The 2009 Autobacs Super GT Series was the 16th season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship. The season opener on March 22, was moved to Okayama, due to the continued renovation of Suzuka in preparation for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix. The season finale on November 8 also was moved to Motegi, instead of Fuji. Due to the worldwide economic crisis, race weekends were two days instead of three.
André Lotterer and Juichi Wakisaka claimed the GT500 title in their Petronas TOM'S Lexus SC430. The team also won their respective teams title. In GT300, Racing Project Bandoh's Manabu Orido and Tatsuya Kataoka won the title by three points from Nobuteru Taniguchi and Ryo Orime.
Development in Car Factories
GT500 Class
Originally the three makers agreed to unify engine specification into a 3.4 L V8 (the same configuration of Formula Nippon). However, due to the aforementioned economic crisis, Nissan found difficulties to develop a suitable engine for their GT-R, and chose to bear performance ballast while using the same engine last year. Honda continued to use their midshiped-NSX, and bear performance ballast as the regulation originally outlaws midship cars, this is also their last Super GT year with NSX, which they announced they will use a new vehicle (HSV-010) in 2010 season.
Aston Martin joined the series with a Le-mans spec. Aston Martin DBR9, it is the first Aston Martin car participated the series history (including JGTC), also the first European and non-Honda/Nissan/Toyota car in GT500 since the 2006 season (Maserati MC12 did participate the pre-season test in 2006 season but withdraw from the series later). The DBR9 will only be run at the first round, and the two rounds at Fuji.
GT300 Class
The apr team, which has used the Toyota MR-S for a long time have discontinued to use MR-S in this season, replacing them with midshipped Toyota Corolla Axio instead.
The Cusco, the only team using an AWD car (Subaru Impreza), exits the series as they want to concentrate on off-road events. However, Subaru cars do not take absence from the series as R&D Sport uses a Legacy B4 since Race 6.
Thunder Asia Racing, a team from Singapore, spot races the Sepang race with a Mosler MT900R. Their full participation in 2010 season was confirmed after the 2009 season ends.
Drivers and teams
GT500
GT300
| Team |
Make |
Car |
No. |
Drivers |
Tyre |
Rounds |
| Cars Tokai Dream28 |
Mooncraft |
Mooncraft Shiden-Toyota |
2 |
 Hiroki Katoh |
Y
|
All |
| Kazuho Takahashi |
1 |
| Hiroki Yoshimoto |
2–9 |
| Avanzza Rosso |
Vemac |
Vemac RD320R-HPD C32B |
4 |
Yoshihiro Ito |
K
|
6 |
| Subaru Yamamoto |
6 |
| Michito Uezumi |
6 |
| Yoshihiro Ito |
Y
|
9 |
 Igor Sushko |
9 |
| 666 |
Shogo Suho |
Y
|
All |
| Junichiro Yamashita |
All |
| Takashi Miyamoto |
3, 6 |
| Team Mach |
Vemac |
Vemac RD320R-Porsche M96.77 |
5 |
Tetsuji Tamanaka |
Y
|
All |
| Akazame Oyaji |
All |
| M7 RE Amemiya Racing |
Mazda |
Mazda RX-7 |
7 |
Nobuteru Taniguchi |
Y
|
All |
| Ryo Orime |
All |
| Jim Gainer Racing |
Ferrari |
Ferrari F360 |
10 |
Masayuki Ueda |
Y
|
All |
| Masataka Kawaguchi |
All |
| Ferrari F430 |
11 |
Tetsuya Tanaka |
All |
| Katsuyuki Hiranaka |
All |
| Racing Project Bandoh |
Lexus |
Lexus IS350 |
19 |
Tatsuya Kataoka |
Y
|
All |
| Manabu Orido |
All |
| Team Taisan |
Porsche |
Porsche 996 GT3-RS |
26 |
Haruki Kurosawa |
Y
|
1–4, 6–7, 9 |
| Tsubasa Abe |
1–3, 5–9 |
| Katsuhiko Tsutsui |
4, 6, 8 |
| Tsubasa Kurosawa |
5 |
| Team Takeuchi with Shift |
Lexus |
Lexus IS350 |
30 |
Kota Sasaki |
K
|
1–3 |
| Naoya Yamano |
1–3 |
| 52 |
Kota Sasaki |
4–9 |
| Naoya Yamano |
4–6 |
| Yuhi Sekiguchi |
6–9 |
| apr |
Toyota |
Toyota Corolla Axio |
31 |
Yuya Sakamoto |
Y
|
All |
| Hideki Yamauchi |
1–4 |
| Kyosuke Mineo |
5–9 |
| Takamori.com |
6 |
| 74 |
Takuto Iguchi |
M |
All |
| Yuji Kunimoto |
All |
| Hankook KTR |
Porsche |
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
33 |
Mitsuhiro Kinoshita |
H
|
3, 5, 7 |
| Masami Kageyama |
3, 5, 7 |
| Autobacs Racing Team Aguri |
ASL |
ASL Garaiya |
43 |
Morio Nitta |
M |
All |
| Shinichi Takagi |
All |
| MOLA |
Nissan |
Nissan Fairlady Z |
46 |
Kazuki Hoshino |
Y
|
All |
| Masataka Yanagida |
All |
| Tomei Sports |
Porsche |
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
55 |
Yutaka Yamagishi |
Y
|
1–7, 9 |
| Hiroshi Koizumi |
1–7, 9 |
| R&D Sport |
Subaru |
Subaru Legacy B4 |
62 |
Shogo Mitsuyama |
Y
|
6–7, 9 |
| Tetsuya Yamano |
6–7, 9 |
| JLOC |
Lamborghini |
Lamborghini Murcielago RG-1 |
66 |
Koji Yamanishi |
Y
|
All |
| Atsushi Yogo |
All |
 Marco Apicella |
3 |
| Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 |
87 |
Hiroyuki Iiri |
All |
| Hisashi Wada |
All |
| 88 |
Hideshi Matsuda |
All |
| Yuya Sakamoto |
All |
| Thunder Asia Racing |
Mosler |
Mosler MT900R |
69 |
 Melvin Choo |
Y
|
4 |
 Martin Short |
4 |
| Team Daishin |
Ferrari |
Ferrari F430 |
81 |
Takayuki Aoki |
Y
|
All |
| Tomonobu Fujii |
All |
| Koji Matsuda |
6 |
| Arktech Motorsports |
Porsche |
Porsche Boxster |
110 |
 Kim Han Bong |
K
|
1–3 |
| Daisuke Ikeda |
1, 8 |
| Tatsuya Tanigawa |
2–3, 5, 8 |
| Takashi Ohi |
5 |
| Porsche Boxster |
111 |
Takaya Tsubobayashi |
1–3 |
| Igor Sushko |
1 |
| Daisuke Ikeda |
2–4 |
| Tojiro Azuma |
4 |
| 112 |
Takashi Ohi |
7, 9 |
| Yoshiaki Nakayama |
7 |
| Keita Sawa |
8–9 |
 Aaron Caratti |
8 |
| Studie GLAD Racing |
BMW |
BMW Z4M |
808 |
Shozo Tagahara |
Y
|
1–3, 5–9 |
| Yasushi Kikuchi |
1–3, 5–7 |
| Taku Bamba |
6, 8–9 |
Schedule
As a measure of cost reduction, the two longest race, as well as the final race in the series' distance in the series was shortened in this season. This included the trimming of the traditional 1000km race in Suzuka to 700 km. However, to avoid 1-pit strategy that caused unfairness to some teams, teams were required to pit twice in the Fuji 400 km race.
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 |
|
|
|
| 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) |
|
GT300 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 |
|
| Rank |
Driver |
OKA
|
SUZ
|
FUJ
|
SEP
 |
SUG
|
SUZ
|
FUJ
|
AUT
|
MOT
|
PTS |
|---|
| 1 |
Manabu Orido
Tatsuya Kataoka |
1 |
8 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
85 |
| 2 |
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Ryo Orime |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
11 |
7 |
DNS |
2 |
2 |
82 |
| 3 |
Tetsuya Tanaka
Katsuyuki Hiranaka |
4 |
4 |
Ret |
8 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
79 |
| 4 |
Takayuki Aoki
Tomonobu Fujii |
12 |
6 |
2 |
DNS |
4 |
8 |
1 |
18 |
1 |
71 |
| 5 |
Morio Nitta
Shinichi Takagi |
2 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
9 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
14 |
71 |
| 6 |
Hiroki Katoh |
6 |
7 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
16 |
16 |
63 |
| 7 |
Kazuki Hoshino
Masataka Yanagida |
7 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
6 |
1 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
62 |
| 8 |
Hiroki Yoshimoto |
|
7 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
16 |
16 |
58 |
| 9 |
Mitsuhiro Kinoshita
Masami Kageyama |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
6 |
|
|
45 |
| 10 |
Takuto Iguchi
Yuji Kunimoto |
5 |
9 |
8 |
16 |
8 |
4 |
12 |
7 |
5 |
32 |
| 11 |
Yuya Sakamoto |
9 |
11 |
7 |
6 |
10 |
18 |
15 |
5 |
6 |
23 |
| 12 |
Koji Yamanishi
Atsushi Yogo |
18 |
Ret |
18 |
5 |
13 |
17 |
3 |
11 |
8 |
20 |
| 13 |
Tsubasa Abe |
10 |
10 |
4 |
|
7 |
16 |
14 |
9 |
9 |
18 |
| 14 |
Haruki Kurosawa |
10 |
10 |
4 |
Ret |
|
16 |
14 |
|
9 |
12 |
| 15 |
Kyosuke Mineo |
|
|
|
|
10 |
18 |
15 |
5 |
6 |
12 |
| 16 |
Hideki Yamauchi |
9 |
11 |
7 |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
| 17 |
Kota Sasaki |
8 |
17 |
11 |
7 |
15 |
9 |
13 |
13 |
10 |
10 |
| 18 |
Tetsuji Tamanaka
Akazame Oyaji |
13 |
12 |
10 |
12 |
16 |
Ret |
8 |
6 |
15 |
9 |
| 19 |
Naoya Yamano |
8 |
17 |
11 |
7 |
15 |
9 |
|
|
|
9 |
| 20 |
Kazuho Takahashi |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
| 21 |
Tsubasa Kurosawa |
|
|
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
4 |
| 22 |
Yuhi Sekiguchi |
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
13 |
13 |
10 |
3 |
| 23 |
Masayuki Ueda
Masataka Kawaguchi |
DNS |
16 |
15 |
9 |
20 |
15 |
17 |
19 |
13 |
2 |
| 24 |
Katsuhiko Tsutsui |
|
|
|
Ret |
|
16 |
|
9 |
|
2 |
| 25 |
Hideshi Matsuda
Yuya Sakamoto |
Ret |
13 |
19 |
Ret |
12 |
10 |
10 |
12 |
11 |
2 |
| 26 |
Shozo Tagahara |
Ret |
DNQ |
Ret |
|
Ret |
Ret |
Ret |
10 |
Ret |
1 |
| 27 |
Taku Bamba |
|
|
|
|
|
Ret |
|
10 |
Ret |
1 |
| Rank |
Driver |
OKA
|
SUZ
|
FUJ
|
SEP
|
SUG
|
SUZ
|
FUJ
|
AUT
|
MOT
|
PTS |
|
| 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) |
|
External links
João Paulo de Oliveira
Benoît Tréluyer
Ralph Firman 
André Lotterer