Isabella Noriko: Difference between revisions

From Formula Rejects Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 28: Line 28:
She practices Shintoism.
She practices Shintoism.


She has residence in Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.
She has residences in Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.


== Results ==
== Results ==

Revision as of 17:19, 7 March 2018

Isabella Noriko (born 4/8/1964) is a Singaporean driver who would be the first driver in F1 to compete from Singapore as she competed for Larrousse Calmels in the 1988 Formula One season.

Early life

Born to a Japanese bussinessman who emigrated in the late 1950s to Singapore, and to a Italian mother, Noriko's early life was mostly spent in Japan, where she had a high class education and was known for acting in a strict manner, having no sense of humour, being stubborn and always aiming at being the best. She learned Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and English. She later became a Engineering graduate at the Tokyo University of Science.

Japanese racing (1984-86)

Her father later invited her and her mother to a racing event at Suzuka, the 1000km of 1984, due to a sponsor meeting. She was taken away by the racing, and asked her father to fund a few sportscar events, which while initially relunctant to, he accepted. Despite her inexperience with the machinery, he won some of these events, and eventually started to rise up in the Japanese racing scene.

In 1985, after she finished her graduate, she started to become interested in open-wheeler racing, and decided to give the Japanese Formula 2 a go. She in her first year was seen as a mediocre driver, but she did shine a few times, most notably, when she won the RRC Fuji F2 Champions race after a heated battle between Kenneth Acheson, Masahiro Hasemi, Keinji Takahashi and herself. In 1986 however, she improved this further. She challenged the title after some setbacks (most notably, a rather hard crash caused by Hideshi Matsuda which forced her to stay out a round). She then went onto score three grand chelems, and in the finale, was close to winning the title, if it wasn't for a faulty tyre in the pitlane. Even though she had the same points as Satoru Nakajima, Nakajima won on counter of having more points without the dropped ones. Despite this, she wasn't moved by this one bit and continued on.

CART (1987)

After her 1986 season, she took a trip back to Singapore. With the growing economy, many state companies supported her, in no small part thanks to conviction of his father of course. She then managed to land a seat at Galles Racing. In her CART stint, she surprised everyone by being Rookie of the Year in the Indy 500, and then in the championship, by finishing 7th overall. Her driving style, very safe on her tyres, was key in CART, and she was able to score some amazing points, which included that 5th place in the Indy 500. She amazed even more by scoring two 2nd places and a 3rd place in the finale.

Larrousse (1988-1992)

Noriko (background) retires from the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix as eventual race winner Frédéric-Maxime Voeckler (foreground) goes past.

After racing

After racing, Noriko returned to Singapore and became a very sucessful bussinesswoman, and was one of the main investors in the Singaporean Grand Prix.

Personal Life

Noriko's father, Ichirō (born 1912, died 2004), came from a very sucessful merchant family, and fervently supported the Japanese war effort. Her mother, Ilse Ciampac (born 1925), was an Austrian-Italian who her family emigrated during WW1.

She practices Shintoism.

She has residences in Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Results

Complete Japanese Formula Two results

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
1985 Advan Team Nova SUZ
4
FUJ
4
MIN
4
SUZ
4
SUZ
Ret
FUJ
1
SUZ
7
SUZ
6
4th 64 (70)
1986 Marlboro Team Nova SUZ
4
FUJ
3
MIN
Ret
SUZ
INJ
SUZ
1
FUJ
1
SUZ
1
SUZ
4
2nd 92

American Open-Wheel racing results

CART

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rank Points
1987 Galles Sport PHX
16
LBH
8
INDY
5
MIL
12
POR
9
MEA
4
CLE
22
TOR
DNS
MIC
8
POC
2
ROA
2
MDO
7
NAZ
12
LAG
5
MIA
3
7th 100

Formula One

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1988 Larrousse Calmels Larrousse LC88 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 BRA
Ret
SMR
Ret
MON
10
MEX
11
CAN
Ret
DET
17
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
HUN
Ret
YUG
DNQ
SOV
16
ITA
17
BEL
17
JAP
17
AUS
16
NC 0