2000 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Explained

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.

This season marked the first of several instances where the series champion had not won a single race throughout the season, with Michigami scoring four second places as the season champion's best finish. This phenomenon would occur again in 2001 (in GT500 only) and 2003 (in both GT500 and GT300).

Drivers and teams

GT500

Team	Make	Car	Engine		Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
Nismo	Nissan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6	1	Érik Comas		All
					Masami Kageyama	All
				2	Michael Krumm	All
					Yuji Ide	1
					Ukyo Katayama	2–7, NC
Hasemi Motorsport	Nissan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6	3	Masahiro Hasemi		All
					Tetsuya Tanaka	All
Esso Toyota Team LeMans	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	6	Wayne Gardner		All
					Hideki Noda	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	8	Aguri Suzuki		All
					Keiichi Tsuchiya	All
Calsonic Team Impul	Nissan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6	12	Kazuyoshi Hoshino		All
					Satoshi Motoyama	All
Team Sri Lanka	RGS	RGS Mirage GT1	Chevrolet LS1 6.7 L V8	15	Dilantha Malagamuwa		4, 6
					Hideyuki Tamamoto	4, 6
				69	Dilantha Malagamuwa	2–3
					Steve Young	2
					Hideyuki Tamamoto	3
Mugen x Dome Project	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	16			All
					Osamu Nakako	1–4, NC
					Hidetoshi Mitsusada	5–7
				18	Katsutomo Kaneishi	All
					Juichi Wakisaka	All
Hitotsuyama Racing	McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12	21	Akihiko Nakaya		1–7
					Mikio Hitotsuyama	1–3, 5–7
					Yasushi Hitotsuyama	4
Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	25	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita		All
					Manabu Orido	All
Team Take One	McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12	30	Hideki Okada		1–7
					Yoji Yamada	1–4
					Tsugio Matsuda	5–7
Toyota Team Cerumo	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	32	Masahiko Kondo		All
					Takayuki Kinoshita	1–7
					Yuji Tachikawa	NC
				38	Yuji Tachikawa	1–7
					Hironori Takeuchi	1–7
Toyota Team TOM'S	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	35	Shinichi Yamaji		1–7
					Pierre-Henri Raphanel	1–7
				36	Masanori Sekiya	All
					Takeshi Tsuchiya	All
				37	Seiji Ara	All
					Toshio Suzuki	1–7
					Shinichi Yamaji	NC
Denso Toyota Team SARD	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	39	Ralph Firman		All
					Masahiko Kageyama	All
Team Taisan Advan	Chrysler	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler Viper 8.0 L V10	55	Hiroaki Suga		1–2
					Shinsuke Shibahara	1–2
					Eiji Yamada	4–5, NC
					Takahide Tasaki	4–5
					Dilantha Malagamuwa	NC
Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	64	Daisuke Ito		All
					Dominik Schwager	All
JLOC	Lamborghini	Lamborghini Diablo GT-1	Lamborghini L532 6.0 L V12	88	Naohiro Furuya		All
					Tsuyoshi Takahashi	All
Raybrig Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	100	Akira Iida		All
					Naoki Hattori	All

GT300

Team	Make	Car	Engine		Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
Porsche Club Malaysia	Porsche	Porsche 993 RS	Porsche M64/60 3.6 L Turbo F6	5	Key Soon Yue		NC
					Ila Ridak	NC
RE Amemiya Racing	Mazda	Mazda RX-7	Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor	7	Tetsuya Yamano		All
					Haruhiko Matsumoto	All
Team Daikokuya	Porsche	Porsche 993 RSR	Porsche M64/80 3.8 L F6	9	Tsunefumi Hioki		1–2, 4–5, 7
					Shuroku Sasaki	1
					Yukihiro Hane	2, 5
					Akira Watanabe	4, 7
				27	Kota Sasaki	1
					Seigo Nishizawa	1
					Akira Hirakawa	5
					Toshihide Hashimura	5
Ability Motorsport	Porsche	Porsche 993 GT2	Porsche M64/82 3.6 L Turbo F6	10	Yasutaka Hinoi		1–4
					Yutaka Yamagishi	1–4
				11	Kengo Kitaura	1–5, 7
					Hikaru Miyagi	1–4
					Yasutaka Hinoi	5–7
					Jun Kinoshita	6
Racing Project Bandoh	Toyota	Toyota Celica	Toyota 3S-GE 2.0 L I4	19	Shigekazu Wakisaka		All
					Takahiro Hara	All
TOM'S Spirit	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	20	Masahiro Matsunaga		4–7
					Kumi Sato	4–7
MTCI Racing Team	Porsche	Porsche 986 Boxster	Porsche M64/75 3.6 L F6	24	Kazuyuki Nishizawa		All
					Marco Apicella	All
Team Taisan	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-R	Porsche M64/75 3.6 L F6	26	Hideshi Matsuda		All
					Hideo Fukuyama	All
					Atsushi Yogo	NC
				28	Hiroaki Suga	All
					Shinsuke Shibahara	All
	Chrysler	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler Viper 8.0 L V10	55	Eiji Yamada	6–7
					Takahide Tasaki	6–7
Super Autobacs Racing with A'PEX	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	31	Morio Nitta		All
					Yudai Igarashi	1–3
					Shinichi Takagi	4–7
Auto Staff Racing	Nissan	Nissan Silvia (S15)	Nissan SR20DET 2.1 L Turbo I4	51	Seiichi Sodeyama		2–7
					Eiji Yamada	2–3
					Naofumi Omoto	4–7
Team Gaikokuya	Porsche	Porsche 993 Turbo	Porsche M64/60 3.6 L Turbo F6	70	Yoshimi Ishibashi		All
					Patrick van Schoote	1–2, NC, 4, 7
					Nobuo Komiya	3, 5–6
SigmaTec Racing Team	Porsche	Porsche 993 GT2	Porsche M64/82 3.6 L Turbo F6	71	Guts Jyonai		2–7
					Naohiro Kawano	2–4
					Masanobu Takenaka	5–7
Cusco Racing	Subaru	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4	77	Katsuo Kobayashi		All
					Tatsuya Tanigawa	All
Team Daishin	Nissan	Nissan Silvia (S15)	Nissan SR20DET 2.1 L Turbo I4	81	Nobuyuki Ohyagi		All
					Takayuki Aoki	All
KRAFT	Toyota	Toyota Corolla Sprinter Trueno (AE86)	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	86	Minoru Tanaka		2–7
					Koji Matsuda	2–7
Team Mind	Toyota	Toyota Corolla (AE101)	Toyota 3S-GE 2.0 L I4	101	Hiroshi Sasaki		4
					Mamoru Suzuki	4
Team Gainer	Ferrari	Ferrari F355	Ferrari F129B 3.5 L V8	111	Junichi Ikura		1, 2, 4–5, 7
					Yusei Maki	1, 2, 4–5, 7
Dentaire ProJet Racing	Porsche	Porsche 993 RSR	Porsche M64/80 3.8 L F6	360	Seigo Nishizawa		4–5, 7
					Kota Sasaki	4–5, 7
910 Racing	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3 RS	Porsche M64/75 3.6 L F6	910	Hisashi Wada		All
					Atsushi Yogo	All
				911	Masamitsu Ishihara	1–4, 7
					Jukuchou Sunako	1–4, 7

Schedule

Round	Race	Circuit	Date
1	Motegi GT Championship Race	Twin Ring Motegi	April 2
2	All Japan Fuji GT Race	Fuji Speedway	May 4
3	SUGO GT Championship	Sportsland SUGO	May 28
NC	Tmtouch Japan GT Championship Malaysia	Sepang Circuit	June 25
4	Japan Special GT Cup	Fuji Speedway	August 6
5	GT Championship in TI	TI Circuit	September 10
6	CP Mine GT Race	Mine Circuit	October 1
7	Suzuka GT 300 km	Suzuka Circuit	October 22

Season results

Round	Circuit	GT500 Winning Team	GT300 Winning Team
		GT500 Winning Drivers	GT300 Winning Drivers
1	Twin Ring Motegi	1 Loctite NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R	26 Advan Team Taisan Jr Porsche 996
		Masami Kageyama Érik Comas	Hideo Fukuyama Hideshi Matsuda
2	Mt. Fuji	18 Takata Dome Honda NSX	26 Advan Team Taisan Jr Porsche 996
			Hideo Fukuyama Hideshi Matsuda
3	Sportsland SUGO	64 Mobil 1 Honda NSX	19 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Celica
		Daisuke Ito Dominik Schwager	Shigekazu Wakisaka Takahiko Hara
NC	Sepang Circuit	2 Castrol NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R	7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7
4	Mt. Fuji		28 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 996
5	TI Circuit	38 FK/Massimo Cerumo Toyota Supra	910 Racing Porsche 996
		Hironori Takeuchi Yuji Tachikawa	Hisashi Wada Atsushi Yogo
6	Mine Circuit	12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Skyline GT-R
			Hideo Fukuyama Hideshi Matsuda
7	Suzuka Circuit	64 Mobil 1 Honda NSX
		Daisuke Ito Dominik Schwager	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi

Standings

GT500 class

Drivers' standings

Scoring system:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	20	15	12	10	8	6	4	3	2	1

Rank Driver MOT FUJ SUG FUJ TAI MIN SUZ PTS 1 Ryo Michigami 2 8 2 10 2 4 2 74 2 Érik Comas Masami Kageyama 1 6 Ret 4 3 3 5 68 3 Kazuyoshi Hoshino Satoshi Motoyama 17 5 5 3 6 1 3 66 4 Daisuke Ito Dominik Schwager 3 7 1 9 16 Ret 1 58 5 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji Tachikawa 4 3 12 Ret 1 6 11 48 6 Katsutomo Kaneishi Juichi Wakisaka Ret 1 4 17 10 2 15 46 7 Hidetoshi Mitsusada 2 4 2 40 8 Michael Krumm 6 2 11 6 11 Ret 4 37 9 Hideki Noda Wayne Gardner 8 4 7 15 7 5 6 35 10 Osamu Nakako 2 8 2 10 34 11 Ukyo Katayama 2 11 6 11 Ret 4 31 12 Masahiko Kageyama Ralph Firman 10 Ret 6 2 Ret 8 16 25 13 Aguri Suzuki Keiichi Tsuchiya 7 Ret 15 1 Ret Ret DSQ 24 14 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Shinichi Yamaji 12 Ret 3 13 9 Ret 7 18 15 Akira Iida Naoki Hattori Ret 14 10 7 5 Ret DSQ 13 16 Masahiro Hasemi Tetsuya Tanaka 5 9 Ret 11 15 11 8 13 17 Masanori Sekiya Takeshi Tsuchiya Ret 12 9 5 14 Ret 9 12 18 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Manabu Orido 13 10 14 8 8 7 13 11 19 Hideki Okada Ret Ret 13 12 4 Ret Ret 10 Tsugio Matsuda 21 Seiji Ara Toshio Suzuki 9 Ret 8 14 12 9 12 7 22 Yuji Ide 6 6 23 Akihiko Nakaya 14 11 Ret Ret 17 10 Ret 1 Mikio Hitotsuyama 23 Takayuki Kinoshita Masahiko Kondo 11 Ret 16 19 13 Ret 10 1 Rank Driver MOT FUJ SUG FUJ TAI MIN SUZ PTS

Teams' standings

For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship.^[1]

Rank	Team	No.	MOT	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	TAI	MIN	SUZ	PTS
1	Mugen x Dome Project	16	2	8	2	10	2	4	2	96
		18	19Ret	1	4	17	10	2	15
2	Nismo	1	1	6	20Ret	4	3	3	5	79
		2	6	2	11	6	11	16Ret	4
3	Team Impul	12	17	5	5	3	6	1	3	66
4	Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing	64	3	7	1	9	16	20Ret	1	58
5	Toyota Team Cerumo	38	4	3	12	20Ret	1	6	11	48
6	Esso Ultron Toyota Team LeMans	6	8	4	7	15	7	5	6	35
7	Toyota Team SARD	39	10	21Ret	6	2	19Ret	8	16	25
8	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	8	7	15Ret	15	1	20Ret	17Ret	19DSQ	24
9	MatsumotoKiyoshi Team TOM'S	35	12	19Ret	3	13	9	14Ret	7	18
10	Toyota Castrol Team TOM'S	36	21Ret	12	9	5	14	19Ret	9	17
		37	9	20Ret	8	14	12	9	12
11	Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft	100	18Ret	14	10	7	5	13Ret	20DSQ	13
11	Hasemi Motorsports	3	5	9	18Ret	11	15	11	8	13
13	Endless + Tsuchiya Engineering	25	13	10	14	8	8	7	13	11
14	Team Take One	30	20Ret	16Ret	13	12	4	18Ret	17Ret	10
15	Hitotsuyama Racing	21	14	11	19Ret	21Ret	17	10	18Ret	1
15	cdma One Toyota Team Cerumo with Key's	32	11	17Ret	16	19	13	15Ret	10	1
-	JLOC	88	15	13	17	16	18	12	14	0
-	Team Taisan Advan	55	16	18Ret		18	21PO			0
rowspan="2"	-	Team Sri Lanka	15	29	28	29	DNS		21DNR	29	0
69	28		21DNS	21DNQ	29	28
Rank	Team	No.	MOT	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	TAI	MIN	SUZ	PTS

GT300 class (Top 5)

Drivers

Rank	width=160	Drivers	width=240	Number/Team	Points	Wins
1	Hideo Fukuyama	26 Advan Team Taisan Jr Porsche 996	85	3
2	Hideshi Matsuda	26 Advan Team Taisan Jr Porsche 996	83	3
3	Hisashi Wada Atsushi Yogo	910 Racing Porsche 996	80	1
4	Takayuki Aoki Noboyuki Oyagi	81 Team Daishin Nissan Silvia	64	0
5	Tetsuya Yamano Haruhiko Matsumoto	7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7	57	0

External links

• Super GT/JGTC official race archive
• 2000 season results

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2000 AUTOBACS CUP ALL JAPAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP - Point Ranking. 2021-10-16. supergt.net.