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The 1997 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the fifth season of the All-Japan GT Championship, now known as the Super GT Series, and the 15th season of top-level Japanese sports car racing dating back to the formation of the previous All-Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
Michael Krumm and Pedro de la Rosa won the GT500 class championship for Toyota Castrol Team in the #36 Castrol TOM's Supra. Hideo Fukuyama and Manabu Orido won the GT300 class championship for Racing Project Bandoh in the #19 Nissan Silvia.
The GT500 Drivers' Championship was decided on a tiebreaker for the first time in JGTC/Super GT history. The duo of De la Rosa and Krumm, and Toyota Team SARD driver Masami Kageyama each scored 67 points, with two victories, and one second place finish. But a third-place finish for De la Rosa and Krumm broke the tie, giving them the championship for the Toyota Castrol Team. De la Rosa became the first driver to win both the GT500 Drivers' Championship, and the Japanese Top Formula Championship in Formula Nippon (now Super Formula), in the same calendar year.
For the second year in a row, the GT Association (GTA) held a non-championship all-star race at the end of the year. The race was held at the new Twin Ring Motegi circuit which had opened earlier in the year. Instead of using the 4.801-kilometre road course, the series raced around the 2.414 km superspeedway oval with cone chicanes installed around the banked corners. The circuit, now known as Mobility Resort Motegi, staged its first championship race the following year and has remained on the JGTC/Super GT schedule ever since.
Round | Race | Circuit | Dates |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Suzuka GT 300 km | Suzuka Circuit | 29–30 March |
2 | All Japan Fuji GT Race | Fuji Speedway | 3–4 May |
3 | Hi-Land GT Championship | Sendai Hi-Land Raceway | 28–29 June |
4 | Japan Special GT Cup | Fuji Speedway | 9–10 August |
5 | CP Mine GT Race | Miné Circuit | 4–5 October |
6 | Sugo GT Championship | Sportsland SUGO | 25–26 October |
NC | Nicos Cup GT Allstar Race | Twin Ring Motegi | 15–16 November |
Drivers credited with winning Pole Position for their respective teams are indicated in bold text.
Rank [16] | Driver | No. | SUZ | FUJ | SEN | FUJ | MIN | SUG | MOT | MOT | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pedro de la Rosa Michael Krumm | No. 36 Toyota Castrol Team | 13 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 67 | |||
2 | Masami Kageyama | No. 39 Toyota Team SARD | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 67 | |
3 | Toshio Suzuki | No. 37 Toyota Castrol Team | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 64 | |
3 | Masanori Sekiya | No. 37 Toyota Castrol Team | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 64 | |||
No. 36 Toyota Castrol Team | Ret | 5 | ||||||||||
4 | Aguri Suzuki | No. 2 NISMO | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60 | |
5 | Tatsuya Tanigawa | No. 39 Toyota Team SARD | 1 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 52 | ||
6 | Érik Comas | No. 2 NISMO | 1 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 50 | ||
7 | Masahiro Hasemi Tetsuya Tanaka | No. 3 Hasemi Motorsports | 4 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 7 | Ret | 4 | 3 | 37 | |
8 | Eiichi Tajima | No. 5 Team 5Zigen | 6 | Ret | 6 | Ret | 12 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 32 | |
8 | Marc Goossens | No. 5 Team 5Zigen | 6 | Ret | 6 | Ret | 12 | 1 | 32 | |||
9 | Kunimitsu Takahashi Akira Iida | No. 100 Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft | Ret | 16 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 30 | ||
10 | Hironori Takeuchi Katsutomo Kaneishi | No. 38 Toyota Castrol Team | 7 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 28 | |
11 | Satoshi Motoyama | No. 12 Hoshino Racing | Ret | 5 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 24 | |||
12 | Naoki Nagasaka | No. 8 Power Craft | 7 | 4 | 6 | 20 | ||||||
13 | Kazuyoshi Hoshino | No. 12 Hoshino Racing | Ret | 15 | 4 | 6 | 14 | Ret | 6 | 16 | ||
14 | Olivier Grouillard | No. 39 Toyota Team SARD | 2 | 15 | ||||||||
15 | Bertrand Gachot Paul Belmondo | No. 8 Power Craft | 10 | Ret | 12 | |||||||
No. 510 Ryowa House Pacific Team Cerumo | 8 | 5 | 11 | |||||||||
16 | Takuya Kurosawa Katsumi Yamamoto | No. 18 Mugen + Dome Project | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 11 | ||
17 | Marco Apicella | No. 2 NISMO | 4 | 10 | ||||||||
17 | Tom Kristensen | No. 8 Power Craft | 15 | 4 | 10 | |||||||
19 | Masahiko Kageyama Masahiko Kondo | No. 556 NISMO | 5 | Ret | 14 | 9 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7 | 10 | |
20 | Wayne Gardner | No. 8 Power Craft | 7 | 15 | 6 | 10 | ||||||
21 | Fuminori Mizuno | No. 12 Hoshino Racing | 5 | 8 | ||||||||
22 | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | No. 13 Endless Sports | 8 | Ret | 11 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 8 | |||
23 | Mitsuo Fujimura | No. 13 Endless Sports | Ret | 11 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 5 | ||||
24 | Kaoru Iida Ralph Firman | No. 10 Team TMS | 12 | 7 | 13 | 13 | DNQ | 4 | ||||
25 | Keiichi Tsuchiya Hideshi Matsuda | No. 34 Team Taisan with Advan | 10 | Ret | 14 | 8 | 6 | Ret | 4 | |||
26 | Yoji Yamada Kazuo Mogi | No. 30 Team Take One | 9 | Ret | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 4 | |
27 | Tatsuhiko Kanaumi Mitsutake Koma | No. 4 Suzuki Bankin | 11 | 8 | DNQ | 16 | DNQ | 3 | ||||
27 | Yasushi Kikuchi | No. 13 Endless Sports | 8 | 3 | ||||||||
Takao Wada Hisashi Wada | No. 88 JLOC Corsa | Ret | Ret | 14 | Ret | 13 | 9 | Ret | 0 | |||
Masato Yamamoto Katsuhiko Okamoto | No. 47 Susuki Racing Mechanics | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
Shingo Tachi | No. 37 Toyota Castrol Team | 3 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
Ukyo Katayama | No. 36 Toyota Castrol Team | Ret | 5 | 0 | ||||||||
Takeshi Tsuchiya | No. 12 Hoshino Racing | Ret | 6 | 0 | ||||||||
Hiro Matsushita | No. 5 Team 5Zigen | 7 | 10 | 0 |
Rank | Drivers | Number/Team | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hideo Fukuyama Manabu Orido | #19 Racing Project Bandoh Nissan Silvia | 90 | 2 |
2 | Keiichi Suzuki Morio Nitta | #26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964 | 89 | 2 |
3 | Masaoki Nagashima | #25 Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota MR-2 | 52 | 1 |
4 | Takeshi Tsuchiya | #25 Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota MR-2 | 52 | 1 |
5 | Kaoru Hoshino Masaki Jyonai | #71 Team Sigmatech Porsche 993 | 51 | 1 |
Super GT is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the Zen Nihon GT Senshuken (全日本GT選手権), generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of sports car racing in Japan.
Manabu "MAX" Orido is a Japanese professional racing driver.
The 2006 Autobacs Super GT Series was the fourteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the second season as the Super GT series. It was also the twenty-fourth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on March 19 and ended on November 5, 2006, after 9 races.
The 2008 Autobacs Super GT Series was the sixteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fourth season as the Super GT series. It marked as well as the twenty-sixth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300. This was the first season for the new R35 GT-R, replacing the Z which had been used for all GT500 Nissan teams from 2004-2007. The season began on March 15 and ended on November 9, 2008 after 9 races.
The 2009 Autobacs Super GT Series was the seventeenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fifth season as the Super GT series.
The 2005 Autobacs Super GT Series was the thirteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the first season as the Super GT series. It is also marked as the twenty-third season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It is a series for Grand Touring cars divided into 2 classes: GT500 and GT300. The season began on March 27 and ended on November 6, 2005 after 8 races. The drivers' champions were Yuji Tachikawa and Toranosuke Takagi in GT500; and Kota Sasaki and Tetsuya Yamano in GT300.
The 2001 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the ninth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the nineteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class drivers' champions of 2001 were Yuji Tachikawa and Hironori Takeuchi, who had not won a single race during the season driving the No. 38 au Cerumo Toyota Supra, while Nismo won the teams' championship. In the GT300 category, the class champions were the No. 81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia driven by Takayuki Aoki and Noboyuki Oyagi.
The 2011 Autobacs Super GT Series was the nineteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the seventh season as the Super GT series. It also marked the twenty-ninth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300. The season began on May 1 and ended on November 13, 2011 after 8 races and 1 non-championship race. The season was due to start on April 2, but the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused its postponement.
The 2000 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the eighth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the eighteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class drivers' champion of 2000 was Ryo Michigami driving the No. 16 Castrol Mugen Honda NSX, with Mugen x Dome Project winning the teams' championship. The GT300 class drivers' champion was the No. 26 Advan Team Taisan Jr Porsche 996 driven by Hideo Fukuyama.
The 2002 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the tenth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the twentieth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class drivers' champions of 2002 were Juichi Wakisaka and Akira Iida driving the No. 6 Esso Team LeMans Toyota Supra, and the teams' champion was Honda team Mugen x Dome Project with their No. 16 Mugen NSX and No. 18 Takata Dome NSX. The GT300 class drivers' champions were the No. 31 ARTA with A'PEX Toyota MR-S driven by Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi.
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The 2015 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-third season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the eleventh season under the name Super GT. It marked the thirty-third season overall of a Japanese professional sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 5 and ended on November 15, after 8 races.
The 2016 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fourth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the twelfth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fourth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 10 and ended on November 13, after 8 races.
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The 2020 Autobacs Super GT Series was motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-eighth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the sixteenth season the series to compete under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-eighth overall season of a JAF national sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-ninth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the seventeenth season under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-ninth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship, dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2022 Autobacs Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirtieth season of the JAF Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the eighteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the fortieth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
Morio Nitta is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in the Super GT Series for K-tunes Racing. He is a three-time champion of the GT300 class, winning the championship in 1996, 1999, and 2002.
The 2024 Autobacs Super GT Series is a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It is the thirty-second season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the twentieth season under the Super GT name. It is also the forty-second overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.