# Shinji Nakano

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

### 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.

## 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 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 |
| Source: |||||||||||||||

### 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 |
| 1997 | Prost Gauloises Blondes | Prost JS45 | Mugen-Honda MF-301HB 3.0 V10 | AUS 7 | BRA 14 | ARG Ret | SMR Ret | MON Ret | ESP Ret | CAN 6 | FRA Ret | GBR 11$^†$ | GER 7 | HUN 6 | BEL Ret | ITA 11 | AUT Ret | LUX Ret | JPN Ret | EUR 10 | 18th | 2 |
| 1998 | Fondmetal Minardi Team SpA | Minardi M198 | Ford JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10 | AUS Ret | BRA Ret | ARG 13 | SMR Ret | ESP 14 | MON 9 | CAN 7 | FRA 17$^†$ | GBR 8 | AUT 11 | GER Ret | HUN 15 | BEL 8 | ITA Ret | LUX 15 | JPN Ret | | 18th | 0 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||||||||
$^†$ 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 |
| 2000 | Walker Racing | 5 | Reynard 2Ki | Honda HR-0 V8t | MIA 8 | LBH | RIO | MOT 14 | NZR Wth | MIL 23 | DET 15 | POR 11 | CLE 15 | TOR 14 | MIS 20 | CHI 13 | MDO 19 | ROA 22 | VAN 19 | LS 26 | STL 21 | HOU 8 | SRF 21 | FON 16 | | 24th | 12 |
| 2001 | Fernández Racing | 52 | Reynard 01i | Honda HR-1 V8t | MTY 18 | LBH 12 | TXS NH | NZR 15 | MOT 8 | MIL 16 | DET 13 | POR 22 | CLE 22 | TOR 9 | MIS 22 | CHI 16 | MDO 18 | ROA 15 | VAN 14 | LAU 22 | ROC 17 | HOU 15 | LS 21 | SRF 12 | FON 21 | 26th | 11 |
| 2002 | Fernández Racing | 52 | Lola B02/00 | Honda HR-2 V8t | MTY 15 | LBH 12 | MOT 10 | MIL 18 | LS 14 | POR 11 | CHI 5 | TOR 4 | CLE 10 | VAN 11 | MDO 9 | ROA 11 | MTL 9 | DEN 16 | ROC 16 | MIA 14 | SRF 13 | FON 15 | MXC 14 | | | 17th | 43 |

#### IRL IndyCar Series

| Year | Team | Chassis | No. | 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 | Honda | HMS | PHX | MOT 11 | INDY 14 | TXS | PPIR | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIS | STL | KTY | NZR | CHI | FON | TX2 | 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 | GT500 | TAI Ret | SUG 8 | SEP 15 | TOK 10 | MOT 9 | AUT 10 | SUZ 9 | 13th | 9 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||

### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 2005 | Courage Compétition | Jonathan Cochet Bruce Jouanny | Courage C60H-Judd | LMP1 | 52 | DNF | DNF |
| 2006 | Courage Compétition | Jean-Marc Gounon Haruki Kurosawa | Courage LC70-Mugen | LMP1 | 35 | DNF | DNF |
| 2007 | Creation Autosportif Ltd. | Jamie Campbell-Walter Felipe Ortiz | Creation CA07-Judd | LMP1 | 55 | DNF | DNF |
| 2008 | Epsilon Euskadi | Stefan Johansson Jean-Marc Gounon | Epsilon Euskadi EE1-Judd | LMP1 | 158 | DNF | DNF |
| 2011 | OAK Racing | Nicolas de Crem Jan Charouz | OAK Pescarolo 01 Evo-Judd | LMP2 | 313 | 14th | 5th |
| 2012 | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Bastien Brière Jens Petersen | Oreca 03-Nissan | LMP2 | 325 | 24th | 10th |
| 2013 | Delta-ADR | Tor Graves Archie Hamilton | Oreca 03-Nissan | LMP2 | 101 | DNF | DNF |
| 2014 | Team Taisan | Martin Rich Pierre Ehret | Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 | GTE Am | 327 | 28th | 8th |
| 2016 | Race Performance | Nicolas Leutwiler James Winslow | Oreca 03R-Judd | LMP2 | 289 | 44th | 17th |
| Sources: ||||||||

### 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 8 | SHA | | 41st | 4 |
| 2013 | Delta-ADR | LMP2 | Oreca 03 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | SIL | SPA | LMS Ret | SÃO | COA | FUJ 4 | SHA | BHR | | 26th | 6 |
| 2016 | Manor | LMP2 | Oreca 05 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | SIL | SPA | LMS | NÜR | MEX | COA | FUJ 11 | SHA | BHR | 32nd | 0.5 |
| Sources: ||||||||||||||||