The 2003 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the eleventh season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the twenty-first season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class champions of 2003 were the #23 Xanavi NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R team driven by Satoshi Motoyama and Michael Krumm and the GT300 class champions were the #3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Fairlady Z driven by Masataka Yanagida and Mitsuhiro Kinoshita, neither of which had won a single race during the course of the season.
The 2003 season saw the introduction of a comprehensive overhaul of the series' vehicle regulations. Manufacturers could now cut away the production vehicle's mainframe and replace the front and rear structures with pipe frame structures, which had also allowed for further suspension development. The engine could now be mounted freely in any position or any orientation, and the transmission could now be mounted freely in any position, allowing for the introduction of transaxle units. The size of the rear diffuser was reduced, and the underbody of the car had to be fitted with a flat bottom floor.
Toyota had fitted their GT500 Supra with a 5.2 litre version of the naturally-aspirated 3UZ-FE V8 engine to replace the four-cylinder 3S-GTE. Honda retained the 3.5 litre C32B V6 engine, which was now mounted longitudinally behind the cockpit. Nissan changed from the RB26DETT inline-six cylinder engine to the VQ30DETT V6 engine in the middle of 2002, and retained the lighter aluminium-block engine into 2003.
Drivers and teams
GT500 Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Rounds Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3UZ-FE 5.2 L V8 1 Akira Iida All Juichi Wakisaka All Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 8 Keiichi Tsuchiya All Toshihiro Kaneishi 1–3, 5–8 Katsutomo Kaneishi 4 Calsonic Team Impul Nissan Nissan Skyline GT-R Nissan VQ30DETT 3.0 L Twin Turbo V6 12 Yuji Ide All Benoît Tréluyer All G'Zox MugenG'Zox Dome Racing Team Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 16 Tom Coronel All Daisuke Ito All Takata Dome Racing Team Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 18 Ryō Michigami All Sébastien Philippe 1–6, 8 Paolo Montin 7 Nismo Nissan Nissan Skyline GT-R Nissan VQ30DETT 3.0 L Twin Turbo V6 22 Masami Kageyama All Richard Lyons All 23 Michael Krumm All Satoshi Motoyama All Team Advan Tsuchiya Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3UZ-FE 5.2 L V8 25 Jérémie Dufour All Seiji Ara 1, 3–8 Hideki Noda 2 Project Mu Kraft Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3UZ-FE 5.2 L V8 35 Naoki Hattori All Shigekazu Wakisaka All Toyota Team TOM'S Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3UZ-FE 5.2 L V8 36 Érik Comas All Takeshi Tsuchiya All 37 Marco Apicella All Takuya Kurosawa All au Toyota Team Cerumo Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3UZ-FE 5.2 L V8 38 Yuji Tachikawa All Hironori Takeuchi All Denso Toyota Team SARD Toyota Toyota Supra Toyota 3UZ-FE 5.2 L V8 39 Manabu Orido All Dominik Schwager All R&D Sport Vemac Vemac RD350R Zytek ZV348 3.4 L V8 62 Shogo Mitsuyama 2–6, 8 Shinsuke Shibahara 2–6, 8 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 64 Tsugio Matsuda All Takashi Kogure 1–3 André Lotterer 4–8 Hitotsuyama Racing McLaren McLaren F1 GTR BMW S70/2 6.0 L V12 76 Eiichi Tajima All Yudai Igarashi 1–3 Haruki Kurosawa 4–5 Go Shimizu 6–8 JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Diablo JGT-1 Lamborghini L532 6.0 L V12 88 Hisashi Wada All Naohiro Furuya 1–3 Koji Yamanishi 4–8 Raybrig Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.5 L V6 100 Hiroki Katoh All Hidetoshi Mitsusada All
GT300 Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Rounds Verno Tokai Dream28 Honda Honda NSX Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 2 Kazuho Takahashi All Akira Watanabe All Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Nissan Fairlady Z Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 3 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita All Masataka Yanagida All Team B-1 Vemac Vemac RD320R Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 5 Tetsuji Tamanaka All "Gō Mifune" All RE Amemiya Racing Mazda Mazda RX-7 Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor 7 Nobuteru Taniguchi All Takayuki Ohi All A&S Racing Mosler Mosler MT900R Chevrolet LS1 6.2 L V8 9 Katsuhiko Tsutsui All Ichijo Suga 1–5, 7–8 Naohiro Furuya 6 Team LeyJun RGS RGS Mirage GT1 Chevrolet LS1 5.7 L V8 10 "OSAMU" 1–6 Shinichi Kurashima 1–3 Tatsuya Mizutani 4 Naohiro Furuya 5–6 Vemac Vemac RD320R Honda C32B 3.4 L V6 63 "OSAMU" 8 Takamasa Nakagawa 8 Jim Gainer Racing Ferrari Ferrari 360 Ferrari F131B 3.6 L V8 11 Hideshi Matsuda All Tetsuya Tanaka All Amprex Motorsports Mazda Mazda RX-7 Mazda RE20B 2.0 L 3-rotor 14 Tengku Djan Ley 5 Tetsuya Yamano 5 BMW BMW M3 (E46) BMW M52 3.2 L I6 15 Genji Hashimoto All Charles Kwan 1–6 Tetsuya Yamano 7–8 TOM'S Spirit Toyota Toyota MR-S (Rd. 1–6)Toyota Celica (Rd. 8) Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 17 Masahiro Matsunaga 1–6, 8 Masaoki Nagashima 1–6, 8 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Toyota MR-S (Rd. 1–2)Toyota Celica (Rd. 3–8) Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 19 Takayuki Aoki All Minoru Tanaka All Hitotsuyama Racing BMW BMW M3 CSL BMW S50B32 3.2 L I6 21 Mikio Hitotsuyama 1 Takeshi Namekawa 1–2 Yasushi Hitotsuyama 2–5 Haruhiko Matsumoto 3–5 Team Taisan Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 24 Akihiro Asai All Atsushi Yogo 1, 3–8 Adam Wilcox 2 26 Shinichi Yamaji All Kazuyushi Nishizawa All Dodge Dodge Viper Competition Coupe Dodge EWC 8.0 L V10 55 Eiji Yamada All Takayuki Kinoshita All Team Reckless Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 31 Kota Sasaki All Satoshi Goto All Dentaire ProJet Racing with apr Toyota Toyota MR-S Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 34 Seigo Nishizawa All Koji Matsuda All Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ASL ASL ARTA Garaiya Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 43 Morio Nitta All Shinichi Takagi All Auto Staff Racing Nissan Nissan Silvia (S15) Nissan SR20DET 2.0 L Turbo I4 51 Naofumi Omoto 1–6, 8 Masanobu Kato 2–8 Adam Wilcox 1 Tsuyoshi Shirai 7 R&D Sport Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 61 Atsushi Katsumata 2–3, 5–6 Takeyuki Kishi 2–3 Keiko Ihara 5–6 Team Gaikokuya Porsche Porsche 996 GT3-RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 69 Yutaka Yamagishi All Kei Idaka All 70 Yoshimi Ishibashi All Go Shimizu 1–4 Hiroshi Wada 5, 8 Isao Isashi 6–7 SigmaTec Racing Team Toyota Toyota MR-S (Rd. 1–4)Toyota Celica (Rd. 5–8) Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 L Turbo I4 71 Keita Sawa All Guts Jyonai 1–5 Tatsuya Kataoka 6–7 Haruki Kurosawa 8 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 Kazuki Hoshino All Tadao Uematsu All Arktech Motorsports Porsche Porsche 996 GT3 Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 111 Hiroya Iijima 2–6, 8 Shigemitsu Haga 2–6, 8 910 Racing Porsche Porsche 996 GT3 RS Porsche M96/77 3.6 L F6 910 Akira Hirakawa All Yasuo Miyagawa All 911 Kazuyoshi Takamizawa 2, 4–6, 8 Jukuchou Sunako 2, 4–6, 8
Schedule Round Race Circuit Date 1 GT Championship in TI TI Circuit March 30 2 All Japan GT Fuji 500 Fuji Speedway May 4 3 SUGO GT Championship Sportsland SUGO May 25 4 Malaysian JGTC in Fuji Speedway Fuji Speedway July 13 5 Japan Special GT Cup Fuji Speedway August 3 6 Motegi GT Championship Race Twin Ring Motegi September 14 7 Japan GT in Kyushu 300 km Autopolis October 26 8 Suzuka GT 300 km Suzuka Circuit November 16
Due to the SARS outbreak, round 4 of the championship, which was planned to be held at the Sepang Circuit on June 20 and 21, was cancelled and later replaced by a round at Fuji Speedway. The replacement Fuji round featured a unique format of two heat races, each featuring a sprint race for one of the team's drivers. The combined results of both heats would determine the overall winner of the round.
Season results Round Circuit GT500 Winning Team GT300 Winning Team GT500 Winning Drivers GT300 Winning Drivers 1 TI Circuit #1 ESSO Team LeMans Toyota Supra #24 Advan Team Taisan Porsche 996 Juichi Wakisaka Akira Iida Atsushi Yogo Akihiro Asai 2 Mt. Fuji #22 Motul NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R #26 Advan Team Taisan Porsche 996 Richard Lyons Masami Kageyama Shinichi Yamaji Kazuyuki Nishizawa 3 Sportsland SUGO #1 ESSO Team LeMans Toyota Supra #31 Team Reckless Toyota MR-S Juichi Wakisaka Akira Iida Kota Sasaki Satoshi Goto 4 Mt. Fuji Heat 1:#12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Skyline GT-R Heat 1:#3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Fairlady Z Yuji Ide Masataka Yanagida Heat 2:#12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Skyline GT-R Heat 2:#11 Team Gainer Ferrari F360 Benoît Tréluyer Tetsuya Tanaka Overall:#12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Skyline GT-R Overall:#55 Eclipse Taisan Advan Dodge Viper Yuji Ide Benoît Tréluyer Eiji Yamada Takayuki Kinoshita 5 Mt. Fuji #18 Takata Dome Honda NSX #19 WedsSport Toyota Celica Ryō Michigami Sebastien Philippe Takayuki Aoki Minoru Tanaka 6 Twin Ring Motegi #16 G-ZOX Dome Honda NSX #71 Sigmatech Toyota Celica Tom Coronel Daisuke Ito Tatsuya Kataoka Keita Sawa 7 Autopolis #39 Denso Team SARD Toyota Supra #71 Sigmatech Toyota Celica Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager Tatsuya Kataoka Keita Sawa 8 Suzuka Circuit #12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Skyline GT-R #19 WedsSport Toyota Celica Yuji Ide Benoît Tréluyer Takayuki Aoki Minoru Tanaka
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 Qualifying 1 1 1 Fastest lap 1 1 1
RankNo.DriverTAIFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZPts.123 Satoshi Motoyama Michael Krumm2435211538621 Akira Iida Juichi Wakisaka11216444783322 Masami Kageyama Richard Lyons815211136465412 Benoît Tréluyer Yuji Ide122Ret116611164536 Érik Comas Takeshi Tsuchiya61027528861639 Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager143143771957718 Ryō Michigami3Ret78114Ret255 Sébastien Philippe938 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaRetDSQ10439313461016 Tom Coronel Daisuke Ito4Ret912811011381164 Tsugio Matsuda568139Ret2123612100 Hiroki Katoh Hidetoshi Mitsusada77161713595271325 Jérémie Dufour10Ret41417312Ret35 Seiji Ara1535 Naoki Hattori Shigekazu Wakisaka956101012710241664 André Lotterer139Ret212191764 Takashi Kogure568171837 Marco Apicella Takuya KurosawaRet81315610131415198 Keiichi Tsuchiya11Ret1111128Ret69 Toshihiro Kaneishi2076 Eiichi Tajima139121814RetDNP152 Yudai Igarashi2062 Shogo Mitsuyama Shinsuke Shibahara11159RetRet162-8 Katsutomo Kaneishi110-76 Haruki Kurosawa18140-88 Hisashi Wada15RetRet161515RetRet0-88 Koji Yamanishi161515RetRet0-88 Naohiro Furuya15RetRet0-76 Go ShimizuRetDNP150-25 Hideki NodaRet0-18 Paolo MontinRet0RankNo.DriverTAIFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZPts.
Teams' standings For teams that entered multiple cars, only the best result from each round counted towards the teams' championship. RankTeamNo.TAIFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZPts. 1 Nismo 22 8 1 5 2 11 13 6 4 106 23 2 4 3 5 2 11 5 3 2 Esso Toyota Team LeMans 1 1 12 1 6 4 4 4 7 83 3 Dome Racing Team 16 8 1 10 11 77 18 314Ret 7 8 1 1414Ret 2 4 Toyota Team TOM'S 36 6 10 2 7 5 2 8 8 66 3716Ret 8 13 15 6 10 13 14 5 Team Impul 12 12 217Ret 1 16 6 11 1 64 6 Toyota Team SARD 39 14 3 14 3 7 7 1 9 57 7 Toyota Team Cerumo 3817DNS18DSQ 10 4 3 9 3 13 46 8 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing 64 5 6 8 13 916Ret 2 12 36 9 Team Kunimitsu with Mooncraft 100 7 7 16 17 13 5 9 5 27 10 Team Advan Tsuchiya 25 1013Ret 4 14 17 3 1217Ret 35 11 Kraft 35 9 5 6 10 10 12 7 10 24 12 Mugen 16 415Ret 9 12 13 13 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 1116Ret 11 11 12 815Ret 6 9 14 Hitotsuyama Racing 76 13 9 12 18 1418Ret 15 2 14 R&D Sports 62 11 15 918Ret17Ret 16 2- JLOC 88 1517Ret18Ret 16 15 1516Ret18Ret 0RankTeamNo.TAIFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZPts.
GT300 Drivers' championship