2006 Japan Le Mans Challenge

The Japan Le Mans Challenge was a series of endurance races held in Japan, for motor racing cars, following the style of the famous Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race held every year in France.

The 2006 Japan Le Mans Challenge season was the first ever season for the Japan Le Mans Challenge, a series created by SERO, and run under sanctioning from the ACO, to follow 24 Hours of Le Mans rules.

It began May 14, 2006, and ended October 29, 2006 after only three races.

For the 2006 series, three different Japanese motor racing circuits were used.

Four different categories of racing cars were permitted ; LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2.

The 2007 series was not deemed to be a success, and the series was cancelled afterwards.

2006 Pre-season

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In the buildup to the first season of JLMC, it was apparent from the start that unlike the Le Mans Series in Europe, JLMC would not start off with great success.

A lack of commitment from major Japanese teams, especially those involved in Super GT, meant that the entry list for the season was small.

An official pre-season test at Sportsland Sugo saw only 8 cars showing up. Even with this, more teams promised to eventually make it to the JLMC grid, including Team Goh, who had earned fame when they won the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans with the conquering Audi R8.

However, of the teams that did show up, few had quality machinery. The entire LMP2 class was small sportscars that did not actually fit LMP2 regulations. LMP1 was able to boast some machinery that fit LMP rules with a Zytek 05S while there was promise of a new Courage LC70 for Mugen Motorsports on the way as the season went on.

GT classes was made up of a large amount of machinery from Super GT, with an ex-Prodrive Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello and JLOC's Super GT Lamborghini Murcielago RG-1 joined by a privateer Mosler MT900R in GT1.

GT2 was also only able to claim a few competitive entries, with some two Porsche 911 GT3s being mixed with a privateer cars that did not fully reach ACO GT2 specs.

These competitors allowed for the entry list of a mere 12 competitors for the first round at Sportsland Sugo.

Schedule

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Rnd Race Circuit Date
1 Sportsland Sugo 1000 km Sportsland SUGO May 14
2 Motegi 1000 km Twin Ring Motegi July 2
3 Okayama 1000 km Okayama International Circuit October 29

Season results

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Overall winner in bold.

Rnd Circuit LMP1 Winning Team LMP2 Winning Team GT1 Winning Team GT2 Winning Team
LMP1 Winning Drivers LMP2 Winning Drivers GT1 Winning Drivers GT2 Winning Drivers
1 Sugo   #66 Jidosha Koubou Myst   #18 Aim Sports   #20 Hitotsuyama Racing   #27 Team Kawamura
  Takahiko Shimazawa
  Masaya Kono
  Kenji Takeya
  Shinsuke Yamakazi
  Yuji Aso
  Masaru Tomizawa
  Tatsuya Kataoka
  Naoki Hattori
  Eiichi Tajima
  Koji Aoyama
  Shinichi Takagi
  Morio Nitta
2 Motegi   #66 Jidosha Koubou Myst   #4 MYZ   #20 Hitotsuyama Racing   #27 Team Kawamura
  Takahiki Shimazawa
  Hiroshi Ohta
  Kenji Takeya
  Yuya Sakamoto
  Yoshihisa Namekata
  Tomonobu Fujii
  Tatsuya Kataoka
  Naoki Hattori
  Eiichi Tajima
  Koji Aoyama
  Shinichi Takagi
  Morio Nitta
3 Okayama   #16 Team Mugen   #4 MYZ   #88 JLOC   #930 Sunburst Rush
  Seiji Ara
  Haruki Kurosawa
  Yuya Sakamoto
  Yoshihisa Namekata
  Tomonobu Fujii
  Koji Yamanishi
  Yasatuka Hinoi
  Wada-Q
  Yutaka Matsushima
  Takeru Inui
  Masashi Kakuichi

Drivers' Championship

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LMP1 standings

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Pos Driver Team Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Takahiko Shimazawa Jidousya Koubou Myst 5 5 2.5 12.5
2   Kenji Takeya Jidousya Koubou Myst 5 5 10
3   Hiroshi Ohta Jidousya Koubou Myst 5 2.5 7.5

LMP2 standings

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Pos Driver Team Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Yuya Sakamoto
  Yoshihisa Namekata
  Tomonobu Fuji
MYZ 5 10 15
2   Tomokuni Waki
  Masayoshi Furuya
  Hisashi Tsukahara
Jidousya Koubou Myst 8 8
3   Shinsuke Yamazaki
  Yuji Aso
  Masaru Tomizawa
Aim Sports 5 5

GT1 standings

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Pos Driver Team Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Tatsuya Kataoka
  Naoki Hattori
  Eiichi Tajima
Hitotsuyama Racing 5 5 3 13
2   Osamu Nakajima
  Masaki Tanaka
  Hiroya Iijima
Team Leyjun 4 4 4 12
3   Koji Yamanishi
  Yasutaka Hinoi
  Hisashi Wada
JLOC 5 5

GT2 standings

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Pos Driver Team Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Koji Aoyama
  Shinichi Takagi
  Morio Nitta
Team Kawamura 5 5 8 18
2   Yutaka Matsushima
  Masashi Kakiuchi
  Takeshi Inui
Sunburst Rush 10 10
3   Kazuyoshi Takamizawa
  Akihiko Tsutsumi
  Tomohiko Sunako
Team Takamizawa 4 4 8

Teams' Championship

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Points are awarded to finishers based on how many cars were entered in each class. For classes with a lower car count, the top five were awarded points in the order of 5-4-3-2-1. Classes with more entries were awarded points for the top eight in the order of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Only the top finishing car in a team scores points towards the championship.

LMP1 standings

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Pos Team Chassis Engine Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Jidosha Koubou Myst RS.Oscar SK-52
RS.Oscar SK-93
Toyota 3.0L V8
5

5

3
13
2   Team Mugen Courage LC70 Mugen MF408S 4.0L V8 5 5
3   Hitotsuyama Racing Zytek 05S Zytek ZB408 4.0L V8 4 4

LMP2 standings

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Pos Team Chassis Engine Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   MYZ Dallara GC-21 Toyota 2.0L I4 5 10 15
2   Jidosha Koubou Myst RS.KK-LM
RS.Oscar SK-5.2
Toyota 3.0L V8
4

8
12
3   AIM Sports Dallara GC-21 Toyota 2.0L I4 5 5

GT1 standings

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Pos Team Chassis Engine Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Hitotsuyama Racing Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello Ferrari 5.9L V12 5 5 3 13
2   Team LeyJun Mosler MT900R Chevrolet 6.0L V8 4 4 4 12
3   JLOC Lamborghini Murcielago RG-1 Lamborghini 6.0L V12 5 5

GT2 standings

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Pos Team Chassis Engine Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
1   Team Kawamura Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 5 5 8 18
2   Proto Works Mazda RX-7
Porsche 911 GT3-RS
Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
3

3


6
12
3   Sunburst Rush Porsche 964 Carrera RS Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 10 10
4   Team Takamizawa Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 4 4 8
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