2001 All Japan Grand Touring Car 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.

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 No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Mugen x Dome Project Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 1 Ryo Michigami B 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 B All
Juichi Wakisaka All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 8 Katsutomo Kaneishi B All
Keiichi Tsuchiya All
Calsonic Team Impul Nissan Nissan Skyline GT-R Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6 12 Satoshi Motoyama B 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 D 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 B 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 Y 1–7
Seiji Ara 1–7
Team Take One McLaren McLaren F1 GTR BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12 30 André Couto B 1–7
Hideki Okada 1–7
Toyota Team Cerumo Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4 33 Masahiko Kondo B 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 M 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 Y 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 B All
Dominik Schwager All
JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Diablo GT-1 Lamborghini L532 6.0 L V12 88 Marco Apicella D All
Naohiro Furuya All
Raybrig Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 100 Akira Iida B All
Daisuke Ito All

GT300

Team Make Car Engine No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
TOM'S Spirit Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 0 Masahiro Matsunaga Y All
Kumi Sato All
Dream28 Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 2 Kazuho Takahashi Y 5, 6
Hiroshi Kimura 5
Akira Watanabe 6
Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 3 Yuji Ide Y All
Masataka Yanagida All
BSA Porsche Team Competizione Porsche Porsche 993 RS Porsche M64/60 3.6 L Turbo F6 5 Key Soon Yue M 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 Y All
Haruhiko Matsumoto All
Team Daikokuya Porsche Porsche 993 RS Porsche M64/80 3.6 L Turbo F6 9 Akira Watanabe Y 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 Y 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 Y 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 Y All
Minoru Tanaka All
Team Taisan Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 24 Hideshi Matsuda Y All
Kazuyuki Nishizawa All
26 Atsushi Yogo All
Hideo Fukuyama All
Chrysler Chrysler Viper GTS-R Chrysler 356-T6 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 Y All
Shinichi Takagi All
Auto Staff Racing Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 51 Naofumi Omoto Y 2–7
Yasukichi Yamamoto 2–7
R&D Sport Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 62 Shinsuke Shibahara D 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 Y NC
Charles Kwan NC
Team Gaikokuya Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 70 Yoshimi Ishibashi D All
Hiroaki Suga All
SigmaTec Racing Team Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 71 Guts Jyonai Y 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 Y All
Tatsuya Tanigawa All
Team Daishin Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 81 Nobuyuki Ohyagi Y All
Takayuki Aoki All
KRAFT Toyota Toyota Corolla Sprinter Trueno (AE86) Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 86 Masaoki Nagashima Y 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 Y All
Kota Sasaki All
Team Sri Lanka Mosler Mosler MT900R Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8 900 Dilantha Malagamuwa Y 1–4
Takeshi Asami 1–4
João Barbosa NC
A&S Racing Mosler Mosler MT900R Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8 901 Takeshi Asami Y 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 Y 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
Hideki Noda
Juichi Wakisaka 		Takayuki Aoki
Noboyuki Oyagi
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 #3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Silvia
Hideki Noda
Juichi Wakisaka 		Masataka Yanagida
Yuji Ide
4 Mt. Fuji #22 Xanavi NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R #81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia
Tetsuya Tanaka
Michael Krumm 		Takayuki Aoki
Noboyuki Oyagi
5 Twin Ring Motegi #64 Mobil 1 Honda NSX #19 WedsSport Toyota MR-S
Tsugio Matsuda
Dominik Schwager 		Minoru Tanaka
Satoshi Goto
6 Suzuka Circuit #8 ARTA Honda NSX #86 KRAFT Toyota MR-S
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Katsutomo Kaneishi 		Koji Matsuda
Masaoki Nagashima
7 Mine Circuit #30 Team Take One McLaren F1 GTR #71 Sigma Tech Toyota MR-S
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
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Teams' standings

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

Rank Team No. TAI
 FUJ
 SUG
 FUJ
 MOT
 SUZ
 MIN
 PTS
1 Nismo 22 4 3 Ret 1 10 8 6 71
23 13 4 10 2 Ret 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 Ret 13 58
38 Ret 2 3 4 2 6 16
4 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 2 6 2 12 11 1 Ret 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 Ret 1 5 3 13 Ret 14 40
7 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing 64 3 12 14 6 1 Ret Ret 38
8 Team Take One 30 8 Ret 12 16 6 10 1 30
9 Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft 100 6 5 Ret 9 4 13 8 29
10 Team Impul 12 15 Ret 7 7 3 11 5 28
11 Toyota Team SARD 39 7 7 9 13 Ret 9 4 22
12 Tsuchiya Engineering 25 9 11 11 - 7 7 10 11
13 Hitotsuyama Racing 21 10 13 Ret 11 Ret Ret 11 1
- JLOC 88 DNS Ret DNS Ret 15 14 15 0
Rank Team No. TAI
 FUJ
 SUG
 FUJ
 MOT
 SUZ
 MIN
 PTS

GT300 class

Drivers

Rank Drivers 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 		#910 Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R 54 0
4 Masataka Yanagida
Yuji Ide 		#3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Silvia 53 0
5 Hideshi Matsuda
Kazuyuki Nishizawa 		#24 Advan Team Taisan Porsche 911 GT3R 49 0
6 Atsushi Yogo
Hideo Fukuyama 		#26 Advan Team Taisan Porsche 911 GT3R 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 Masaoki Nagashima
Kouji Matsuda 		#86 project μ Kraft Toyota Trueno·Toyota MR-S 20 1
14 Masaki Jyonai
Eiichi Tajima 		#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 		#51 Auto Staff Racing Nissan Silvia 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