2002 JGTC Season

2002 JGTC Season
Previous 2001		Next 2003
The season's champion.
Number of races	8
First race	2002 Okayama GT 300 km
Last race	2002 Suzuka GT 300 km
Tyre Suppliers	B - M - Y - D - BF
Points	10 places 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1
Drivers' Championship (GT500)
Champion	Wakisaka / Iida		75
Runner-up	Matsuda / Firman		74
3rd place	Takeuchi / Tachikawa		65
Teams' Championship (GT500)
Champions	Team Mugen		96
Runners-up	ESSO Toyota Team LeMans		75
3rd place	Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing		74
Drivers' Championship (GT300)
Champion	Nitta / Takagi		75
Runner-up	Shibahara / Mitsuyama		73
3rd place	Yamano / Yanagida		70
Teams' Championship (GT300)
Champions	Team Taisan Advan		102
Runners-up	R&D SPORT		85
3rd place	ARTA with A'PEX		75

The 2002 All-Japan GT Championship was the 9th season of the JGTC. The calendar expanded from seven to eight races, being held at Malaysia for the first time. The season started on 13th April in TI Circuit Aida and ended on 17th November in Suzuka Circuit after eight races.

Both Juichi Wakisaka and Akira Iida took the Driver's Championship with only a single victory in GT500, with Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi taking the Driver's Championship in GT300.

Calendar

Round	Dates	Circuit held	Race Distance	GT500 Winner	GT300 Winner
#1	13th - 14th April	TI Circuit Aida	300 km	Matsuda Firman （Honda NSX）	Nitta Takagi （Toyota MR-S）
#2	3rd - 4th May	Fuji International Speedway	500 km	Takeuchi Tachikawa （Toyota Supra）	Shibahara Mitsuyama （Vemac 320R）
#3	25th - 26th May	Sportsland SUGO	300 km	Wakisaka Iida （Toyota Supra）	Yamano Yanagida （Nissan Silvia）
#4	22nd - 23rd June	Sepang International Circuit	300 km	Matsuda Firman （Honda NSX）	Matsumoto Taniguchi （Mazda RX-7）
Rd.5	27th - 28th July	Fuji International Speedway	300 km	Takeuchi Tachikawa （Toyota Supra）	Fukuyama Kinoshita （Porsche 911）
#6	14th - 15th September	Twin Ring Motegi	300 km	Philippe Lyons （Honda NSX）	Shibahara Mitsuyama （Vemac 320R）
#7	26th - 27th October	MINE Circuit	300 km	Michigami Ito （Honda NSX）	Shibahara Mitsuyama （Vemac 320R）
#8	16th - 17th November	Suzuka Circuit	300 km	Matsuda Firman (Honda NSX）	Oyagi Aoki （Nissan Silvia）

Entry List

GT500 Class

Number	Car	Drivers	Entrant	Engine Tuner	Tyre
1	au CERUMO Supra	Hironori Takeuchi Yuji Tachikawa	TOYOTA TEAM CERUMO	Toyota Technocraft	B
6	ESSO ULTRAFLO Supra	Juichi Wakisaka Akira Iida	ESSO TOYOTA Team LeMans	Toyota Technocraft	B
8	ARTA NSX	Keiichi Tsuchiya Katsutomo Kaneishi	V T E Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Founder Aguri Suzuki Notable Personnel Aguri Suzuki · Keiichi Tsuchiya Former Notable Personnel ? 2014 Drivers Kosuke Matsuura · Vitantonio Liuzzi Former Drivers [IRE] Ralph Firman (2005-2013) · Takashi Kobayashi (2010-2012) · Hideki Mutoh (2011) · Takuya Izawa (2008-2009) · Daisuke Ito (2004-2007) · Yuji Ide (2007,2010) · Katsutomo Kaneishi (2001-2004) · Toshihiro Kaneishi (2003,2006) · Keiichi Tsuchiya (2000-2003) Champions Ito / Firman (2007) Season Reports 2001 · 2007 · 2013 Full results	Mugen	B
12	CALSONIC Skyline	Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Rd.1-5) → Benoît Tréluyer (Rd.6-8) Tetsuya Tanaka	TEAM IMPUL	Tomei Engine	B
16	MUGEN NSX	Daisuke Ito Dominik Schwager (Rd.1-4) → Ryo Michigami (Rd.5-8)	Mugen x Dome Project	Mugen	B
18	TAKATA DOME NSX	Sébastien Philippe Richard Lyons	Mugen x Dome Project	Mugen	B
22	XANAVI NISMO GT-R	Satoshi Motoyama Michael Krumm	NISMO	Autech Japan	B
23	Castrol PITWORK GT-R	Masami Kageyama Érik Comas	NISMO	Autech Japan	B
25	FK/Massimo ADVAN Supra	Shinichi Yamaji Seiji Ara (Rd.1,3-8) → Geoff Lees (Rd.2)	Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota Technocraft	Y
30	SOK McLaren (Longtail)	Hideki Okada Haruki Kurosawa	Team Take One	BMW Motorsports	D
33	United UKYO SUPRA	Ukyo Katayama (Rd.1-3) → Hayanari Shimoda (Rd.4-8) Masahiko Kondo	Toyota Team CERUMO	Toyota Technocraft	B
35	Project μ ESPELIR Supra	Masahiko Kageyama Shigekazu Wakisaka	Toyota Team KRAFT	Toyota Technocraft	D
36	TOKUHON TOM'S Supra	Takeshi Tsuchiya Wayne Gardner	Toyota Team TOM'S	Toyota Technocraft	M
37	ZENT TOM'S SUPRA	Takuya Kurosawa Paolo Montin (Rd.1-7) → Hideki Noda (Rd.8)	Toyota Team TOM'S	Toyota Technocraft	M
39	DENSO SARD Supra GT	Jeremie Dufour Manabu Orido	Toyota Team SARD	Toyota Technocraft	Y
64	Mobil 1 NSX	Tsugio Matsuda Ralph Firman	Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing	Mugen	B
78	YELLOW CORN McLaren GTR (Longtail)	Naoki Hattori Eiichi Tajima	Hitotsuyama Racing	BMW Motorsports	D
87	HKS CLK (Rd.2-8)	Koji Yamanishi Yudai Igarashi	HKS	HKS	M
88	NOMAD Diablo JGT-1	Marco Apicella Hisashi Wada	JLOC	Lamborghini	D
100	RAYBRIG NSX	Hiroki Katoh (Rd.1, 3-8) → Toshihiro Kaneishi (Rd.2) Hidetoshi Mitsusada	Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft	Mugen	B

GT300 Class (in progress)

Number	Car	Drivers	Entrant	Engine Tuner	Tyre
2	Verno Tokai AR DREAM 28 NSX（Rd.1） →BOSS Verno Tokai AR NSX（Rd.2-8）	Kazuho Takahashi Akira Watanabe	Verno Tokai Dream28	Toda Racing	Y
3	UNISIA JECS Silvia	Tetsuya Yamano Masataka Yanagida	Hasemi Motorsport	Mid-West Racing	Y
4	ZIPSPEED CORVETTE（Rd.2, 3, 5-6, 8）	Toshiyuki Yamamoto（Rd.2） → Naohiro Furuya（Rd.3, 5-6, 8） Izumi Yoshida	Zipspeed	Zipspeed	D
5	BANPRESTO CAR CLUB Mach-Go MT	Tetsuji Tamanaka Go Mifune	A&S Racing	Ogawa Cars	Y
7	Amemiya MatsumotoKiyoshi ASPARA RX-7	Haruhiko Matsumoto Nobuteru Taniguchi (Rd.1-7) → Takayuki Kinoshita (Rd.8)	RE Amemiya Racing	RE Amemiya Racing	Y
9	ARC DAIKOKUYA Porsche（Rd.1） →ARC IJIKEMUSHI Porsche (Rd.2-5,8)	Yosuke Shimojima (Rd.1-4,8) → Akihiko Tsutsumi (Rd.5) Tsunefumi Hioki (Rd.1) → Masanobu Takenaka (Rd.2-5,8)	Team Daikokuya	ITEC Motorsports	Y
15	AMPREX BMW M3 GT	Genji Hashimoto [HKG] Charles Kwan	Amprex Motorsports	Tomei Engine	BF
17	Kosei SPIRIT MR-S (Rd.1-3,5-8)	Masahiro Matsunaga Takeshi Namekawa	TOM’S SPIRIT]	Toyota Technocraft	Y
19	WedsSport MR-S	Minoru Tanaka Satoru Goto	Racing Project Bandoh	Toyota Technocraft	Y
21	Dunlop BMW M3 GT	Mikio Hitotsuyama (Rd.1,7) → Yasuahi Hitotsuyama (Rd.2-6,8) Yasushi Kikuchi	Hitotsuyama Racing	Rucoh Engineering	D
24	ENDLESS TAISAN ADVAN GT3R	Hideo Fukuyama Mitsuhiro Kinoshita	Team Taisan Advan	Porsche	Y
26	PLUS e TAISAN ADVAN GT3R	Atsushi Yogo Kazuyuki Nishizawa	Team Taisan Advan	Porsche	Y
28	MY&C TAISAN ADVAN GT3R (Rd.2-4) →DIRECTION TAISAN ADVAN GT3R (Rd.4-8)	Tomohiko Sunako（Rd.2） → Yukihiro Hane (Rd.3-8) Yutaka Yamagishi	Team Taisan Jr.	Porsche	Y
31	ARTA A'PEX MR-S	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	ARTA with A'PEX	Toyota Technocraft	BF
51	C-WEST AUTOSTAFF ADVAN Silvia (Rd.3-5,7-8)	Naofumi Omoto Masanobu Kato (Rd.3-5,7) → Akira Ishikawa (Rd.8)	Auto Staff Racing	Mid-West Racing	Y
55	ECLIPSE TAISAN AD Viper	Eiji Yamada Go Shimizu (Rd.1-2,5-8) → Takayuki Kinoshita (Rd.3,4)	Team Taisan Jr.	CDI	Y
61	Asports R&D Dunlop GT3R (Rd.1-3,5) →R&D Sports Dunlop GT3R (Rd.4)	Hiroaki Suga (Rd.1,3) → Tsubasa Kurosawa (Rd.2) → Atsushi Katsumata (Rd.4,5) Yasuo Miyakawa	R&D Sport EX	Mid-West Racing	D
62	R&D SPORT Dunlop GT3R (Rd.1) →Vemac R&D Dunlop 320R (Rd.2-8)	Shinsuke Shibahara Shogo Mitsuyama	R&D Sport	Sierra Sports (Rd.1) →Toda Racing (Rd.2-)	D
63	LeyJun R&D Dunlop GT3R	OSAMU Takamasa Nakagawa	R&D Sport	Mid-West Racing	D
66	ORC with REVOLUTION RX7（Rd.5,6,8）	Tetsuya Shimizu Shinji Abe (Rd.5) → Makoto Shionoiri (Rd.6,8)	Team Revolution	Revolution	D
70	GAIKOKUYA Dunlop Porsche	Yoshimi Ishibashi Patrick van Schoote (Rd.1-5) → Seiichi Fukuyama (Rd.6) → Nobuo Komiya (Rd.7,8)	Team GAIKOKUYA	Mid-West Racing	D

Tyres

Tyre	Indicates
B	Bridgestone
Y	Yokohama
D	Dunlop
M	Michelin
BF	BF Goodrich

Driver Changes

GT500

• Team Tsuchiya driver Manabu Orido will drive for Team SARD this season.
• Team Kunimitsu drivers Akira Iida will move to Team LeMans and Daisuke Ito will move to Team Mugen.
• Dome Racing Team driver Hiroki Katoh will drive for Team Kunimitsu this season.
• Team Mugen driver Hidetoshi Mitsusada will move to Team Kunimitsu.
• Wayne Gardner and Takuya Kurosawa will swap seats; Gardner to No.36 and Kurosawa to No.37.
• Satoshi Motoyama will move from Team Impul to NISMO, leaving Tetsuya Tanaka for a drive in Team Impul.
• Being replaced by Kazuyoshi Hoshino back in 2001, Naoki Hattori will join Hitotsuyama Racing.
• Haruki Kurosawa will make his first début in JGTC, driving for Team Take One.

Mid-season changes

• When Kazuyoshi Hoshino decided to retire from racing during the season, Benoît Tréluyer was chosen to replace him for Team Impul.
• Toshihiro Kaneishi substituted Hiroki Katoh for the second round.
• Hayanari Shimoda replaced Ukyo Katayama.
• Geoff Lees substituted Seiji Ara for the second round.
• Hideki Noda replaced Paolo Montin for the final round of the season.
• Ryo Michigami replaced Dominik Schwager for the rest of the season.

Point Ranking

• Bold text indicates pole position, italic text indicates fastest lap.

Drivers

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

Qualifying Position	1st	2nd	3rd
Points	1	1	1

Fastest Lap Times	1st	2nd	3rd
Points	1	1	1

GT500

Position	Number	Drivers	Rd.1	Rd.2	Rd.3	Rd.4	Rd.5	Rd.6	Rd.7	Rd.8	Points
1st	#6	Juichi Wakisaka Akira Iida	10th	2nd	1st	11th†	7th	4th	4th	3rd	75
2nd	#64	Tsugio Matsuda Ralph Firman	1st	11th	Ret	1st	12th	14th	6th	1st	74
3rd	#1	Hironori Takeuchi Yuji Tachikawa	4th	1st	17th	9th	1st	10th	9th	6th	65
4th	#100	Hidetoshi Mitsusada	9th	5th	2nd	5th	8th	2nd	Ret	4th	63
5th	#16	Daisuke Ito	5th	3rd	3rd	10th	11th	16th†	1st	10th	59
6th	#100	Hiroki Katoh	9th	-	2nd	5th	8th	2nd	Ret	4th	55
7th	#36	Takeshi Tsuchiya Wayne Gardner	8th	14th†	10th	2nd	5th	6th	3rd	9th	52
8th	#22	Satoshi Motoyama Michael Krumm	11th	7th	7th	4th	2nd	10th	2nd	Ret	51
9th	#18	Sébastien Philippe Richard Lyons	2nd	15th†	16th	13th	6th	1st	12th	14th	47
10th	#8	Keiichi Tsuchiya Katsutomo Kaneishi	7th	4th	13th	6th	9th	8th	8th	2nd	29
11th	#37	Takuya Kurosawa	Ret	12th	5th	3rd	3rd	7th	Ret	16th†	38
12th	#37	Paolo Montin	Ret	12th	5th	3rd	3rd	7th	Ret	-	38
13th	#16	Dominik Schwager	5th	3rd	3rd	10th	-	-	-	-	35
14th	#39	Jeremie Dufour Manabu Orido	3rd	Ret	12th	DSQ‡	15th†	5th	7th	5th	33
15th	#25	Shinichi Yamaji	6th	13th	11th	Ret	4th	9th	5th	7th	32
16th	#25	Seiji Ara	6th	-	11th	Ret	4th	9th	5th	7th	32
17th	#78	Naoki Hattori Eiichi Tajima	13th	7th	6th	8th	13th	3rd	Ret	Ret	27
18th	#16	Ryo Michigami	-	-	-	-	11th	16th†	1st	10th	24
19th	#23	Masami Kageyama Érik Comas	12th	6th	3rd	15th†	14th	17th†	Ret	3	19
20th	#100	Toshihiro Kaneishi	-	5th	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
21th	#33	Masahiko Kondo	15th	-	9th	7th	16th	12th	11th	13th	6
22th	#33	Hayanari Shimoda	-	-	-	7th	16th	12th	11th	13th	4
23th	#12	Tetsuya Tanaka	14th	Ret	8th	14th	Ret	11th	14th	17th†	4
24th	#12	Kazuyoshi Hoshino	14th	Ret	8th	14th	Ret	-	-	-	3
25th	#35	Shigekazu Wakisaka Masahiko Kageyama	17th	10th	Ret	12th	10th	15th†	10th	12th	3
26th	#30	Hideki Okada Haruki Kurosawa	16th	9th	14th	-	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	2
27th	#33	Ukyo Katayama	15th	-	9th	-	-	-	-	-	2
28th	#12	Benoit Tréluyer	-	-	-	-	-	11th	13th	17th†	1

• † = Did not finished the race, but was classified in the classification list.
• ‡ = Both Dufour and Orido was disqualified at Lap 49 for ignoring the black flag (drive-through penalty flag).