Lyons, who is actively seeking a Formula One drive for the 2005 season took the title in his DoCoMo Dandelion Lola ahead of Team Nakajima’s Andre Lotterer who scored the same amount of points and positions as Lyons but lost out due to the simple fact that he finished below the Ulsterman in the crucial final race.

Starting from pole position, Lyons headed the rest of the field in to the first corner with Lotterer suffering a poor start and completing the first lap at the rear of the field. Lyons led the Impul Lola of Benoit Treluyer and the 5Zigen Lola of reigning champion Satoshi Motoyama in the early stages until the mandatory pit stops.

This nearly spelt disaster for Lyons who suffered a slow stop and re-emerged in second position behind Treluyer and with fellow title challenger Yuji Ide (Impul Lola) climbing all over him. However, after being assured by his team that Lotterer was not in a point scoring position after the German slid off the track at the ‘S’curve in the closing stages, Lyons could now afford to relax a little and he sensibly let Ide past in the closing stages, safe in the knowledge that he was in line for the title.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Lyons after the race. "It's a tremendously satisfying feeling to have brought DoCoMo Dandelion their first title. It's been a lot of hard work this year and I'd just like to thank everyone at the team for all their efforts."

"Formula Nippon has got to be the best preparation for F1 that there is and I'm very proud to be following in the footsteps of the likes of Ralf Schumacher in winning this title. It was a hectic weekend and I can take some satisfaction in knowing that I had what it took when the chips were down."

Lyons has also been racing in the All Japanese GT Championship this season with the NISMO team, sharing a Nissan Xanavi Z with Satoshi Motoyama and leading the championship with wins at Aida and Autopolis.