2008 Super GT Series
The 2008 Autobacs Super GT Series was the 15th season of the GT Championship in Japan including the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the 4th season as the Super GT series. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300. The season began on March 15 and ended on November 9, 2008 after 9 races.
Major Developments in the Car Factories
In this season, NISMO introduces the GT-R replacing the Fairlady Z in GT500 class.
BMW returns to the series in Round 6, participating in GT300 class with a Z4. Their previous participation was in 2002, before JGTC reformed to Super GT.
Drivers and teams
GT500
GT300
| Team |
Make |
Car |
No. |
Drivers |
Tyre |
Rounds |
| Cars Tokai Dream28 |
Mooncraft |
Mooncraft Shiden-Toyota |
2 |
 Kazuho Takahashi |
Y
|
All |
| Hiroki Katoh |
All |
| Hiroki Yoshimoto |
6 |
| Team Uematsu Nova |
Vemac |
Vemac RD320R-Zytek ZV348 |
4 |
Ryohei Sakaguchi |
Y
|
All |
| Masaki Matsushita |
All |
| Tadao Uematsu |
6 |
| Vemac RD350R-Zytek ZV348 |
16 |
Tadao Uematsu |
1, 3, 9 |
| Katsuhiko Tsutsui |
1, 3, 9 |
| Team Mach |
Vemac |
Vemac RD320R-HPD C32B |
5 |
Tetsuji Tamanaka |
Y
|
All |
| Naoya Yamano |
1–7, 9 |
| Katsuhiko Tsutsui |
6, 8 |
| RE Amemiya Racing |
Mazda |
Mazda RX-7 |
7 |
Hiroyuki Iiri |
Y
|
All |
| Ryo Orime |
All |
| Hiroyuki Matsumura |
6 |
| A&S Racing |
Chevrolet |
Chevrolet Corvette C6 |
9 |
Tatsuya Tanigawa |
K
|
3, 6, 8 |
| Hirofumi Takei |
3, 6, 8 |
| Takayuki Matsumoto |
6 |
| Jim Gainer Racing |
Ferrari |
Ferrari F430 |
11 |
Tetsuya Tanaka |
Y
|
All |
| Masayuki Ueda |
All |
| Racing Project Bandoh |
Toyota |
Toyota Celica |
19 |
Manabu Orido |
Y
|
1–3 |
| Tsubasa Abe |
1–3 |
| Lexus |
Lexus IS350 |
Manabu Orido |
4–9 |
| Tsubasa Abe |
4–9 |
| Yuhi Sekiguchi |
6 |
| Team Taisan with Nishizawa |
Porsche |
Porsche 996 GT3-RS |
26 |
Nobuteru Taniguchi |
Y
|
All |
| Shinichi Yamaji |
1–8 |
| Keita Sawa |
6 |
 Dominik Farnbacher |
9 |
| Team Shadow |
Porsche |
Porsche 996 GT3-RSR |
27 |
Takashi Inoue |
H
|
1, 3, 6–7, 9 |
 Hwang Jin Woo |
1, 3, 6–7 |
| Yasuhiro Takasaki |
6 |
| Koji Aoyama |
9 |
| apr |
Toyota |
Toyota MR-S |
31 |
Kyosuke Mineo |
M |
1–5, 7–9 |
| Yuya Sakamoto |
1–5, 7–9 |
| 95 |
Kohei Hirate |
1–5, 8–9 |
| Keisuke Kunimoto |
All |
| Yuya Sakamoto |
6 |
| Kazuya Oshima |
6 |
| Hideki Yamauchi |
7 |
| Hankook KTR |
Porsche |
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
33 |
Mitsuhiro Kinoshita |
H
|
All |
| Masami Kageyama |
All |
| Autobacs Racing Team Aguri |
ASL |
ASL Garaiya |
43 |
Morio Nitta |
M |
All |
| Shinichi Takagi |
All |
| Kyosuke Mineo |
6 |
| MOLA |
Nissan |
Nissan Fairlady Z |
46 |
Kazuki Hoshino |
M |
All |
| Hironobu Yasuda |
All |
| Team Takeuchi with Shift |
Lexus |
Lexus IS350 |
52 |
Takuya Kurosawa |
K
|
3–9 |
| Takuto Iguchi |
3–9 |
| Hideki Yamauchi |
6 |
| Willcom R&D Sport |
Vemac |
Vemac RD408R-HPD C32B |
62 |
Shinsuke Shibahara |
Y
|
1, 5–9 |
| Haruki Kurosawa |
All |
| Shogo Mitsuyama |
2–4, 6 |
| JLOC |
Lamborghini |
Lamborghini Murcielago RG-1 |
66 |
Koji Yamanishi |
Y
|
All |
| Atsushi Yogo |
All |
| Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 |
87 |
Hisashi Wada |
All |
| Muneyuki Kurihara |
All |
| Yoshihisa Namekata |
6 |
| 88 |
Hideshi Matsuda |
All |
| Naohiro Furuya |
All |
| Yuya Sakamoto |
6 |
| Team Gaikokuya |
Porsche |
Porsche 996 GT3-RS |
70 |
Takehide Maeda |
Y
|
1 |
| Yutaka Yamagishi |
1–7, 9 |
| Akazame Oyaji |
2–3 |
| Yoshimi Ishibashi |
4–7 |
| Kazuyoshi Takamizawa |
6, 9 |
| Cusco Racing |
Subaru |
Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
77 |
Tetsuya Yamano |
D |
All |
| Kota Sasaki |
1–7 |
 Carlo van Dam |
8–9 |
| Team Daishin |
Nissan |
Nissan Fairlady Z |
81 |
Takayuki Aoki |
Y
|
All |
| Tomonobu Fujii |
All |
| Arktech Motorsports |
Porsche |
Porsche 986 Boxster |
110 |
Hidetoshi Mitsusada |
K
|
All |
| Daisuke Ikeda |
All |
| 111 |
Hiroshi Koizumi |
1–6 |
| Guts Jyonai |
1 |
| Tsubasa Kurosawa |
2–6 |
 Paul Ip |
6 |
| Tomei Sports |
Porsche |
Porsche 996 GT3-RS |
118 |
Takashi Miyamoto |
Y
|
1, 3, 6–9 |
| Takashi Ohi |
1 |
| Masayuki Kurihara |
3, 6–7 |
| Guts Jyonai |
6, 8–9 |
| Avanzza Rosso |
Vemac |
Vemac RD320R-HPD C32B |
666 |
Shogo Suho |
K
|
1–3, 5–9 |
| Junichiro Yamashita |
1–3, 5–9 |
| Takamori.com |
6 |
| Studie & Glad with Asada Racing |
BMW |
BMW Z4 M Coupe |
808 |
Yasushi Kikuchi |
Y
|
6–7, 9 |
| Shozo Tagahara |
6–7, 9 |
|
Schedule
Season Winners
Standings
GT500 Drivers
- Scoring system
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|
| Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Qualifying | 3 | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | |
| Fastest Lap | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | |
|
- Only the best four results in the first six races would be counted for the championship.
- There were no points awarded for pole position and fastest lap in the final race.
|
|
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | 2nd place |
| Bronze | 3rd 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 participate (DNP) |
| Excluded (EX) |
|
Teams
GT300 Class (Top 3)
Drivers
| Rank |
Drivers |
Number/Team |
Points |
Wins |
| 1 |
Kazuki Hoshino
Hironobu Yasuda |
#46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z |
78 |
1 |
| 2 |
Morio Nitta
Shinichi Takagi |
#43 ARTA Garaiya |
77 |
2 |
| 3 |
Nobuteru Taniguchi |
#26 Yunker-Power Taisan Porsche |
71 |
1 |
Teams
Footnotes
External links
Super GT International Series Malaysia
Benoît Tréluyer
Richard Lyons
João Paulo de Oliveira
Ronnie Quintarelli