The 2003 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the eleventh season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the twenty-first season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class champions of 2003 were the #23 Xanavi NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R team driven by Satoshi Motoyama and Michael Krumm and the GT300 class champions were the #3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Fairlady Z driven by Masataka Yanagida and Mitsuhiro Kinoshita, neither of which had won a single race during the course of the season.
The 2003 season saw the introduction of a comprehensive overhaul of the series' vehicle regulations. [1] [2] Manufacturers could now cut away the production vehicle's mainframe and replace the front and rear structures with pipe frame structures, which had also allowed for further suspension development. [2] The engine could now be mounted freely in any position or any orientation, and the transmission could now be mounted freely in any position, allowing for the introduction of transaxle units. [2] The size of the rear diffuser was reduced, and the underbody of the car had to be fitted with a flat bottom floor. [2]
Toyota had fitted their GT500 Supra with a 5.2 litre version of the naturally-aspirated 3UZ-FE V8 engine to replace the four-cylinder 3S-GTE. Honda retained the 3.5 litre C32B V6 engine, which was now mounted longitudinally behind the cockpit. [2] Nissan changed from the RB26DETT inline-six cylinder engine to the VQ30DETT V6 engine in the middle of 2002, and retained the lighter aluminium-block engine into 2003.
| Round | Race | Circuit | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GT Championship in TI |  TI Circuit | March 30 |
| 2 | All Japan GT Fuji 500 | Fuji Speedway | May 4 |
| 3 | SUGO GT Championship | Sportsland SUGO | May 25 |
| 4 | Malaysian JGTC in Fuji Speedway | Fuji Speedway | July 13 |
| 5 | Japan Special GT Cup | Fuji Speedway | August 3 |
| 6 | Motegi GT Championship Race | Twin Ring Motegi | September 14 |
| 7 | Japan GT in Kyushu 300 km | Autopolis | October 26 |
| 8 | Suzuka GT 300 km | Suzuka Circuit | November 16 |
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 20 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Qualifying | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Fastest Lap | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
|
For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship. [5]
| Rank | Team | No. | TAI | FUJ | SUG | FUJ | FUJ | MOT | AUT | SUZ | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nismo | 22 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 106 |
| 23 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 3 | |||
| 2 | Esso Toyota Team LeMans | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 83 |
| 3 | Dome Racing Team | 16 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 77 | ||||
| 18 | 3 | Ret | 7 | 8 | 1 | 14 | Ret | 2 | |||
| 4 | Toyota Team TOM'S | 36 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 66 |
| 37 | Ret | 8 | 13 | 15 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 5 | Team Impul | 12 | 12 | 2 | Ret | 1 | 16 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 64 |
| 6 | Toyota Team SARD | 39 | 14 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 57 |
| 7 | Toyota Team Cerumo | 38 | DNS | DSQ | 10 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 46 |
| 8 | Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing | 64 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 9 | Ret | 2 | 12 | 36 |
| 9 | Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft | 100 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 27 |
| 10 | Team Advan Tsuchiya | 25 | 10 | Ret | 4 | 14 | 17 | 3 | 12 | Ret | 35 |
| 11 | Kraft | 35 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
| 12 | Mugen | 16 | 4 | Ret | 9 | 12 | 13 | ||||
| 13 | Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | 8 | 11 | Ret | 11 | 11 | 12 | 8 | Ret | 6 | 9 |
| 14 | Hitotsuyama Racing | 76 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 18 | 14 | Ret | 15 | 2 | |
| 14 | R&D Sports | 62 | 11 | 15 | 9 | Ret | Ret | 16 | 2 | ||
| - | JLOC | 88 | 15 | Ret | Ret | 16 | 15 | 15 | Ret | Ret | 0 |
| Rank | Team | No. | TAI | FUJ | SUG | FUJ | FUJ | MOT | AUT | SUZ | PTS |
| Rank | Drivers | Number/Team | Points | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Masataka Yanagida Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | #3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Fairlady Z | 77 | 0 |
| 2 | Keita Sawa | #71 Sigmatech Toyota Celica | 72 | 2 |
| 3 | Shinichi Yamaji Kazuyuki Nishizawa | #26 Advan Team Taisan Porsche 996 | 72 | 1 |
| 4 | Takayuki Aoki Minoru Tanaka | #19 WedsSport Toyota Celica | 63 | 2 |
| 5 | Kota Sasaki Satoshi Goto | #31 Team Reckless Toyota MR-S | 61 | 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.
Satoshi Motoyama is a Japanese professional racing driver and team manager. He is best known for racing in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) as a factory driver for Nissan, and for racing in the Formula Nippon Championship. He is a three-time champion of the GT500 class of Super GT, and a four-time Formula Nippon/Super Formula champion, making him one of the most successful Japanese racing drivers of all-time.
The 2007 Autobacs Super GT Series was the fifteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the third season as the Super GT series. It is also marked as the twenty-fifth 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 final season for the 350Z, as it was announced by Nissan and Nismo near the end of the season that the new R35 GT-R would be replacing it the following season. The season began on March 18 and ended on November 4, 2007, after 9 races.
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 2010 Autobacs Super GT Series was the eighteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the sixth season as the Super GT series. It also marked the twenty-eighth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
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 2012 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twentieth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the eighth season as the Super GT series. It also marked the thirtieth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 1 and ended on November 18, 2012, after eight championship races and a non-championship race.
The 2013 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-first season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the ninth season under the name Super GT. It marked the thirty-first season overall of a Japanese professional sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It was the final year of the GT500 regulations introduced in 2010 as the 2014 season would see unified technical regulations with the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The season began on April 7 and ended on November 17, 2013 after 8 regular races and 1 non championship event.
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.
The 2004 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the twelfth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing and the final season under the name All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship as for 2005 the series was renamed to Super GT. It was marked as well as the twenty-second season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class champions of 2004 were the #1 Xanavi NISMO Nissan Fairlady Z team driven by Satoshi Motoyama and Richard Lyons and the GT300 class champions were the #16 M-TEC Honda NSX driven by Tetsuya Yamano and Hiroyuki Yagi.
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.
The 2017 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fifth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the thirteenth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fifth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 9 and ended on November 12, after 8 races.
The 2018 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-sixth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fourteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-sixth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 8 and ended on November 11, after 8 races.
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.
