In 1996, Fontana entered Formula Nippon for the Nova Engineering team driving a Lola T96/51 Mugen. His highlights were finishing 2nd twice in Fuji in a season that included multiple accidents, mechanical failures and poor results. For 1997, he drove for the Le Mans team in their Reynard 97D Mugen. The season started badly but made a comeback to finish 5th in Fuji, a win at Mine and 3rd in Motegi.
