Interview - Japanese racing legend SatoshiMotoyama looks back on his F1 test outings with Jordan and Renault and his short-lived bid to break into grand prix racing:
Back in 2013, Autosport compiled a list of the 50 greatest drivers never to have raced in F1. Just one Japanese driver made the grade, and that was Satoshi Motoyama, who at No. 27 ranked ahead of some illustrious names, including the late Gonzalo Rodriguez,, multiple GT champion Christophe Bouchut and Le Mans ace Andre Lotterer .
That was because he was focused purely on building his reputation in Japan, which he succeeded in doing with Formula Nippon titles in 1998 and 2001. But at the start of the season that would yield his third crown in 2003, the passing of his childhood friend Daijiro Kato in a crash in that year’s MotoGP race at Suzuka prompted a change of approach.
Jordan was among the teams to agree to give up a certain amount of private testing in 2003 in exchange for being able to run a third car on Fridays during grand prix weekends. This is what opened the door for Motoyama to drive at that year’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, offering a suitably low-pressure way for him to sample an F1 car around a familiar track.
A week after the Japanese GP, Motoyama duly wrapped up his third Formula Nippon crown with a race to spare at Motegi, and the following month he and NISMO co-driver Michael Krumm delivered Nissan the title in JGTC, the forerunner to SUPER GT. It was the latter achievement that opened the door for a second bite of the F1 testing cherry.
Motoyama was benchmarked against Alonso in the 2003 Jerez test for Renault, but had no chance to earn a race seat with the Spaniard and Trulli already signed upOf his day in the R23B, Motoyama recalls: “Renault finished high up in that year’s championship [fourth], so compared to the Jordan, it was more refined, felt more high-quality, and was an extremely easy car to drive. I don’t really know what they [the Renault hierarchy] thought of my performance.
“Even so, during that winter I searched for every possibility I could. There were a lot of problems involving money, so it was a stressful and tough winter. On top of that, at the same time I lost my seat in Japan [with Team Impul in Formula Nippon].” Motoyama managed to win a race for 5Zigen but a title shot proved beyond his reach, although he and new team-mate Richard Lyons were able to successfully defend Nissan’s JGTC crown.
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