2001 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Explained

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.

This season marked the final competitive race victory for the McLaren F1 GTR, when Team Take One won the CP Mine GT Race.

Drivers and teams

GT500

Team	Make	Car	Engine		Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
Mugen x Dome Project	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	1			All
					Hidetoshi Mitsusada	All
				18	Sébastien Philippe	All
					Hiroki Katoh	1–4, NC
					Benoît Tréluyer	5–7
Esso Toyota Team LeMans	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	6	Hideki Noda		All
					Juichi Wakisaka	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	8	Katsutomo Kaneishi		All
					Keiichi Tsuchiya	All
Calsonic Team Impul	Nissan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6	12	Satoshi Motoyama		All
					Naoki Hattori	1–3
					Kazuyoshi Hoshino	4–7, NC
Hitotsuyama Racing	McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12	21	Akihiko Nakaya		1–3, 5–6
					Mitsuhiro Kinoshita	1
					Yasushi Hitotsuyama	2–4, NC
					Naoki Hattori	4–7, NC
					Mikio Hitotsuyama	7
Nismo	Nissan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6	22	Michael Krumm		All
					Tetsuya Tanaka	All
				23	Érik Comas	All
					Masami Kageyama	All
Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	25	Manabu Orido		1–7
					Seiji Ara	1–7
Team Take One	McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12	30	André Couto		1–7
					Hideki Okada	1–7
Toyota Team Cerumo	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	33	Masahiko Kondo		All
					Ukyo Katayama	1–4, 6–7, NC
					Shigekazu Wakisaka	5
				38	Yuji Tachikawa	All
					Hironori Takeuchi	All
Toyota Team TOM'S	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	36	Takeshi Tsuchiya		All
					Takuya Kurosawa	1–4, 6–7
					Paolo Montin	5
					Wayne Gardner	NC
				37	Wayne Gardner	1–7
					Shinichi Yamaji	1–7
Denso Toyota Team SARD	Toyota	Toyota Supra	Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4	39	Jérémie Dufour		1–7
					Masahiko Kageyama	1–2
					Romain Dumas	3–7
Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	64	Tsugio Matsuda		All
					Dominik Schwager	All
JLOC	Lamborghini	Lamborghini Diablo GT-1	Lamborghini L532 6.0 L V12	88	Marco Apicella		All
					Naohiro Furuya	All
Raybrig Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.5 L V6	100	Akira Iida		All
					Daisuke Ito	All

GT300

Team	Make	Car	Engine		Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
TOM'S Spirit	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	0	Masahiro Matsunaga		All
					Kumi Sato	All
Dream28	Honda	Honda NSX	Honda C32B 3.4 L V6	2	Kazuho Takahashi	align=center rowspan=3		5, 6
					Hiroshi Kimura	5
					Akira Watanabe	6
Hasemi Motorsport	Nissan	Nissan Silvia (S15)	Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4	3	Yuji Ide		All
					Masataka Yanagida	All
BSA Porsche Team Competizione	Porsche	Porsche 993 RS	Porsche M64/60 3.6 L Turbo F6	5	Key Soon Yue		NC
					Ila Ridak	NC
				15	Siu Tit Lung	NC
					Siu Yuk Lung	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 RS	Porsche M64/80 3.6 L Turbo F6	9	Akira Watanabe		1–5
					Tsunefumi Hioki	1, 4–6
					Yukihiro Hane	2, NC
					Yosuke Shimoshima	NC, 6
Ability Motorsport	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-R	Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6	10	Yutaka Yamagishi		1–2, 4
					Takahisa Ohno	1–2, 4
Team Gainer	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-R	Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6	11	Junichi Ikura		All
					Koji Ushikubo	1, 7
					Yusei Maki	2–6
Racing Project Bandoh	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	19	Satoshi Goto		All
					Minoru Tanaka	All
Team Taisan	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6	24	Hideshi Matsuda		All
					Kazuyuki Nishizawa	All
				26	Atsushi Yogo	All
					Hideo Fukuyama	All
	Chrysler	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler Viper 8.0 L V10	55	Eiji Yamada	All
					Takayuki Kinoshita	All
ARTA with A'PEX	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	31	Morio Nitta		All
					Shinichi Takagi	All
Auto Staff Racing	Nissan	Nissan Silvia (S15)	Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4	51	Naofumi Omoto		2–7
					Yasukichi Yamamoto	2–7
R&D Sport	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6	62	Shinsuke Shibahara		All
					Yasuhisa Fujiwara	1–2
					Shogo Mitsuyama	3–7
				63	"OSAMU"	All
					Takamasa Nakagawa	All
Amprex Motorsports	Mazda	Mazda RX-7	Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor	65	Genji Hashimoto		NC
					Charles Kwan	NC
Team Gaikokuya	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6	70	Yoshimi Ishibashi		All
					Hiroaki Suga	All
SigmaTec Racing Team	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4	71	Guts Jyonai		1, 3–7
					Eiichi Tajima	1, 3–7
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 2.0 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	Masaoki Nagashima		1–3
					Koji Matsuda	1–3
		Toyota MR-S			Masaoki Nagashima	4–7
					Koji Matsuda	4–7
Dentaire ProJet Racing	Ferrari	Ferrari 360	Ferrari F131B 3.6 L V8	360	Seigo Nishizawa		All
					Kota Sasaki	All
Team Sri Lanka	Mosler	Mosler MT900R	Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8	900	Dilantha Malagamuwa		1–4
					Takeshi Asami	1–4
					João Barbosa	NC
A&S Racing	Mosler	Mosler MT900R	Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8	901	Takeshi Asami		5
					Yasutaka Hinoi	5–6
					Tetsuji Tamanaka	6–7
					Tetsuya Nakajima	6–7
910 Racing	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3 RS	Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6	910	Jukuchou Sunako		All
					Hisashi Wada	All
					Adam Wilcox	NC
				911	Masamitsu Ishihara	2, 4
					Akira Hirakawa	1

Schedule

Round	Race	Circuit	Date
1	GT Championship in TI	TI Circuit	April 15
2	All Japan Fuji GT Race	Fuji Speedway	May 4
3	SUGO GT Championship	Sportsland SUGO	May 27
NC	Tmtouch Japan GT Championship Malaysia	Sepang Circuit	June 24
4	Japan Special GT Cup	Fuji Speedway	August 5
5	Motegi GT Championship Race	Twin Ring Motegi	September 16
6	Suzuka GT 300 km	Suzuka Circuit	October 28
7	CP Mine GT Race	Mine Circuit	November 11

Season results

Round	Circuit	GT500 Winning Team	GT300 Winning Team
		GT500 Winning Drivers	GT300 Winning Drivers
1	TI Circuit	#1 Loctite Mugen Honda NSX	#31 ARTA A'PEX Toyota MR-S
		Hidetoshi Mitsusada Ryo Michigami	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi
2	Mt. Fuji	#6 ESSO Toyota Supra	#81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia
3	Sportsland SUGO	#37 ZENT TOM'S Toyota Supra	#7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7
		Shinichi Yamaji Wayne Gardner	Haruhiko Matsumoto Tetsuya Yamano
NC	Sepang Circuit	#6 ESSO Toyota Supra
4	Mt. Fuji	#22 Xanavi NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R	#81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia
5	Twin Ring Motegi	#64 Mobil 1 Honda NSX
		Tsugio Matsuda Dominik Schwager	Minoru Tanaka Satoshi Goto
6	Suzuka Circuit
			Koji Matsuda Masaoki Nagashima
7	Mine Circuit	#30 Team Take One McLaren F1 GTR
		Andre Couto Hideki Okada	Eiichi Tajima 'Guts' Jyonai

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 TAI FUJ SUG FUJ MOT SUZ MIN PTS 1 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji Tachikawa Ret 2 3 4 2 6 16 58 2 Katsutomo Kaneishi Keiichi Tsuchiya 2 6 2 12 11 1 Ret 56 3 Ryo Michigami Hidetoshi Mitsusada 1 8 4 5 12 2 12 56 4 Érik Comas Masami Kageyama 13 4 10 2 Ret 3 2 53 5 Michael Krumm Tetsuya Tanaka 4 3 Ret 1 10 8 6 52 6 Shinichi Yamaji Wayne Gardner 5 9 1 10 8 4 9 46 7 Hideki Noda Juichi Wakisaka Ret 1 5 3 13 Ret 14 40 8 Tsugio Matsuda Dominik Schwager 3 12 14 6 1 Ret Ret 38 9 André Couto Hideki Okada 8 Ret 12 16 6 10 1 30 10 Akira Iida Daisuke Ito 6 5 Ret 9 4 13 8 29 11 Satoshi Motoyama 15 Ret 7 7 3 11 5 28 12 Takeshi Tsuchiya 11 10 8 8 5 5 7 27 13 Kazuyoshi Hoshino 7 3 11 5 24 14 Jérémie Dufour 7 7 9 13 Ret 9 4 22 15 Takuya Kurosawa 11 10 8 8 5 7 19 16 Sébastien Philippe 14 15 6 15 14 12 3 18 17 Romain Dumas 9 13 Ret 9 4 14 18 Benoît Tréluyer 14 12 3 12 19 Manabu Orido Seiji Ara 9 11 11 DNQ 7 7 10 11 20 Paolo Montin 5 8 21 Masahiko Kageyama 7 7 8 22 Hiroki Katoh 14 15 6 15 6 23 Naoki Hattori 15 Ret 7 11 Ret Ret 11 4 24 Masahiko Kondo 12 14 13 14 9 Ret 13 2 Shigekazu Wakisaka 26 Akihiko Nakaya 10 13 Ret Ret Ret 1 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Rank Driver TAI FUJ SUG FUJ MOT SUZ MIN 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.	TAI	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	MIN	PTS
1	Nismo	22	4	3	16Ret	1	10	8	6	71
		23	13	4	10	2	18Ret	3	2
2	Mugen x Dome Project	1	1	8	4	5	12	2	12	68
		18	14	15	6	15	14	12	3
3	Toyota Team Cerumo	33	12	14	13	14	9	18Ret	13	58
		38	16Ret	2	3	4	2	6	16
4	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	8	2	6	2	12	11	1	18Ret	56
5	Toyota Team TOM'S	36	11	10	8	8	5	5	7	55
		37	5	9	1	10	8	4	9
6	Esso Toyota Team LeMans	6	17Ret	1	5	3	13	15Ret	14	40
7	Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing	64	3	12	14	6	1	17Ret	17Ret	38
8	Team Take One	30	8	16Ret	12	16	6	10	1	30
9	Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft	100	6	5	15Ret	9	4	13	8	29
10	Team Impul	12	15	17Ret	7	7	3	11	5	28
11	Toyota Team SARD	39	7	7	9	13	16Ret	9	4	22
12	Tsuchiya Engineering	25	9	11	11	20-	7	7	10	11
13	Hitotsuyama Racing	21	10	13	17Ret	11	17Ret	16Ret	11	1
-	JLOC	88	18DNS	18Ret	17DNS	17Ret	15	14	15	0
Rank	Team	No.	TAI	FUJ	SUG	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	MIN	PTS

GT300 class

Drivers

Rank	width=160	Drivers	width=240	Number/Team	Points	Wins
1	Takayuki Aoki Noboyuki Oyagi	81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia	66	2
2	Haruhiko Matsumoto Tetsuya Yamano	7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7	54	1
3	Hisashi Wada Jukuchou Sunako		54	0
4			53	0
5	Hideshi Matsuda Kazuyuki Nishizawa		49	0
6	Atsushi Yogo Hideo Fukuyama		44	0
7	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	31 ARTA with Apex Toyota MR-S	40	1
8	Katsuo Kobayashi Tatsuya Tanigawa	77 Cusco Racing Subaru Impreza	34	0
9	Minoru Tanaka Satoru Gotou	19 Weds Sports Racing Project Bandoh Toyota MR-S	33	1
10	Shinsuke Shibahara	62 R&D Sport Porsche 911 GT3R	30	0
11	Shogo Mitsuyama	62 R&D Sport Porsche 911 GT3R	23	0
12	Takamasa Nakagawa Osamu Nakajima	63 Leyjun R&D Sport Porsche 911 GT3R	21	0
13		86 project μ Kraft Toyota Trueno·Toyota MR-S	20	1
14		71 Sigmatech Racing Toyota MR-S	20	1
15	Eiji Yamada Takayuki Kinoshita	55 Team Taisan Jr. Chrysler Viper GTS-R	10	0
16	Naofumi　Omoto Yasukichi Yamamoto		8	0
17	Kumi Sato Masahiro Matsunaga	0 Tom's Spirit Toyota MR-S	5	0
18	Junichi Ikura Yuusei Maki	0 Team Gainer Porsche 911 GT3R	5	0
20	Yasuhisa Fujiwara	62 R&D Sport Porsche 911 GT3R	4	0

External links

• Super GT/JGTC official race archive

Notes and References

1. Web site: JGTC 2001 Ranking. 2021-10-16. supergt.net.