2009 Super GT Series

(Redirected from 2009 Super GT season)

The 2009 Autobacs Super GT Series was the seventeenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fifth season as the Super GT series.

2009 GT300 champions, #19 Racing Project Bandoh Lexus IS 350

It marked as well as the twenty-seventh season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype 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 the Petronas TOM'S Lexus SC430. The team also won their respective teams title. Manabu Orido and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 title in the Racing Project Bandoh IS350 by three points from Nobuteru Taniguchi and Ryo Orime.

Car development

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GT500 class

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Originally the three makers agreed to unify engine specification to 3.4L V8 engines (the same configuration of Formula Nippon at the time). However, due to the aforementioned economic crisis, Nissan encountered difficulties to develop a suitable engine for their GT-R, and chose to bear a performance ballast while using the same engine as last year. Honda continued to use their mid-engine NSX with performance ballast as the regulations originally planned to mandate front-engine cars. This was also their last year in Super GT with the original NSX, as they announced they would use a new vehicle (the HSV-010) starting in the 2010 season. Honda returned with the NSX in 2014 following the unveiling of the second-generation concept car in 2014, later revised to be based on the production model in 2017; both of which ran midship engine layout until 2019 season.

Team Nova entered the series with a Le Mans spec Aston Martin DBR9. It was the first Aston Martin car to participate the series history (including JGTC), and also the first European and non-Honda/Nissan/Toyota car in GT500 since the 2006 season (a Maserati MC12 did participate the pre-season test in 2006 season but withdraw from the series later). The DBR9 only ran at the first round at Okayama and the two rounds at Fuji, and as of July 2020 is the last non-Japanese car to compete in GT500.

GT300 class

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The apr Racing Team, which had used the Toyota MR-S for a long time decided to discontinue their use of MR-S, and for this season decided to replace it with a mid-engined Toyota Corolla Axio instead.

The Cusco, the only team using an AWD car (Subaru Impreza), left the series as they wanted to concentrate on off-road events. However, Subaru cars were not absent from the series as R&D Sport used a Legacy B4 for round 6, 7 and 9.

Thunder Asia Racing, a team from Singapore, entered round 4 at Sepang with a Mosler MT900R. Their full participation in 2010 season was confirmed after the 2009 season ended.

Weight ballast changes

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In order to combat sandbagging, where a team would intentionally perform poorly in order to secure a more favorable weight handicap, the success ballast formula was changed starting from this season: the ballast would be halved in the penultimate race and lifted altogether in final race for teams that participated in every round of the season. Teams missing only one round receive halved-ballast in the final race instead.

Drivers and teams

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GT500

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Team Make Car Engine No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Nismo Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 1   Satoshi Motoyama B All
  Benoît Tréluyer 1–5, 7–9
  Michael Krumm 6
Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 3   Ronnie Quintarelli M All
  Hironobu Yasuda All
Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 6   Daisuke Ito B All
  Björn Wirdheim All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 8   Ralph Firman B All
  Takuya Izawa All
Team Impul Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 12   Tsugio Matsuda B All
  Sébastien Philippe All
Keihin Real Racing Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 17   Toshihiro Kaneishi B All
  Koudai Tsukakoshi All
  Katsutomo Kaneishi 6
Team Yoshiki and Dome Project Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 18   Ryo Michigami B All
  Takashi Kogure All
Team Nova Aston Martin Aston Martin DBR9 Aston Martin DBR9 6.0 L V12 21   Akihiro Tsuzuki Y 1, 3, 7
  Takeshi Tsuchiya 1, 3, 7
Kondo Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 24   João Paulo de Oliveira Y All
  Seiji Ara All
Nakajima Racing Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 32   Loïc Duval D All
  Yuhki Nakayama All
Lexus Team Kraft Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 35   Hiroaki Ishiura B All
  Kazuya Oshima All
Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 36   Juichi Wakisaka B All
  André Lotterer All
Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 38   Yuji Tachikawa B All
  Richard Lyons All
Lexus Team SARD Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 39   Kohei Hirate D All
  André Couto All
Team Kunimitsu Honda Honda NSX GT500 Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 100   Yuji Ide B All
  Shinya Hosokawa 1–2, 4–7, 9
  Kosuke Matsuura 3, 8

GT300

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Team Make Car Engine No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Cars Tokai Dream28 Mooncraft Mooncraft Shiden Toyota 1UZ-FE 4.4 L V8 2   Hiroki Katoh Y All
  Kazuho Takahashi 1
  Hiroki Yoshimoto 2–9
Avanzza Rosso Vemac Vemac RD320R Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 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 3.6 L F6 5   Tetsuji Tamanaka Y All
  Akazame Oyaji All
M7 RE Amemiya Racing Mazda Mazda RX-7 Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor 7   Nobuteru Taniguchi Y All
  Ryo Orime All
Jim Gainer Racing Ferrari Ferrari 360 Ferrari F131B 3.6 L V8 10   Masayuki Ueda Y All
  Masataka Kawaguchi All
Ferrari F430 Ferrari F136E 4.3 L V8 11   Tetsuya Tanaka All
  Katsuyuki Hiranaka All
Racing Project Bandoh Lexus Lexus IS350 Lexus RV8J 3.4 L V8 19   Tatsuya Kataoka Y All
  Manabu Orido All
Team Taisan Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 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 Lexus RV8J 3.4 L V8 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 apr GT Toyota 2GR-FSE 3.5 L V6 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 Porsche M97/80 3.8 L F6 33   Mitsuhiro Kinoshita H 3, 5, 7
  Masami Kageyama 3, 5, 7
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ASL ASL ARTA Garaiya Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 43   Morio Nitta M All
  Shinichi Takagi All
MOLA Nissan Nissan Fairlady Z Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 46   Kazuki Hoshino Y All
  Masataka Yanagida All
Tomei Sports Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 55   Yutaka Yamagishi Y 1–7, 9
  Hiroshi Koizumi 1–7, 9
R&D Sport Subaru Subaru Legacy B4 Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4 62   Shogo Mitsuyama Y 6–7, 9
  Tetsuya Yamano 6–7, 9
JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Murcielago RG-1 Lamborghini L535 6.0 L V12 66   Koji Yamanishi Y All
  Atsushi Yogo All
  Marco Apicella 3
Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 Lamborghini 07L1 5.2 L V10 87   Hiroyuki Iiri All
  Hisashi Wada All
88   Hideshi Matsuda All
  Yuya Sakamoto All
Thunder Asia Racing Mosler Mosler MT900R GM LS7 7.0 L V8 69   Melvin Choo Y 4
  Martin Short 4
Team Daishin Ferrari Ferrari F430 Ferrari F136E 4.3 L V8 81   Takayuki Aoki Y All
  Tomonobu Fujii All
  Koji Matsuda 6
Arktech Motorsports Porsche Porsche Boxster Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 110   Kim Han Bong K 1–3
  Daisuke Ikeda 1, 8
  Tatsuya Tanigawa 2–3, 5, 8
  Takashi Ohi 5
Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche M96/73 3.6 L F6 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 BMW S62B50 4.9 L V8 808   Shozo Tagahara Y 1–3, 5–9
  Yasushi Kikuchi 1–3, 5–7
  Taku Bamba 6, 8–9

Schedule

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Round Race Circuit Date
1   Okayama GT 300 km Okayama International Circuit March 22
2   Suzuka GT 300 km Suzuka Circuit April 19
3   Fuji GT 400 km Fuji Speedway May 4
4   Super GT International Series Malaysia Sepang International Circuit June 21
5   SUGO GT 300 km Sportsland SUGO July 26
6   Pokka GT Summer Special Suzuka Circuit August 23
7   Fuji GT 300 km Fuji Speedway September 13
8   Autopolis GT 300 km Autopolis October 18
9   Motegi GT 250 km Twin Ring Motegi November 8

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

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Rd Circuit GT500 Winning Team GT300 Winning Team Results
GT500 Winning Drivers GT300 Winning Drivers
1 Okayama   #24 HIS Kondo Racing GT-R   #19 WedsSport IS350 Results
  João Paulo de Oliveira
  Seiji Ara
  Manabu Orido
  Tatsuya Kataoka
2 Suzuka   #38 ZENT Cerumo SC430   #33 Hankook Porsche Results
  Yuji Tachikawa
  Richard Lyons
  Mitsuhiro Kinoshita
  Masami Kageyama
3 Mt. Fuji   #1 MOTUL Autech GT-R   #43 ARTA Garaiya Results
  Satoshi Motoyama
  Benoît Tréluyer
  Morio Nitta
  Shinichi Takagi
4 Kuala Lumpur   #3 Hasemi Tomica Ebbro GT-R   #2 I.M Jihan Co.Ltd•Apple Shiden Results
  Ronnie Quintarelli
  Hironobu Yasuda
  Hiroki Katoh
  Hiroki Yoshimoto
5 Sportsland SUGO   #1 MOTUL Autech GT-R   #33 Hankook Porsche Results
  Satoshi Motoyama
  Benoît Tréluyer
  Mitsuhiro Kinoshita
  Masami Kageyama
6 Suzuka   #35 Kraft SC430   #46 S Road Mola Z Results
  Hiroaki Ishiura
  Kazuya Oshima
  Kazuki Hoshino
  Masataka Yanagida
7 Mt. Fuji   #8 ARTA NSX   #81 Daishin Ferrari F430 Results
  Ralph Firman
  Takuya Izawa
  Takayuki Aoki
  Tomonobu Fujii
8 Autopolis   #36 Petronas TOM'S SC430   #11 Jim Gainer Advan F430 Results
  Juichi Wakisaka
  André Lotterer
  Tetsuya Tanaka
  Katsuyuki Hiranaka
9 Motegi   #8 ARTA NSX   #81 Daishin Ferrari F430 Results
  Ralph Firman
  Takuya Izawa
  Takayuki Aoki
  Tomonobu Fujii

Standings

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GT500 Drivers

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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   Juichi Wakisaka
  André Lotterer
11 2 2 6 7 8 3 1 2 88
2   Ralph Firman
  Takuya Izawa
3 14 3 3 14 12 1 4 1 81
3   Satoshi Motoyama 13 11 1 8 1 6 2 2 14 78
4   Benoît Tréluyer 13 11 1 8 1 2 2 14 73
5   Toshihiro Kaneishi
  Koudai Tsukakoshi
5 6 12 2 6 10 4 Ret 3 51
6   Ryo Michigami
  Takashi Kogure
2 5 13 12 3 4 8 5 10 50
7   Ronnie Quintarelli
  Hironobu Yasuda
12 13 7 1 9 2 6 8 12 49
8   João Paulo de Oliveira
  Seiji Ara
1 8 4 5 13 11 13 3 11 48
9   Hiroaki Ishiura
  Kazuya Oshima
9 7 5 9 12 1 7 7 9 44
10   Yuji Tachikawa
  Richard Lyons
6 1 9 10 10 3 10 11 13 41
11   Tsugio Matsuda
  Sébastien Philippe
4 3 15 7 8 5 15 Ret 7 36
12   Daisuke Ito
  Björn Wirdheim
10 4 6 14 5 Ret 4 10 4 35
13   Yuji Ide 8 12 11 4 4 9 12 6 8 29
14   André Couto
  Kohei Hirate
15 10 10 13 2 7 11 12 5 27
15   Shinya Hosokawa 8 12 4 4 9 12 8 24
16   Loïc Duval
  Yuhki Nakayama
7 9 8 11 11 Ret 9 9 6 18
17   Kosuke Matsuura 11 6 5
18   Michael Krumm 6 5
19   Katsutomo Kaneishi 10 1
  Akihiro Tsuzuki
  Takeshi Tsuchiya
14 14 14 0
Rank Driver OKA
 
SUZ
 
FUJ
 
SEP
 
SUG
 
SUZ
 
FUJ
 
AUT
 
MOT
 
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

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Rank[1][2] Team No. OKA
 
SUZ
 
FUJ
 
SEP
 
SUG
 
SUZ
 
FUJ
 
AUT
 
MOT
 
Pts.
1 Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S 36 11 2 2 6 7 8 3 1 2 112
2 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 3 14 3 3 14 12 1 4 1 102
3 Nismo 1 13 11 1 8 1 6 2 2 14 101
4 Team Yoshiki & Dome Project 18 2 5 13 12 3 4 8 5 10 75
5 KEIHIN Real Racing 17 5 6 12 2 6 10 4 Ret 3 72
6 Hasemi Motorsport 3 12 13 7 1 9 2 6 8 12 71
7 Kondo Racing 24 1 8 4 5 13 11 13 3 11 69
8 Lexus Team Kraft 35 9 7 5 9 12 1 7 7 9 68
9 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo 38 6 1 9 10 10 3 10 11 13 63
10 Team Impul 12 4 3 15 7 8 5 15 Ret 7 55
11 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS 6 10 4 6 14 5 Ret 5 10 4 54
12 Team Kunimitsu 100 8 12 11 4 4 9 12 6 8 52
13 Lexus Team SARD 39 15 10 10 13 2 7 11 12 5 48
14 Nakajima Racing 32 7 9 8 11 11 Ret 9 9 6 39
15 Team Nova 21 14 14 14 3
Rank Team No. OKA
 
SUZ
 
FUJ
 
SEP
 
SUG
 
SUZ
 
FUJ
 
AUT
 
MOT
 
Pts.

GT300 Drivers

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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 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)

References

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  1. ^ Magazine, Speedsport. "Super GT & All Japan GT: Overview of seasons". www.speedsport-magazine.com. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  2. ^ "SUPERGT.net | Race Archive". supergt.net. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
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