Formula Beat

Not to be confused with Formula 4 or F4 Japanese Championship.
Formula Beat
CategorySingle seaters
CountryJapan Japan
Inaugural season1993
Tyre suppliersYokohama (2008—2011)
Dunlop (2012–present)
Drivers' championJapan Itsuki Satō
Official websiteFormula 4

Formula Beat, known as JAF Japan Formula 4 (JAF 地方選手権 F4, JAF Chihou Senshuken) until its rebranding in 2023, is a formula racing class in Japan. The class was founded in 1993 by the Japan Automobile Federation as a class above FJ1600 and below the former All-Japan Formula Three Championship and the current Formula Regional Japanese Championship and Super Formula Lights.

Car

Formula Beat is an open chassis class, open for all chassis manufacturers. Since 2012 the engines have been limited to a maximum capacity of 2,000cc. Currently the cars are allowed to be fitted with a Honda K20A, Toyota 3ZR or Nissan SR20 engine. In the early 2010s, most cars were primarily built by Japanese constructor West Racing Cars, but the championship has since seen entries from older Dallara-built Formula 3 cars and Tatuus chassis.

Champions

1993-1996

Season Suzuka Champion TI Champion Tsukuba (1993-96)/Mine Champion Super F4 Champion
1993 Japan Ryō Michigami Japan Ryō Michigami Not held Not held
1994 Japan Hiroshi Sasaki Japan Yutaka Okano
1995 Japan Shōta Mizuno Japan Tatsuya Mizutani Japan Yasuhisa Fujiwara
1996 Japan Tsuyoshi Takahashi Japan Ryōhei Sakaguchi Japan Takaya Tsubobayashi
1997 Japan Yūsuke Matsuura Japan Akihiro Asai Japan Seiji Yoshimura
1998 Japan Kōta Sasaki Japan Naoki Yokobayashi Japan Kōta Sasaki Japan Naoki Yokobayashi
1999 Not held Japan Hideki Nishimura Japan Takeshi Ohtani
2000 Japan Shun Nakamura Japan Takahiro Ogawa

1997-present

Season Kantō Champion Kansai Champion
1997 Japan Akihiro Asai N/A
1998 Japan Takeyuki Kishi N/A
1999 Japan Touya Higuchi Japan Keita Sawa
2000 Japan Issei Nishio Japan Hideaki Nakao
2001 Japan Naohiro Kawano Japan Kenji Kanehisa
2002 Japan Tetsuya Fujisawa Japan Katsumasa Katayose
2003 Japan Kei Idaka Japan Kenji Ōtaki
Season East Champion West Champion
2004 Japan Masanobu Katō Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi
2005 Japan Satoru Okada Japan Masaki Tanaka
2006 Japan Muneyuki Kurihara Japan Taku Ikeda
2007 Japan Kei Idaka Japan Yoshinari Tomimoto
2008 Japan Yūsuke Tsuchiya Japan Shōta Hanaoka
2009 Japan Tsubasa Kondō Japan Shōta Hanaoka
2010 Japan Makoto Kanai Japan Naoki Nishimoto
2011 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi Japan Ryo Hirakawa
2012 Japan Ryōsuke Takehira Japan Kosuke Hattori
2013 Japan Kenta Yamashita Japan Shintarō Kawabata
2014 Japan Yuichi Mikasa Japan Yūya Hiraki
2015 Japan Tadasuke Makino Japan Tadasuke Makino
2016 Japan Toshiki Ōyu Japan Toshiki Ōyu
2017 Japan Yūki Tsunoda Japan Keisuke Ohara
2018 Japan Makoto Kanai Japan Norio Kubo
Champion
2019 Japan Kouhei Tokumasu
2020 Japan Isao Nakajima
2021 Japan Yūya Motojima
2022 Japan Itsuki Satō
2023 Japan Kōta Sasaki