
2001	Reynard 2KL	Mugen	68	Hideki Noda	SUZ Ret	MOT Ret	MIN Ret	FUJ 13	SUZ 12	SUG Ret	FUJ 13	MIN Ret	MOT Ret	SUZ 11		21st	0	11th	0
	Reynard 99L		69	Jaroslaw Wierczuk	SUZ 14	MOT Ret	MIN 13	FUJ DNS								22nd	0
				Hidetoshi Mitsusada					SUZ 13	SUG	FUJ	MIN	MOT	SUZ		23rd	0
2002	Reynard 2KL	Mugen	68	Jonathan Cochet	SUZ 13	FUJ 8										19th	0	6th	6
				Richard Lyons			MIN 7	SUZ 8	MOT 11	SUG 2	FUJ 7	MIN Ret	MOT 7	SUZ Ret		10th	6
2003	Lola B3/51	Mugen	40	Richard Lyons	SUZ 9	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	MOT 3	SUZ 1	SUG 5	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	MOT 3	SUZ 9		6th	20	6th	23
			41	Naoki Hattori	SUZ 8	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	MOT 11	SUZ 8	SUG 9	FUJ 9	MIN 4	MOT 7	SUZ 11		13th	3
2004	Lola B3/51	Mugen	40	Richard Lyons	SUZ 8	SUG 1	MOT 8	SUZ 1	SUG 4	MIN 8	SEP 9	MOT 2	SUZ 3			1st	33	3rd	40
			41	Naoki Hattori	SUZ 7	SUG 7	MOT Ret	SUZ 10	SUG 6	MIN 10	SEP 2	MOT Ret	SUZ 10			9th	7
2005	Lola B3/51	Mugen	1	Richard Lyons	MOT 1	SUZ 5	SUG 2	FUJ 4	SUZ 3	MIN Ret	FUJ 4	MOT 13	SUZ 5			3rd	30	2nd	37
			2	Naoki Hattori	MOT 3	SUZ 6	SUG 6	FUJ 10	SUZ 7	MIN 6	FUJ 7	MOT 7	SUZ 14			12th	7
2006	Lola FN06	Honda	40	Björn Wirdheim	FUJ 4	SUZ 2	MOT 4	SUZ Ret	AUT 6	FUJ 6	SUG 6	MOT 11	SUZ 9			6th	13.5	5th	13.5
			41	Katsuyuki Hiranaka	FUJ 17	SUZ 11	MOT Ret									22nd	0
				Yuji Ide				SUZ 12	AUT 12	FUJ 11	SUG Ret	MOT Ret	SUZ 10			21st	0
2007	Lola FN06	Honda	40	Björn Wirdheim	FUJ 4	SUZ 13	MOT 11	OKA 11	SUZ 2	FUJ 8	SUG Ret	MOT 7	SUZ 8			9th	17	6th	20
			41	Fabio Carbone	FUJ 15	SUZ 15	MOT Ret	OKA 13	SUZ 6	FUJ 15	SUG 9	MOT 18	SUZ Ret			15th	3
2008	Lola FN06	Honda	40	Kosuke Matsuura	FUJ 12	SUZ 16	MOT 12	OKA 13	SUZ 9	SUZ Ret	MOT 10	MOT 6	FUJ 8	FUJ 1	SUG 13	18th	3.5	11th	7.5
			41	Takeshi Tsuchiya	FUJ 8	SUZ 14	MOT 14	OKA 12	SUZ 16	SUZ Ret	MOT 8	MOT 14	FUJ 11	FUJ 11	SUG 14	17th	4
2009	Swift 017.n	Honda	40	Richard Lyons	FUJ Ret	SUZ 6	MOT 7	FUJ 3	SUZ 13	MOT Ret	AUT 10	SUG 13				10th	11	6th	25
			41	Takuya Izawa	FUJ 2	SUZ 7	MOT DNS	FUJ Ret	SUZ 8	MOT 9	AUT 6	SUG 11				8th	14
2010	Swift 017.n	Honda	1	Loïc Duval	SUZ 6	MOT 4	FUJ 14	MOT 1	SUG 2	AUT DNS	SUZ 1	SUZ 4				3rd	39.5	4th	40.5
			2	Takuya Izawa	SUZ 5	MOT 11	FUJ 9	MOT 11	SUG 6	AUT DNS	SUZ 11	SUZ 11				11th	7
2011	Swift 017.n	Honda	40	Takuya Izawa	SUZ 4	AUT 6	FUJ 10	MOT 6	SUZ C	SUG DSQ	MOT Ret	MOT 10				9th	11	3rd	36.5
			41	Koudai Tsukakoshi	SUZ 7	AUT 3	FUJ 5	MOT 4	SUZ C	SUG 4	MOT1 3	MOT2 8				4th	26.5
2012	Swift 017.n	Honda	40	Takuya Izawa	SUZ 6	MOT 4	AUT 2	FUJ 13	MOT 5	SUG 1	SUZ 1	SUZ 6				3rd	41.5	1st	78.5
			41	Koudai Tsukakoshi	SUZ 2	MOT 5	AUT 1	FUJ 9	MOT 3	SUG 2	SUZ1 3	SUZ2 3				2nd	43
Super Formula
2013	Swift SF13	Honda	40	Takuya Izawa	SUZ 1	AUT Ret	FUJ 5	MOT Ret	SUG Ret	SUZ 10	SUZ 9					7th	15	7th	15
			41	Hideki Mutoh	SUZ 13	AUT Ret	FUJ 13	MOT 12	SUG 10	SUZ1 12	SUZ2 10					NC	0
2014	Dallara SF14	Honda	40	Tomoki Nojiri	SUZ 9	FUJ Ret	FUJ 15	FUJ 12	MOT 9	AUT 9	SUG 1	SUZ 12	SUZ 9			10th	10	6th	14
			41	Hideki Mutoh	SUZ 10	FUJ 10	FUJ 12	FUJ 11	MOT 5	AUT 10	SUG 12	SUZ 13	SUZ 12			15th	4
2015	Dallara SF14	Honda	40	Tomoki Nojiri	SUZ 8	OKA 3	FUJ 8	MOT 6	AUT 10	SUG 3	SUZ 5	SUZ Ret				7th	19	5th	25
			41	Narain Karthikeyan	SUZ 3	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	MOT 9	AUT 14	SUG 13	SUZ 12	SUZ 14				11th	6
2016	Dallara SF14	Honda	40	Tomoki Nojiri	SUZ 9	OKA 4	FUJ 13	MOT Ret	OKA 4	OKA 16	SUG 3	SUZ 4	SUZ Ret			9th	14.5	4th	36.5
			41	Stoffel Vandoorne	SUZ 3	OKA 12	FUJ Ret	MOT 6	OKA 1	OKA 7	SUG 6	SUZ 17	SUZ 1			4th	27
2017	Dallara SF14	Honda	40	Tomoki Nojiri	SUZ 16	OKA 13	OKA 10	FUJ 10	MOT 8	AUT 14	SUG 12	SUZ C	SUZ C			17th	2	8th	6
			41	Takuya Izawa	SUZ 8	OKA 14	OKA Ret	FUJ 6	MOT Ret	AUT 15	SUG 8	SUZ C	SUZ C			13th	5
2018	Dallara SF14	Honda	5	Tomoki Nojiri	SUZ 3	AUT C	SUG 7	FUJ 14	MOT 8	OKA 4	SUZ 9					7th	12.5	5th	18.5
			6	Nobuharu Matsushita	SUZ 12	AUT C	SUG 10	FUJ 9	MOT 4	OKA 9	SUZ 7					11th	7
2019	Dallara SF19	Honda	1	Naoki Yamamoto	SUZ 2	AUT 2	SUG 1	FUJ 11	MOT 9	OKA 7	SUZ 5					2nd	33	1st	50
			5	Nirei Fukuzumi	SUZ 11	AUT 5	SUG 5	FUJ 9	MOT 5	OKA Ret	SUZ 3					7th	18
2020	Dallara SF19	Honda	5	Naoki Yamamoto	MOT 13	OKA 6	SUG 3	AUT 2	SUZ 1	SUZ Ret	FUJ 5					1st	62	3rd	72
			6	Nirei Fukuzumi	MOT 5	OKA 8	SUG 10	AUT 9	SUZ Ret	SUZ 2	FUJ 16					8th	29
2021	Dallara SF19	Honda	5	Nirei Fukuzumi	FUJ 3	SUZ Ret	AUT 13	SUG 1	MOT Ret	MOT2 12	SUZ2 1					2nd	55	2nd	86
			6	Ukyo Sasahara	MOT 5	SUZ 3										12th	18
				Tadasuke Makino			AUT 14	SUG 5	MOT 7	MOT2 3	SUZ2 10					9th	24
2022	Dallara SF19	Honda	5	Tadasuke Makino	FUJ 6	FUJ Ret	SUZ 3	AUT 6	SUG 4	FUJ 5	MOT 4	MOT 3	SUZ 7	SUZ 9		5th	61	4th	91
			6	Hiroki Otsu	FUJ 16	FUJ 7	SUZ 8	AUT 9	SUG 5	FUJ 15	MOT 10	MOT 13	SUZ 13	SUZ 2		9th	33
2023	Dallara SF23	Honda	5	Tadasuke Makino	FUJ 14	FUJ 8	SUZ 15	AUT 6	SUG 3	FUJ 2	MOT Ret	SUZ 4‡	SUZ 10			6th	43	3rd	69.5
			6	Kakunoshin Ohta	FUJ 15	FUJ 19	SUZ 17	AUT 16	SUG 15	FUJ 6	MOT Ret	SUZ 3	SUZ 1			7th	35.5
2024	Dallara SF23	Honda	5	Tadasuke Makino	SUZ 10	AUT 1	SUG 4‡	FUJ 5	MOT 1	FUJ 4	FUJ 3	SUZ 3	SUZ 8			3rd	86	1st	148
			6	Kakunoshin Ohta	SUZ 4	AUT 5	SUG 14	FUJ DNS	MOT 19†	FUJ 9	FUJ 4	SUZ 1	SUZ 1			4th	75

Notable and veteran drivers

Formula Nippon/Super Formula

• Richard Lyons (2002–2005, 2009)
• Naoki Hattori (2003–2005)
• Takuya Izawa (2009–2013, 2017)
• Tomoki Nojiri (2014–2018)
• Stoffel Vandoorne (2016)

References

1. "Honda 2018 Motorsports Program Overview". world.honda.com. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
2. Klein, Jamie (19 November 2018). "Honda to switch F2 racers Fukuzumi, Makino to Super Formula in 2019". Autosport. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
3. "Honda junior Ren Sato gets Super Formula Lights and Super GT seats".
4. "Honda outlines Super Formula driver roster for 2022". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
5. "Mugen adds second Super Formula entry, signs Sasahara". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
6. "Honda 2023 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Racing. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.

External links

• Dandelion Racing official website - (in Japanese)