The 2012 JAF Grand Prix Fuji Sprint Cup was the final racing event for both the 2012 Super GT season and the 2012 Formula Nippon season. It took place over November 17 and November 18, 2012.
Background Due to commitments in the 2012 Guia Race of Macau, André Couto was replaced in the #19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh by Marino Franchitti. In GT300, due to Hideki Yamauchi racing in the 2012 Macau Grand Prix Formula Three, his seat in the #87 JLOC Lamborghini Gallardo was replaced by Yuya Sakamoto, who had competed in five races in the #85 JLOC entry in 2012. The #27 LMP Motorsport Ferrari F430 GTC was the only team that competed at Motegi that did not enter at Fuji, while the #86 JLOC entry returned after last racing in the 2012 41st International Pokka 1000km.
There were no driver changes in Formula Nippon. It was also the last event that the series name Formula Nippon would be used, as for 2013 it will be renamed to the Japanese Championship Super Formula.
Unlike the eight points-scoring races in Super GT, the Fuji Sprint Cup was run under slightly different rules. The GT500 and GT300 classes were split into their own set of two races. Each driver in GT500 and GT300 would have their own 22 lap sprint race without any mandatory pitstop. Standing starts were also implemented for each of the four races instead of the rolling start normally seen.
East versus West There was one final intranational competition. All Japanese drivers, including those in support races, were divided into East and West teams according to the prefectures of their birth; visiting international drivers were randomly assigned to one team by the organizers. The race results of 8 races (4 in Super GT, 1 each in other events), plus bonus points added from sales events outside the circuit would determine the winning team. An extra bonus would be issued to all drivers and supporters on that team.
GT300 Race 1 results The first GT300 race was held on Saturday November 17. Pos No Team Driver Chassis Tyre Time/Difference Laps 1 33 Hankook KTR Tomonobu Fujii Porsche 911 GT3-R 42:04.613 22 2 16 Team Mugen Daisuke Nakajima Honda CR-Z +9.022 22 3 43 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Kosuke Matsuura ASL Garaiya +12.701 22 4 3 S-Road NDDP Katsumasa Chiyo Nissan GT-R GT3 +13.048 22 5 0 GSR Hatsune Miku Tatsuya Kataoka BMW Z4 GT3 +44.177 22 6 52 Green Tec & Leon with Shift Haruki Kurosawa Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 +44.531 22 7 11 Gainer Katsuyuki Hiranaka Audi R8 LMS ultra +49.044 22 8 911 Team Taisan ENDLESS Kyosuke Mineo Porsche 911 GT3-R +1:17.826 22 9 77 investors Hitotsuyama Racing Igor Sushko Audi R8 LMS +1:36.647 22 10 360 RunUp Tomei Sports Takuya Shirasaka Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3 +2:27.106 22 11 31 Hasepro apr Koki Saga Toyota Prius +1 Lap 21 12 88 MonePa JLOC Takayuki Aoki Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 +1 Lap 21 13 14 Team SGC Ryo Orime Lexus IS350 +1 Lap 21 14 66 A speed Kazuki Hoshino Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 +1 Lap 21 15 87 JLOC Koji Yamanishi Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 +1 Lap 21 16 86 Verity BOMEX JLOC Junichiro Yamashita Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 +1 Lap 21 17 4 GSR Project Mirai Masahiro Sasaki BMW Z4 GT3 +1 Lap 21 18 2 Evangelion-01 Cars Tokai Dream28 Kazuho Takahashi Mooncraft Shiden +2 Laps 20 19 61 R&D Sport Kota Sasaki Subaru BRZ +2 Laps 20 20 48 NEON Dijon Racing Shogo Mitsuyama Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3 +2 Laps 20 21 5 Team Mach Masayuki Ueda Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 +3 Laps 19 22 22 R'Qs Motorsports Masaki Jyonai Vemac RD350R +3 Laps 19 23 30 Iwasaki Moda apr Yuya Sakamoto Audi R8 LMS ultra +4 Laps 18 DNS 21 ZENT Hitotsuyama Racing Richard Lyons Audi R8 LMS
GT500 Race 1 results The first GT500 race was held on Saturday November 17. Due to heavy rain, the race was halted after 11 of the scheduled 22 laps. Pos No Team Driver Chassis Tyre Time/Difference Laps 1 1 S-Road REITO MOLA Ronnie Quintarelli Nissan GT-R 21:01.979 10 2 17 Keihin Real Racing Koudai Tsukakoshi Honda HSV-010 GT +0.764 10 3 6 Lexus Team ENEOS LeMans Kazuya Oshima Lexus SC430 +2.726 10 4 23 Motul Autech NISMO Michael Krumm Nissan GT-R +4.821 10 5 100 Raybrig Team Kunimitsu Naoki Yamamoto Honda HSV-010 GT +6.046 10 6 12 Calsonic Team Impul João Paulo de Oliveira Nissan GT-R +7.672 10 7 18 Weider Honda Racing Carlo van Dam Honda HSV-010 GT +9.649 10 8 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Takashi Kobayashi Honda HSV-010 GT +11.013 10 9 24 D'Station ADVAN Kondo Racing Hironobu Yasuda Nissan GT-R +12.391 10 10 32 EPSON Nakajima Racing Yuhki Nakayama Honda HSV-010 GT +15.380 10 11 39 Lexus Team DENSO SARD Hiroaki Ishiura Lexus SC430 +41.838 10 12 35 Lexus Team KeePer Kraft Yuji Kunimoto Lexus SC430 +43.592 10 13 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Kohei Hirate Lexus SC430 +44.966 10 14 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Seiji Ara Lexus SC430 +45.323 10 15 36 Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S Loïc Duval Lexus SC430 +3 Laps7
Formula Nippon results The Formula Nippon race was held on Sunday November 18. Pos No Team Driver Engine Time/Difference Laps 1 40 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing Takuya Izawa Honda HR12E 32:10.212 22 2 19 Team Impul João Paulo de Oliveira Toyota RV8K +0.315 22 3 8 Team Kygnus Sunoco Loïc Duval Toyota RV8K +1.346 22 4 39 Project μ Team Cerumo Yuji Kunimoto Toyota RV8K +4.593 22 5 20 Team Impul Tsugio Matsuda Toyota RV8K +5.420 22 6 38 Project μ Team Cerumo Kohei Hirate Toyota RV8K +7.336 22 7 2 Petronas Team TOM'S Kazuki Nakajima Toyota RV8K +8.044 22 8 16 Team Mugen Naoki Yamamoto Honda HR12E +21.036 22 9 31 Nakajima Racing Daisuke Nakajima Honda HR12E +24.146 22 10 7 Team LeMans Kazuya Oshima Toyota RV8K +26.583 22 11 32 Nakajima Racing Takashi Kogure Honda HR12E +26.647 22 12 10 HP Real Racing Toshihiro Kaneishi Honda HR12E +32.861 22 13 15 Team Mugen Takuma Sato Honda HR12E +33.723 22 14 62 Tochigi Le Beausset Motorsports Koki Saga Toyota RV8K +38.424 22 15 18 SGC by KCMG Ryo Orime Toyota RV8K +54.551 22 16 3 Kondo Racing Hironobu Yasuda Toyota RV8K +1 Lap 21 DNF 41 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing Koudai Tsukakoshi Honda HR12E +6 Laps 16 DSQ 1 Petronas Team TOM'S André Lotterer Toyota RV8K +0.000 22 – André Lotterer was disqualified post-race due to irregularities with the skid block on his car.
GT300 Race 2 results The second GT300 race was held on Sunday November 18. Pos No Team Driver Chassis Tyre Time/Difference Laps 1 66 A speed Hiroki Yoshimoto Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 37:17.346 22 2 2 Evangelion-01 Cars Tokai Dream28 Hiroki Kato Mooncraft Shiden +1.273 22 3 88 MonePa JLOC Manabu Orido Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 +17.060 22 4 52 Green Tec & Leon with Shift Hironori Takeuchi Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 +21.594 22 5 31 Hasepro apr Morio Nitta Toyota Prius +22.368 22 6 11 Gainer Tetsuya Tanaka Audi R8 LMS ultra +23.225 22 7 16 Team Mugen Hideki Mutoh Honda CR-Z +23.377 22 8 87 JLOC Yuya Sakamoto Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 +25.746 22 9 43 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Shinichi Takagi ASL Garaiya +32.731 22 10 30 Iwasaki Moda apr Yuki Iwasaki Audi R8 LMS ultra +39.167 22 11 21 ZENT Hitotsuyama Racing Akihiro Tsuzuki Audi R8 LMS +42.593 22 12 4 GSR Project Mirai Taku Bamba BMW Z4 GT3 +51.816 22 13 22 R'Qs Motorsports Hisashi Wada Vemac RD350R +1:22.068 22 14 33 Hankook KTR Masami Kageyama Porsche 911 GT3-R +1:22.701 22 15 48 NEON Dijon Racing Hiroshi Takamori Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3 +1:38.601 22 16 61 R&D Sport Tetsuya Yamano Subaru BRZ +1:40.844 22 17 86 Verity BOMEX JLOC Hideshi Matsuda Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 +1 Lap 21 18 911 Team Taisan ENDLESS Kyosuke Mineo Porsche 911 GT3-R +2 Laps 20 19 3 S-Road NDDP Yuhi Sekiguchi Nissan GT-R GT3 +2 Laps 20 20 0 GSR Hatsune Miku Nobuteru Taniguchi BMW Z4 GT3 +4 Laps 18 DNF 360 RunUp Tomei Sports Atsushi Tanaka Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3 +15 Laps 7 DNF 14 Team SGC Naoya Yamano Lexus IS350 +15 Laps 7 DNF 77 investors Hitotsuyama Racing Kenji Kobayashi Audi R8 LMS +21 Laps 1 DNF 5 Team Mach Tetsuji Tamanaka Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 +22 Laps 0
GT500 Race 2 results The second GT500 race was held on Sunday November 18. Pos No Team Driver Chassis Tyre Time/Difference Laps 1 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Yuji Tachikawa Lexus SC430 34:51.361 22 2 36 Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S Kazuki Nakajima Lexus SC430 +2.632 22 3 100 Raybrig Team Kunimitsu Takuya Izawa Honda HSV-010 GT +3.319 22 4 23 Motul Autech NISMO Satoshi Motoyama Nissan GT-R +12.563 22 5 24 D'Station ADVAN Kondo Racing Björn Wirdheim Nissan GT-R +17.439 22 6 6 Lexus Team ENEOS LeMans Daisuke Ito Lexus SC430 +20.093 22 7 18 Weider Honda Racing Takashi Kogure Honda HSV-010 GT +22.192 22 8 39 Lexus Team DENSO SARD Juichi Wakisaka Lexus SC430 +26.676 22 9 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Ralph Firman Honda HSV-010 GT +29.299 22 10 35 Lexus Team KeePer Kraft Andrea Caldarelli Lexus SC430 +30.723 22 11 12 Calsonic Team Impul Tsugio Matsuda Nissan GT-R +33.505 22 12 32 EPSON Nakajima Racing Ryo Michigami Honda HSV-010 GT +43.229 22 13 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Marino Franchitti Lexus SC430 +52.224 22 14 1 S-Road REITO MOLA Masataka Yanagida Nissan GT-R +55.484 22 15 17 Keihin Real Racing Toshihiro Kaneishi Honda HSV-010 GT +1 Lap 21
References
Super GT Race results Formula Nippon Race result