1996 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Explained

The 1996 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the fourth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the fourteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class champion was the #61 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR driven by David Brabham and John Nielsen, and the GT300 class champion was the #26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964 driven by Keiichi Suzuki and Morio Nitta.

For the 1996 season, the names of the two classes of the JGTC were changed to GT500 and GT300, replacing the previous GT1 and GT2 names from the 1994 and 1995 season. This season also mandated two-driver teams for all races. On November 17, the series held its first non-championship "All-Star Race" at Central Circuit.

The arrival of the McLaren F1 GTRs, prepared by Team Goh, was the biggest story of the 1996 season. The number 60 McLaren of Naoki Hattori and Ralf Schumacher led a 1-2 finish at the season opening round at Suzuka. However, despite winning three races, Hattori and Schumacher also suffered three retirements, and were beaten to the title by their senior teammates, Brabham and Nielsen. Despite massive performance handicaps instituted by the GTA, the two McLaren F1 GTRs combined to win four of the six championship races, and won pole position and set fastest lap in all six. At odds with the GTA over further performance handicaps that were to be proposed, Team Goh withdrew from the series after the championship finale at Miné Circuit, and after an aborted attempt to return in 2006, they would not return to the series until 2019.

The season also featured the debut of the Honda NSX in the series, although direct factory support would not appear until the following season; as such, the car entered by Team Kunimitsu was mostly mechanically identical to the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 class winner.

Drivers and teams

GT500

TeamMakeCarEngineDriversTyreRounds
Calsonic Team ImpulNissanNissan Skyline GT-RNissan RB26DETT 2.6 L Twin Turbo I61 Kazuyoshi HoshinoAll
Masahiko KageyamaAll
Team ZexelNissanNissan Skyline GT-RNissan RB26DETT 2.6 L Twin Turbo I62 Aguri SuzukiAll
Hideo FukuyamaAll
Hasemi MotorsportNissanNissan Skyline GT-RNissan RB26DETT 2.6 L Twin Turbo I63 Masahiro HasemiAll
Tetsuya TanakaAll
Taku Motor SportsPorschePorsche 993 GT2Porsche M64/81 3.6 L Turbo F65 Kaoru IidaAll
Tetsuya Ota1–3, 5–6
Michael Krumm4
FET Racing TeamToyotaToyota SupraToyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I48 Tom KristensenAll
Tatsuya Tanigawa1–3
Bertrand Gachot4–6
Prova MotorsportPorschePorsche 964 TurboPorsche M64/60 3.6 L Turbo F615 Motoji SekineAll
Scott Maxwell1
Taro Mitsuno2
Takahiro Ito3–6
Porsche 993 GT2Porsche M64/81 3.6 L Turbo F616 Satoshi Toda4–5
Taro Mitsuno4
Eiji Yamada5
Osamu Nakajima6
Ichiro Iijima6
Team-JunNissanNissan Skyline GT-RNissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I419 Katsuo KobayashiAll
Naohiro Furuya1–3
Manabu Orido4
Koma Mitsutake5–6
Bros FactoryNissanNissan Fairlady Z LMNissan VH45DE 4.5 L V825 Masami Kageyama2–3, 5–6, NC
Yuji Tachikawa2–3, 5–6, NC
Team Take OnePorschePorsche 993 GT2Porsche M64/81 3.6 L Turbo F630 Yoji YamadaAll
Eiichi Tajima1–6
Kazuo MogiNC
Team Taisan AdvanPorschePorsche 993 GT2Porsche M64/81 3.6 L Turbo F634 Hideshi Matsuda3–4
Osamu Nakako3–4
35 Takeshi Tsuchiya1–4
Anthony Reid1
Oscar Larrauri2–4
FerrariFerrari F40 LMFerrari F120B 2.9 L Twin Turbo V8 Oscar Larrauri5–6
Anthony Reid5
Mitsuhiro Kinoshita6
Toyota Castrol Team TOM'SToyotaToyota SupraToyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I436 Masanori SekiyaAll
Pedro de la Rosa1–6
Ukyo KatayamaNC
Toyota Castrol Team CerumoToyotaToyota SupraToyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I437 Érik ComasAll
Hidetoshi Mitsusada1–2
Hironori Takeuchi3–6, NC
Toyota Team SARDToyotaToyota SupraToyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I439 Wayne Gardner1–4, 6
Alain Ferté1–5
Naoki Nagasaka5
Giampiero Simoni6
Olivier GrouillardNC
David DussauNC
Team BMB MinijukePorschePorsche 964 RSPorsche M64/04 3.8 L F643 Yukio OkamotoAll
Yasutaka HinoiAll
Limit Motor SportNissanNissan Skyline GT-RNissan RB26DETT 2.6 L Twin Turbo I655 Kenji Tohira1–5
Hiroyuki Kawai1–5
Team Lark McLaren GTRMcLarenMcLaren F1 GTRBMW S70/2 6.0 L V1260 Naoki HattoriAll
Ralf SchumacherAll
61 David BrabhamAll
John NielsenAll
Kenji KawagoePorschePorsche 993 GT2Porsche M64/81 3.6 L Twin Turbo F669 Kenji Kawagoe1–4
Shunji Kasuya1–4
Kenwolf with JLOC CorsaLamborghiniLamborghini Diablo JotaLamborghini BFR1244 5.7 L V1288 Takao Wada1–2, 4–6
Tatsuhiko Kaneumi1
Satoshi Ikezawa2, 4–6
Team KunimitsuHondaHonda NSXHonda C30A 3.0 L V6100 Kunimitsu TakahashiAll
Keiichi TsuchiyaAll
Kure Racing with NismoNissanNissan Skyline GT-RNissan RB26DETT 2.6 L Twin Turbo I6556 Toshio SuzukiAll
Masahiko KondoAll

GT300

TeamMakeCarEngineDriversTyreRounds
imuraya Racing TeamToyotaToyota MR2Toyota 3S-GE 2.0 L I46 Tetsuya Kawasaki1–5
Kazuteru Wakita1–2, 4–5
Nendai Fukushima3
Takeshi Tsuchiya6
Yoshihiro Daimonji6
RE Amemiya RacingMazdaMazda RX-7 (FD3S)Mazda RE13B 1.3 L 2-rotor7 Shinichi YamajiAll
Masato Yamamoto1
Hisashi Wada2–3
Haruhiko Matsumoto4–6, NC
Schloss MotorsportPorschePorsche 993 RSPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F69 Katsuhiko Okamoto1
Tsunefumi Hioki1
M Factory RacingNissanNissan Skyline GTS-R (HR31)Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I411 Hiromoto Ishimori2–4
Masuo Saito2–4
Hoshino RacingNissanNissan Silvia (S14)Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I412 Satoshi Motoyama3–6
Yuji Ide3
Fuminori Mizuno4–6
Eimei AutoMitsubishiMitsubishi Mirage C53AMitsubishi 4G63 2.0 L I414 Akira Nagai2
Takashige Kogayu2
Team Power MagicBMWBMW 318i CoupeBMW M43B18 1.8L I416 Motoji Sekine5
Toshiya Fujishima5
Kageisen Racing TeamMazdaMazda RX-7 (FC3S)Mazda RE13B 1.3 L 2-rotor17 Toshihiko Nogami1–2, 4–5
Toshiaki Koshimizu1–2, 4–5
Goldenbear Sportswear R.T.PorschePorsche 993 RSPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F618 Shogo Kobayashi3–4
Hiroyuki Enomoto3–4
AI Auto RacingPorschePorsche 993 RSPorsche M64/70 3.8 L F620 Kenji TakahashiAll
Hiroaki SugaAll
Hitotsuyama RacingBMWBMW M3 (E36)BMW S14 2.2 L Turbo I421 Kenji Yamamoto1, 3–6
Fuminori Mizuno1–2
Yasushi Hitotsuyama2, 4–5
Mikio Hitotsuyama3, 6
Hirano MotorsportNissanNissan Skyline GTS-i (R32)Nissan RB20DET 2.0 L Turbo I624 Toshiyuki Hirano4
Yasuyuki Suzuki4
Team Taisan Jr.PorschePorsche 964 RSRPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F626 Keiichi SuzukiAll
Morio NittaAll
BMWBMW M3 (E30)BMW S14 2.5 L I428 Masaoki Nagashima1
Junichi Yamanashi1
ToyotaToyota MR2Toyota 3S-GE 2.0 L I4 Manabu Orido5–6
Takeshi Tsuchiya5–6
PorschePorsche 993 RSRPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F638 Adrian Fu1, 3–6
Rodney Jones1
Masaoki Nagashima3–6
NAC WestNissanNissan Silvia (S13)Nissan FJ20DET 2.0 L Turbo I427 Toshikazu Kanamori4
Mamoru Suzuki4
Cobra Racing TeamPorschePorsche 993 RSRPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F631 Katsunori IketaniAll
Kazuo MogiAll
51 Masamitsu IshiharaAll
Hiroyuki NojiAll
Rank Up Tomei SportsPorschePorsche 993 RSRPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F650 Masahisa Nakada3–4
Shinichi Katsura3–4
Sports Factory R.T.MazdaMazda RX-7 (FD3S)Mazda RE13B 1.3 L 2-rotor57 Toshihiro Fukazawa4
Masaaki Nagashima4
Team GaikokuyaPorschePorsche 993 RSRPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F670 Yoshimi IshibashiAll
Kaoru HoshinoAll
Makiguchi EngineeringBMWBMW M3 (E30)BMW S14 2.5 L I472 Norio MakiguchiAll
Takayuki KinoshitaAll
First Racing TeamToyotaToyota MR2Toyota 3S-GE 2.0 L I491 Masahiro Matsunaga3–6
Junko Mihara3–4
Takahito Kawai5–6
Team DaishinNissanNissan Silvia (S13)Nissan FJ20DET 2.0 L Turbo I495 Nobuyuki OhyagiAll
Tsuneaki MankumoAll
910 RacingPorschePorsche 993 RSRPorsche M64/80 3.8 L F6910 Seiichi Sodeyama2–6, NC
Naoki Nagasaka2–4
Hideyuki Tamamoto5–6, NC

Schedule

RoundRaceCircuitDate
1Suzuka GT 300 Suzuka CircuitMarch 31
2All Japan Fuji GT Race Fuji SpeedwayMay 4
3HiLand GT Championship Sendai Hi-Land RacewayJune 30
4Japan Special GT-Cup Fuji SpeedwayAugust 11
5SUGO GT Championship Sportsland SUGOOctober 6
6CP Mine GT Race Mine CircuitOctober 27
NCNicos Cup GT Allstar Race Central CircuitNovember 17

Season results

RoundCircuitGT500 Winning TeamGT300 Winning Team
GT500 Winning DriversGT300 Winning Drivers
1Suzuka Circuit
  1. 60 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR
  1. 26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964
Naoki Hattori
Ralf Schumacher
Keiichi Suzuki
Morio Nitta
2Mt. Fuji
  1. 61 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR
  1. 910 910 Racing Porsche 993
David Brabham
John Nielsen
Seiichi Sodeyama
Naoki Nagasaka
3Sendai
  1. 37 Castrol Cerumo Toyota Supra
Hironori Takeuchi
Érik Comas
Morio Makiguchi
Takayuki Kinoshita
4Mt. Fuji
  1. 1 Calsonic Hoshino Racing GT-R
  1. 910 910 Racing Porsche 993
Masahiko Kageyama
Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Seiichi Sodeyama
Naoki Nagasaka
5Sportsland SUGO
  1. 60 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR
  1. 26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964
Naoki Hattori
Ralf Schumacher
Keiichi Suzuki
Morio Nitta
6Mine Circuit
  1. 60 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR
  1. 26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964
Naoki Hattori
Ralf Schumacher
Keiichi Suzuki
Morio Nitta
NCCentral Circuit
  1. 3 Hasemi Motorsports GT-R
  1. 7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7
Masahiro Hasemi
Tetsuya Tanaka
Shinichi Yamaji
Haruhiko Matsumoto

Point Ranking

GT500 Drivers' championship

RankNo.Driverdata-sort-type="number" SUZdata-sort-type="number" FUJdata-sort-type="number" SENdata-sort-type="number" FUJdata-sort-type="number" SUGdata-sort-type="number" MINdata-sort-type="number" CENdata-sort-type="number" Points
161 John Nielsen
David Brabham
218220Ret463
260 Naoki Hattori
Ralf Schumacher
122Ret1519Ret1160
337 Érik Comas164 116Ret42255
41 Masahiko Kageyama
Kazuyoshi Hoshino
8551216Ret554
53 Masahiro Hasemi
Tetsuya Tanaka
3621465147
62 Aguri Suzuki
Hideo Fukuyama
419Ret7353346
737 Hironori Takeuchi116Ret42245
836 Masanori Sekiya52320Ret817Ret438
836 Pedro de la Rosa52320Ret817Ret38
939 Alain Ferté17349728
1039 Wayne Gardner17349827
11556 Toshio Suzuki
Masahiko Kondo
618Ret1753101027
128 Tom Kristensen10136414721
138 Bertrand Gachot414714
1437 Hidetoshi Mitsusada16410
1534 Hideshi Matsuda
Osamu Nakako
9918Ret12126810
1655 Kenji Tohira
Hiroyuki Kawai
111011699
17100 Kunimitsu Takahashi
Keiichi Tsuchiya
18Ret81271011 68
188 Tatsuya Tanigawa101367
1930 Yoji Yamada711918Ret21Ret20Ret96
1930 Eiichi Tajima711918Ret21Ret20Ret6
2035 Oscar Larrauri720Ret1515Ret4
2035 Takeshi Tsuchiya12720Ret4
2039 Naoki Nagasaka74
2343 Yasutaka Hinoi
Yukio Yamamoto
20Ret121381318Ret3
2339 Giampiero Simoni83
2525 Masami Kageyama
Yuji Tachikawa
20Ret19Ret22Ret92
265 Kaoru Iida13141017Ret19Ret121
265 Tetsuya Ota13141019Ret121
2616 Tetsushi Toda10111
2615 Mitsuno Taro160
16101
2788 Takao Wada19Ret21Ret1117Ret130
2888 Satoshi Ikezawa21Ret1117Ret130
29 16 Tarzan Yamada110
30 35 Anthony Reid12150
3119 Katsuo Kobayashi21Ret17161318Ret140
3219 Manabu Orido130
3369 Kenji Kawagoe
Shunji Kasuya
1415140
3419 Takeru Koma18Ret140
3515 Sekine Motoshi151619Ret1516Ret0
3615 Takahiro Ito19Ret1516Ret0
3715 Scott Maxwell150
3819 Naohiro Furuya21Ret17160
39 35 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita15Ret0
40 5 Michael Krumm17Ret0
41 16 Osamu Nakajima
Ijima Ichiro
19Ret0
4288 Tatsuhiko Kaneumi19Ret0
43 36 Ukyo Katayama40
44 39 Olivier Grouillard
David Dussau
70
4530 Kazuo Mogi90

GT500 Teams' standings

For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship.

RankTeamNo.SUZ
FUJ
SEN
FUJ
SUG
MIN
CEN
PTS
1Team Lark McLaren GTR601Ret15Ret1198
612182Ret4
2Toyota Castrol Team36523Ret8Ret468
371641Ret422
3Calsonic Team Impul185512Ret554
4Nismo24Ret7353350
5566Ret17531010
5Hasemi Motorsports33621465147
6Toyota Team SARD391734978731
7FET Racing Team810136414721
8Team Taisan Advan3499Ret12126812
35127RetDNS15Ret
9Limit Motor Sport55111011699
10Team Kunimitsu100Ret8127101168
11Team Take One307119RetRetRet96
12Team BMB Minijuke43Ret1213813Ret3
13Bros Factory25RetRetRet9WD2
14Taku Motor Sports5131410RetRet121
14Prova Motorsport151516Ret15RetDNA1
161011Ret
-JLOC88RetRet11Ret130
-Kenji Kawagoe69141514DNA0
RankTeamNo.SUZ
FUJ
SEN
FUJ
SUG
MIN
CEN
PTS

GT300 Drivers' championship

RankNo.Driverdata-sort-type="number" SUZdata-sort-type="number" FUJdata-sort-type="number" SENdata-sort-type="number" FUJdata-sort-type="number" SUGdata-sort-type="number" MINdata-sort-type="number" CENdata-sort-type="number" Points
126 Keiichi Suzuki
Morio Nitta
12Ret211390
2910 Seiichi Sodeyama1412Ret265
372 Norio Makiguchi
Takayuki Kinoshita
34 1Ret10453
4910 Naoki Nagasaka14150
531 Katsunori Iketani
Kazuo Mogi
27RetRet3246
67 Shinichi YamajiRet93356140
76 Tetsuya Kawasaki43291339
870 Yoshimi Ishibashi
Kaoru Hoshino
5555RetDNA432
821 Kenji Yamamoto8667331
97 Haruhiko Matsumoto356126
106 Kazuteru Wakita43924
1121 Mikio Hitotsuyama6318
116 Takeshi Tsuchiya4518
1120 Kenji Takahashi
Hiroaki Suga
6Ret411918
146 Toshihiro Fukushima21315
14910 Hideyuki Tamamoto2Ret215
167 Hisashi Wada9314
1791 Masahiro Matsunaga9861111
1828 Manabu Orido410
1821 Yasushi HitotsuyamaRet6710
1851 Masamitsu Ishihara
Hiroyuki Noji
116Ret10810
216 Yoshihiro Ohmonji58
2138 Adrian Fu981288
2312 Mizuno Fumino8RetRet1277
2491 Takahito Kawai6116
2438 Masaoki Nagashima12DNA81286
2695 Nobuyuki Ohyagi
Tsuneaki Mankumo
7RetRet1515105
2691 Junko Mihara985
2818 Shogo Kobayashi7Ret4
2818 Hiroyuki Enomoto74
2857 Toshihiro Fukazawa
Masaaki Nagashima
7144
2812 Satoshi MotoyamaDNARetRet1274
3211 Hiromoto Ishimori
Masuo Saito
8Ret143
3217 Toshihiko Nogami10Ret1193
Toshiaki Koshimizu
3538 Rodney Jones92
NC28 Junichi Yamanashi12DNA0
NC9 Katsuhiko Okamoto
Tsunefumi Hioki
130
NC27 Toshikazu Kanamori
Mamoru Suzuki
130
NC 7 Masato YamamotoRet0
NC 14 Akira Nagai
Takashige Kogayu
Ret0
NC17 Koshimizu ToshiakiRet0
NC12 Yuji IdeDNARet0
NC18 Kazushige SaitouRet0
NC50 Masahisa Nakada
Shinichi Katsura
DNADNS0
NC15 Toshiyuki Hirano
Yasuyuki Suzuki
DNS0
NC76 Hirokiho Itagaki
Masami Yoshida
DNA0

GT300 Teams' standings

For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship.

RankTeamNo.SUZ
FUJ
SEN
FUJ
SUG
MIN
CEN
PTS
1Team Taisan Jr.2612Ret211393
28124DNA
389DNA812DNA8
2910 Racing9101412Ret265
3Makiguchi Engineering72341Ret10453
4Cobra Racing Team3127RetRet3249
51116Ret108DNA
5imuraya Racing Team6432913547
6RE Amemiya Racing7Ret93356140
7Team Gaikokuya705555RetDNA432
8Hitotsuyama Racing218Ret667331
9AI Auto Racing206Ret411918
10First Racing Team919861111
11Team Daishin957RetRet1515105
12Goldenbear Sportswear R.T.187Ret4
13Sports Factory R.T.577143
14M Factory Racing118Ret143
15Kageisen Racing Team1710Ret1193
-Schloss Motorsport9130
-NAC West27130
-Eimei Auto14Ret0
-Rank Up Tomei Sports50DNADNS0
-Hirano Motorsport24DNS0
-Team Spirit76DNA0
RankTeamNo.SUZ
FUJ
SEN
FUJ
SUG
MIN
CEN
PTS

External links