The 2001 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the ninth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the nineteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class drivers' champions of 2001 were Yuji Tachikawa and Hironori Takeuchi, who had not won a single race during the season driving the No. 38 au Cerumo Toyota Supra, while Nismo won the teams' championship. In the GT300 category, the class champions were the No. 81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia driven by Takayuki Aoki and Noboyuki Oyagi.
This season marked the final competitive race victory for the McLaren F1 GTR, when Team Take One won the CP Mine GT Race.
Drivers and teams
GT500 Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Rounds Mugen x Dome Project Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 1 Ryō Michigami All Hidetoshi Mitsusada All 18 Sébastien Philippe All Hiroki Katoh 1–4, NC Benoît Tréluyer 5–7 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4 6 Hideki Noda All Juichi Wakisaka All Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 8 Katsutomo Kaneishi All Keiichi Tsuchiya All Calsonic Team Impul Nissan Nissan Skyline GT-R Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6 12 Satoshi Motoyama All Naoki Hattori 1–3 Kazuyoshi Hoshino 4–7, NC Hitotsuyama Racing McLaren McLaren F1 GTR BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12 21 Akihiko Nakaya 1–3, 5–6 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita 1 Yasushi Hitotsuyama 2–4, NC Naoki Hattori 4–7, NC Mikio Hitotsuyama 7 Nismo Nissan Nissan Skyline GT-R Nissan RB26DETT 2.7 L Twin Turbo I6 22 Michael Krumm All Tetsuya Tanaka All 23 Érik Comas All Masami Kageyama All Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4 25 Manabu Orido 1–7 Seiji Ara 1–7 Team Take One McLaren McLaren F1 GTR BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12 30 André Couto 1–7 Hideki Okada 1–7 Toyota Team Cerumo Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4 33 Masahiko Kondo All Ukyo Katayama 1–4, 6–7, NC Shigekazu Wakisaka 5 38 Yuji Tachikawa All Hironori Takeuchi All Toyota Team TOM'S Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4 36 Takeshi Tsuchiya All Takuya Kurosawa 1–4, 6–7 Paolo Montin 5 Wayne Gardner NC 37 Wayne Gardner 1–7 Shinichi Yamaji 1–7 Denso Toyota Team SARD Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3S-GT 2.0 L Turbo I4 39 Jérémie Dufour 1–7 Masahiko Kageyama 1–2 Romain Dumas 3–7 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 64 Tsugio Matsuda All Dominik Schwager All JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Diablo JGT-1 Lamborghini L532 6.0 L V12 88 Marco Apicella All Naohiro Furuya All Raybrig Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 100 Akira Iida All Daisuke Ito All
GT300 Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Rounds TOM'S Spirit Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 0 Masahiro Matsunaga All Kumi Sato All Dream28 Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 2 Kazuho Takahashi 5, 6 Hiroshi Kimura 5 Akira Watanabe 6 Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 3 Yuji Ide All Masataka Yanagida All BSA Porsche Team Competizione Porsche Porsche 993 RS Porsche M64/60 3.6 L Turbo F6 5 Key Soon Yue NC Ila Ridak NC 15 Siu Tit Lung NC Siu Yuk Lung NC RE Amemiya Racing Mazda Mazda RX-7 Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor 7 Tetsuya Yamano All Haruhiko Matsumoto All Team Daikokuya Porsche Porsche 993 RS Porsche M64/80 3.6 L Turbo F6 9 Akira Watanabe 1–5 Tsunefumi Hioki 1, 4–6 Yukihiro Hane 2, NC Yosuke Shimoshima NC, 6 Ability Motorsport Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 10 Yutaka Yamagishi 1–2, 4 Takahisa Ohno 1–2, 4 Team Gainer Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 11 Junichi Ikura All Koji Ushikubo 1, 7 Yusei Maki 2–6 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 19 Satoshi Goto All Minoru Tanaka All Team Taisan Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 24 Hideshi Matsuda All Kazuyuki Nishizawa All 26 Atsushi Yogo All Hideo Fukuyama All Chrysler Chrysler Viper GTS-R Chrysler EWB 8.0 L V10 55 Eiji Yamada All Takayuki Kinoshita All ARTA with A'PEX Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 31 Morio Nitta All Shinichi Takagi All Auto Staff Racing Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 51 Naofumi Omoto 2–7 Yasukichi Yamamoto 2–7 R&D Sport Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 62 Shinsuke Shibahara All Yasuhisa Fujiwara 1–2 Shogo Mitsuyama 3–7 63 "OSAMU" All Takamasa Nakagawa All Amprex Motorsports Mazda Mazda RX-7 Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor 65 Genji Hashimoto NC Charles Kwan NC Team Gaikokuya Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 70 Yoshimi Ishibashi All Hiroaki Suga All SigmaTec Racing Team Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 71 Guts Jyonai 1, 3–7 Eiichi Tajima 1, 3–7 Cusco Racing Subaru Subaru Impreza WRX STI Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4 77 Katsuo Kobayashi All Tatsuya Tanigawa All Team Daishin Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 81 Nobuyuki Ohyagi All Takayuki Aoki All KRAFT Toyota Toyota Corolla Sprinter Trueno (AE86) Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 86 Masaoki Nagashima 1–3 Koji Matsuda 1–3 Toyota MR-S Masaoki Nagashima 4–7 Koji Matsuda 4–7 Dentaire ProJet Racing Ferrari Ferrari 360 Ferrari F131B 3.6 L V8 360 Seigo Nishizawa All Kota Sasaki All Team Sri Lanka Mosler Mosler MT900R Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8 900 Dilantha Malagamuwa 1–4 Takeshi Asami 1–4 João Barbosa NC A&S Racing Mosler Mosler MT900R Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8 901 Takeshi Asami 5 Yasutaka Hinoi 5–6 Tetsuji Tamanaka 6–7 Tetsuya Nakajima 6–7 910 Racing Porsche Porsche 996 GT3 RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 910 Jukuchou Sunako All Hisashi Wada All Adam Wilcox NC 911 Masamitsu Ishihara 2, 4 Akira Hirakawa 1
Schedule Round Race Circuit Date 1 GT Championship in TI TI Circuit April 15 2 All Japan Fuji GT Race Fuji Speedway May 4 3 SUGO GT Championship Sportsland SUGO May 27 NC Tmtouch Japan GT Championship Malaysia Sepang Circuit June 24 4 Japan Special GT Cup Fuji Speedway August 5 5 Motegi GT Championship Race Twin Ring Motegi September 16 6 Suzuka GT 300 km Suzuka Circuit October 28 7 CP Mine GT Race Mine Circuit November 11
Season results Round Circuit GT500 Winning Team GT300 Winning Team GT500 Winning Drivers GT300 Winning Drivers 1 TI Circuit #1 Loctite Mugen Honda NSX #31 ARTA A'PEX Toyota MR-S Hidetoshi Mitsusada Ryō Michigami Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi 2 Mt. Fuji #6 ESSO Toyota Supra #81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia Hideki Noda Juichi Wakisaka Takayuki Aoki Noboyuki Oyagi 3 Sportsland SUGO #37 ZENT TOM'S Toyota Supra #7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 Shinichi Yamaji Wayne Gardner Haruhiko Matsumoto Tetsuya Yamano NC Sepang Circuit #6 ESSO Toyota Supra #3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Silvia Hideki Noda Juichi Wakisaka Masataka Yanagida Yuji Ide 4 Mt. Fuji #22 Xanavi NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R #81 Advan Team Daishin Nissan Silvia Tetsuya Tanaka Michael Krumm Takayuki Aoki Noboyuki Oyagi 5 Twin Ring Motegi #64 Mobil 1 Honda NSX #19 WedsSport Toyota MR-S Tsugio Matsuda Dominik Schwager Minoru Tanaka Satoshi Goto 6 Suzuka Circuit #8 ARTA Honda NSX #86 KRAFT Toyota MR-S Keiichi Tsuchiya Katsutomo Kaneishi Koji Matsuda Masaoki Nagashima 7 Mine Circuit #30 Team Take One McLaren F1 GTR #71 Sigma Tech Toyota MR-S Andre Couto Hideki Okada Eiichi Tajima Guts Jyonai
Standings
GT500 class Drivers' standings Scoring system Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points 20 15 12 10 8 6 4 3 2 1
RankNo.DriverTAIFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTSUZMINPTS138 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaRet2312426165828 Katsutomo Kaneishi Keiichi Tsuchiya262912111Ret5631 Ryō Michigami Hidetoshi Mitsusada184551221256423 Érik Comas Masami Kageyama1341042Ret3253522 Michael Krumm Tetsuya Tanaka43Ret31108652637/36 Wayne Gardner591Ret108494637 Shinichi Yamaji76 Hideki Noda Juichi WakisakaRet151313Ret1440864 Tsugio Matsuda Dominik Schwager31214861RetRet38930 André Couto Hideki Okada8Ret121661013010100 Akira Iida Daisuke Ito65Ret694138291112 Satoshi Motoyama15Ret7773115281236 Takeshi Tsuchiya11108Ret8557271312 Kazuyoshi Hoshino773115241439 Jérémie Dufour77913Ret94221536 Takuya Kurosawa11108857191618 Sébastien Philippe1415621514123181739 Romain Dumas913Ret94141818 Benoît Tréluyer14123121925 Manabu Orido Seiji Ara91111DNQ7710112036 Paolo Montin582139 Masahiko Kageyama7782218 Hiroki Katoh1415621562312/21 Naoki Hattori15Ret71011RetRet1142433 Masahiko Kondo12141311149Ret13233 Shigekazu Wakisaka2621 Akihiko Nakaya1013RetRetRet121 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita-21 Yasushi Hitotsuyama13Ret10110-21 Mikio Hitotsuyama110-33 Ukyo Katayama1212131114Ret130-88 Marco Apicella Naohiro FuruyaDNSRetDNSRetRet1514150RankDriverTAIFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTSUZMINPTS
GT500 Teams' standings For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship. RankTeamNo.TAIFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTSUZMINPTS 1 Nismo 22 4 316Ret3 1 10 8 6 71 23 13 4 104 218Ret 3 2 2 Mugen x Dome Project 1 1 8 45 5 12 2 12 68 18 14 15 62 15 14 12 3 3 Toyota Team Cerumo 33 12 14 1311 14 918Ret 13 58 3816Ret 2 312 4 2 6 16 4 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 2 6 29 12 11 118Ret 56 5 Toyota Team TOM'S 36 11 10 8Ret 8 5 5 7 55 37 5 9 1 10 8 4 9 6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans 617Ret 1 5 1 3 1315Ret 14 40 7 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing 64 3 12 14 8 6 117Ret17Ret 38 8 Team Take One 30 816Ret 12 16 6 10 1 30 9 Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft 100 6 515Ret 6 9 4 13 8 29 10 Team Impul 12 1517Ret 7 7 7 3 11 5 28 11 Toyota Team SARD 39 7 7 9 1316Ret 9 4 22 12 Tsuchiya Engineering 25 9 11 1120- 7 7 10 11 13 Hitotsuyama Racing 21 10 1317Ret 10 1117Ret16Ret 11 1- JLOC 8818DNS18Ret17DNSRet17Ret 15 14 15 0RankTeamNo.TAIFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTSUZMINPTS
GT300 Drivers' championship Rank No. Driver TAI FUJ SUGSEP FUJ MOT SUZ MIN Pts. 1 81 Nobuyuki Ohyagi Takayuki Aoki 12 1 4 1 4 Ret 6 66 2 7 Tetsuya Yamano Haruhiko Matsumoto351471511 54 3 910 Hisashi Wada 5 6 2 7 6 10 4 5 54 Jukuchou Sunako43 Yuji Ide Masataka Yanagida 6 2 12 1 2 9 2 1253 5 24 Hideshi Matsuda Kazuyuki Nishizawa 11 4 5 6 7 3 16 2 49626 Atsushi Yogo Hideo Fukuyama 4 17 7 4 13 2 3 8 44731 Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi 1 3 Ret 3 5 Ret Ret 17 40877 Katsuo Kobayashi Tatsuya Tanigawa 2 Ret 3 2 10 6 Ret Ret 34 9 19 Satoshi Goto Minoru TanakaDNA 16 10 3 1 17 13 33 10 62 Shinsuke Shibahara 7 Ret 9 10 11 5 6 4 301162 Shogo Mitsuyama 9 10 11 5 6 426 12 63 "OSAMU" Takamasa Nakagawa 9 8 6 17 17 5 7 23 13 86 Masaoki Nagashima Koji Matsuda Ret 18 Ret DNA 18 1 10 21 14 71 Guts Jyonai Eiichi Tajima Ret DNA Ret Ret Ret 11 1 20 15 55 Eiji Yamada Takayuki Kinoshita 8 9DNA 8 9 14DNA 3 191651 Naofumi Omoto Yasukichi Yamamoto 14 13 8 8 14 9 8170 Masahiro Matsunaga Kumi Sato 10 11 Ret Ret 11 7 Ret51811 Junichi Ikura 14 13 8 14 15 9DNA 51811 Yusei Maki 13 8 14 15 9 5 20 62 Yasuhisa Fujiwara 7 Ret 4 20 9/2 Akira Watanabe Ret 7 Ret 16 13 420 9 Yukihiro Hane 7 11 423 360 Seigo Nishizawa Kota Sasaki 16 Ret Ret 12 Ret 12 8 16 324 900 Dilantha Malagamuwa 13 10 14 5 15 1 24 900/901 Takeshi Asami 13 10 14 Ret 1 24 70 Yoshimi Ishibashi Hiroaki Suga 15 12 11 9 12 19 10 14 1NC9 Tsunefumi Hioki Ret Ret 16 120NC9 Yosuke Shimoshima 11 120 NC 2 Kazuho Takahashi 13 130 NC 2 Hiroshi Kimura 13 0NC11 Koji Ushikubo 14DNA0 NC 911 Masamitsu Ishihara Akira Hirakawa 15 16 0 NC 900/901 Tetsuya Nakajima 15 15 0NC901 Tetsuji Tamanaka Ret 150NC10 Yutaka Yamagishi Takahisa Ohno Ret 180NC901 Yasutaka Hinoi Ret Ret0NC900 João Barbosa 50NC910 Adam Wilcox 7 0NC65 Genji Hashimoto Charles Kwan Ret 0NC5 Key Soon Yue Ila RidakDSQ 0NC15 Siu Tit Lung Siu Yuk Lung DNR0RankNo.DriverTAIFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTSUZMINPts.
GT300 Teams' standings For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship.