Shinji Nakano

Shinji Nakano, born 1 April 1971, started his racing career aged 13. He won national races and championships in karting during five seasons. He then moved to single-seaters, first in F3 and later in F3000, always in Japan.

Supported by Honda, he reached Formula One with Prost GP in 1997 and then with Minardi in 1998. He started 33 F1 Grand Prix, scored two championship points with a pair of sixth place finishes for Prost GP in 1997, but did not really impress, because often qualifying in the back of the grid.

Without a Formula One drive, Nakano then tried his luck in the American Cart series where he took 56 starts, with a best result of 4th at the 2002 Molson Indy Toronto race. He then participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times between 2006 and 2012.

Picture below: Shinji Nakano aboard his Prost JS45 at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix where he qualified in 16th, just half a second slower than team mate Trulli, and finished in 6th position and in the points, after a solid race.