The 2011 Autobacs Super GT Series was the nineteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the seventh season as the Super GT series. It also marked the twenty-ninth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300. The season began on May 1 and ended on November 13, 2011 after 8 races and 1 non-championship race. The season was due to start on April 2, but the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused its postponement.
In the GT500 class, MOLA won the championship in their first ever season in the GT500 class. The MOLA drivers also scored some notable achievements with this title victory: Masataka Yanagida, who had won the GT300 title in 2003 and 2010, becomes the first (and so far only) driver to win both the GT500 and the GT300 class, while Ronnie Quintarelli would win his first out of four GT500 titles in this season. In the GT300 class, Goodsmile Racing & Studie shocked everyone by winning the championship with the Hatsune Miku itasha-liveried BMW Z4 GT3, giving series veteran Nobuteru Taniguchi and Taku Bamba their first title in this series. It also marked the first championship title for FIA GT3-specification cars in this series.
Schedule
The provisional calendar was released on 8 August 2010. The Autopolis round which was absent the previous season was added to the calendar while the Suzuka race was reduced to a 700 km Endurance race only. Like the previous season, the non-Super GT pointed race JAF Grand Prix was to be raced as a conclusion to the season.
However, due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, a large part of the season was modified to cope with the situation.
The calendar was updated on 15 April 2011.
Round Race Circuit Date 1 Okayama GT 250km race Okayama International Circuit May 22 2 Fuji GT 400km race Fuji Speedway May 1 3 Super GT International Series Malaysia Sepang International Circuit June 19 4 Sugo GT 250km race Sportsland SUGO July 30 5 40th Pokka GT Summer Special Suzuka Circuit August 21 6 Fuji GT 250km race Fuji Speedway September 11 7 Super GT in Kyushu 250km Autopolis October 2 8 Motegi GT 250km race Twin Ring Motegi October 16 NC JAF Grand Prix - Fuji Sprint Cup Fuji Speedway November 12 November 13 Notes: – Race distance was shortened to 300km, however the round retained the original name
Impact of Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami As a response of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the racing calendar and regulations were given a lot of modifications as a response to the national policy of energy conservation. The Okayama GT event, originally to be held on April 2 was postponed to 22 May despite damage to the Okayama International Circuit being minimal. The GT Association would still consider it as the 1st Round. The postponement of the Fuji Round was put under consideration as well. All race distances will be trimmed from 300 km to 250 km, other than the first Fuji race will change from 500 km to 300 km, and the Suzuka round from 700 km to 500 km. In addition, the Suzuka round will be only run in day sessions. Pitworks at nights are limited to a shorter period of time. Overnight works are not allowed between qualifying and the race.
Drivers and teams
GT500
Team Make Car Engine # Drivers Tyre Round Weider Honda Racing Honda Honda HSV-010 GT Honda HR10EG 3.4 L V8 1 Takashi Kogure All Loïc DuvalAll Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 6 Daisuke Itō All Kazuya OshimaAll Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda HSV-010 GT Honda HR10EG 3.4 L V8 8 Hideki Mutoh All Takashi KobayashiAll Team Impul Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VRH34A 3.4 L V8 12 Tsugio Matsuda All João Paulo de OliveiraAll Keihin Real Racing Honda Honda HSV-010 GT Honda HR10EG 3.4 L V8 17 Toshihiro Kaneishi All Koudai TsukakoshiAll Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 19 Tatsuya Kataoka All Seiji AraAll Nismo Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Honda HR10EG 3.4 L V8 23 Satoshi Motoyama All Benoît TréluyerAll Kondō Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VRH34A 3.4 L V8 24 Hironobu Yasuda All Björn WirdheimAll Nakajima Racing Honda Honda HSV-010 GT Honda HR10EG 3.4 L V8 32 Ryō Michigami All Yuhki NakayamaAll Lexus Team Kraft Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 35 Juichi Wakisaka All André CoutoAll Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 36 André Lotterer All Kazuki NakajimaAll Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 38 Yuji Tachikawa All Kohei HirateAll Lexus Team SARD Lexus Lexus SC430 GT500 Lexus RV8KG 3.4 L V8 39 Hiroaki Ishiura All Takuto IguchiAll MOLA Nissan Nissan GT-R GT500 Nissan VRH34A 3.4 L V8 46 Masataka Yanagida All Ronnie QuintarelliAll Team Kunimitsu Honda Honda HSV-010 GT Honda HR10EG 3.4 L V8 100 Takuya Izawa All Naoki YamamotoAll
GT300
Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Round Cars Tokai Dream28 Mooncraft Mooncraft Shiden Toyota 1UZ-FE 4.4 L V8 2 Kazuho Takahashi All Hiroki Katoh All Goodsmile Racing & Studie with Team Ukyo BMW BMW Z4 GT3 BMW P65B44 4.4 L V8 4 Nobuteru Taniguchi All Taku Bamba All Team Mach Vemac Vemac RD320R Porsche M97/77 3.6 L F6 5 Haruki Kurosawa 2–8 Tetsuji Tamanaka 2–3, 5–8 Katsuhiko Tsutsui 4 Direction Racing Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche M97/79 4.0 L F6 7 Akira Mizutani 4–6 Carlo van Dam 4–6 You Yokomaku 5 Gainer Ferrari Ferrari F430 GT2 Ferrari F136E 4.3 L V8 10 Masayuki Ueda 6–8 Masataka Kawaguchi 6–8 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136F 4.5 L V8 11 Tetsuya Tanaka All Katsuyuki Hiranaka All Team SG Changi Lexus Lexus IS350 Lexus RV8J 3.4 L V8 14 Ryo Orime All Alexandre Imperatori 1–2, 4–8 Tsubasa Abe 3 Naoya Yamano NC Team Art Taste Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche M97/79 4.0 L F6 15 Tim Bergmeister 5–8, NC Yasuhiro Shimizu 5–8, NC R'Qs Motorsports Vemac Vemac RD350R Zytek ZV348 4.0 L V8 22 Hisashi Wada 1–5, 7, NC Masaki Jyonai 1–5, 7, NC Team Tsuchiya Porsche Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Porsche M97/81 4.0 L F6 25 Takeshi Tsuchiya 1–8 Akihiro Tsuzuki 1–8 Team Taisan Porsche Porsche 996 GT3 Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 26 Kyosuke Mineo 1–7, NC Hideshi Matsuda 1–3, 6, 8, NC Junichiro Yamashita 4–5, 7–8 Shogo Mitsuyama 5 Ferrari Ferrari F430 GT2 Ferrari F136GT 4.3 L V8 41 Shinichi Yamaji 1–2, 4–6, 8, NC Hiroshi Koizumi 1–2, 4–6 Kyosuke Mineo 8 Junichiro Yamashita NC LMP Motorsport Ferrari Ferrari F430 GT2 Ferrari F136GT 4.3 L V8 27 Yutaka Yamagishi All Hideki Yamauchi 1–6, NC Carlo van Dam 7–8 apr Toyota Toyota Corolla Axio apr GT Toyota 2GR-FSE 3.5 L V6 31 Koki Saga All Yuki Iwasaki All 74 Morio Nitta All Yuji Kunimoto All Hankook KTR Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche M97/79 4.0 L F6 33 Masami Kageyama All Tomonobu Fujii All Porsche 997 GT3 RS Porsche M97/81 4.0 L F6 34 Hiroshi Takamori 1–2, 5–6 Michael Kim 1–2, 5–6 Naoya Gamou 2, 5 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ASL ASL ARTA Garaiya Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 43 Shinichi Takagi All Kosuke Matsuura All R&D Sport Subaru Subaru Legacy B4 Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4 62 Kota Sasaki All Tetsuya Yamano All A speed Aston Martin Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 Aston Martin AJ37 4.7 L V8 66 Hiroki Yoshimoto All Kazuki Hoshino All ThunderAsia Racing Mosler Mosler MT900M Judd XV675 3.5 L V8 69 Hiroki Yoshida 1–8 Melvin Choo 1–3, 5–8 Naoki Yokomizo 4–5 JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3 Lamborghini 07L1 5.2 L V10 86 Takayuki Aoki All Yuya Sakamoto All 87 Manabu Orido All Atsushi Yogo All 88 Hiroyuki Iiri All Yuhi Sekiguchi All Tomei Sports Callaway Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3 Callaway LS7.R 7.0 L V8 360 Atsushi Tanaka 1–2, 4, 7 Kazuyoshi Okamura 1–2, 4 Masahiro Matsunaga 7
Team Movements
GT500 Honda The original driver lineup from the ARTA, Ralph Firman and Yuji Ide, both left the team this season. They were replaced by Hideki Mutoh and Takashi Kobayashi respectively. Lexus Racing Project Bandoh, GT300 Class Champion in 2009 season, will be participating in GT500 class this year. Björn Wirdheim who drove in the ENEOS last season, moved to Nissan's Kondō Racing. Lexus will using SC430 until season ends, as there are remaining SC430s in the factory. The SC430 will be replaced by the LFA in the next season. Nissan MOLA, GT300 Class Champion in the 2008 season, will be participating in GT500 class this year. With Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli as their drivers, while João Paulo de Oliveira who was with Kondō Racing filled the void in the Impul team.
GT300 RE Amemiya, a regular GT300 entrant in the class since the 1995 JGTC season, has withdrawn from the series completely. While 2008 and 2009 GT300 Champion Team MOLA and Racing Project Bandoh both moved up to the GT500 class respectively. 2010 GT300 Champion Hasemi Motorsport also withdrawn the series in early April. Making both Nissan and Mazda car absent in the GT300 lineup this year, for the first time since 1995. Jim Gainer Team, which was using the Ferrari F430 in the 2010 season, switched 1 of their 2 cars to a Ferrari F458 GTC. Ferrari stated they are not likely to supply F458's to any of the Super GT teams. Team Mach also showed interest in using an F458 this season but due to the reason above, the plan was not implemented and they had to drive with a Vemac. Studie, which used a BMW Z4 (E86) in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, returned to the series with a BMW Z4 GT3, previously the #76 car used by Schubert Motorsport (Team Need for Speed) in the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship season. They have hired former F1 driver Ukyo Katayama as their sporting director and former RE Amemiya driver Nobuteru Taniguchi as their driver. Team COX left the series after just one season in the series. Goodsmile Racing would later merge with Studie, bringing Taku Bamba to the team as well. Chevrolet cars, which previously appeared in Super GT in the 2007 season also returned to the series, with Tomei Sports replacing their 996 type Porsche 911 GT3 with a Corvette Z06-R. Porsche supplied two new 2010 specification Porsche 911 GT3Rs to Direction Racing and Team Art Taste, the latter team, which was a regular entrant of Super Taikyu series, also marked their debut season in Super GT. The 2010 specification Porsche 911 GT3R which was used by Team COX last season was given to the Hankook KTR team. Team SG Changi, which uses a Lexus IS350 with former RE Amemiya driver Ryo Orime and Alexandre Imperatori is participating in the series for the first time. Kazuki Hoshino, the driver's Champion of GT300 last year, moved from Hasemi Motorsport to A Speed (using an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2), replacing Hideshi Matsuda. Hasemi Motorsport was later to announce their withdrawal from the series.
Calendar