Team Taisan

is a Japanese auto racing team founded in 1983 by Yasutsune "Ricky" Chiba (3 April 1945 - 7 June 2024) and owned by the Taisan Industrial Company. Most active in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), Taisan has been involved in all but one season from 1994 to 2018, taking a sabbatical in 2015. During that time they have won eight team championships and four drivers championships, representing manufacturers Ferrari, Porsche, Dodge, Toyota, Nissan, and Audi. Team Taisan has also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning their class on their debut in . For nearly their entire career, Taisan has been sponsored by tire manufacturer Yokohama Rubber Company, often carrying the name of Yokohama's Advan brand.

History

The team was initially formed through and their efforts in the All Japan Endurance Championship and Fuji Long Distance Series. Taisan operated one of the teams' Porsche 962C with drivers Kunimitsu Takahashi and Kenji Takahashi. Kunimitsu went on to win the Endurance Championship three times from 1985 to 1987, while Nova Engineering won the team championships in the Fuji Long Distance Series those same years. Taisan expanded their program to include the Japanese Touring Car Championship in 1989 with BMW M3s, adding Briton Will Hoy to the team in 1990. A Group A category Nissan Skyline GT-R was added to the team in 1991 for Kenji Takahashi and Keiichi Tsuchiya while their BMWs continued in the lower JTC-2 category. Kunimitsu replaced Kenji in the Skyline for 1992 and 1993 before Kunimitsu and Tsuchiya left to form their own racing team and the JTCC eliminated the Group A cars from the series, leaving the team with a single Super Touring BMW for Kazuo Mogi in 1994.

Taisan returned to sports car racing in 1994 in the new All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the team participating with one of their former 962Cs and teamed alongside a Ferrari F40. Masahiko Kondo and Anthony Reid won one race for the Porsche while Tetsuya Ota and Oscar Larrauri earned one victory in the Ferrari. A switch to a pair of Porsche 911 GT2s earned three GT1 victories in 1995 and the teams championship for the GT1 category, while the team also added a GT2 class campaign under the Team Taisan Jr. moniker for a Porsche 964. Taisan Jr. became a dominant team in the rechristened GT300 class, winning the drivers and teams championships in 1996, followed by second place in 1997 and another championship in 1998 while campaigning a new Toyota MR2 in cooperation with Tsuchiya Engineering.

Taisan International Taisan's success led to the team being invited to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in for the LMGT category. Their Porsche 911 GT3-R, driven by Hideo Fukuyama, Atsushi Yogo, and Bruno Lambert won the category by a six-lap margin. Upon returning to Japan, Taisan began a streak of four consecutive GT300 team championships from 2000–2003, including a drivers championship with Fukuyama in 2000. Another Le Mans also earned the team a podium finish in their class for . Taisan downsized to a single Porsche team from 2004 onward as the JGTC transitioned to the new Super GT Series; Taisan eventually joined with Endless for a joint program that earned them another drivers and teams championships in 2012. The team expanded once again in 2013, retaining the Porsche in Super GT while joining the new Asian Le Mans Series with a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, winning the series championship and earning the team an automatic invitation to Le Mans, their first since . A difficult 2014 season with a new Nissan GT-R led Taisan to take a sabbatical year from Super GT, returning in 2016 with an Audi R8 LMS in cooperation with SARD.

Taisan Electric Team Taisan also began to embrace electric motorsport by participating in the All Japan EV-GP Series in 2011 with Tesla Roadsters as well as a modified Porsche 914, winning the 2011 championship. The team also began developing electric karts. In 2018 Chiba announced an auction of many former Taisan racing cars dating back to the early 1990s, including several JGTC and Super GT machines. Chiba also announced at the conclusion of the 2018 Super GT season that the team would cease participation in Super GT, instead concentrating solely on electric motorsports.

Complete race results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans Results Year Class No.  Drivers Car Tyres Laps 2000 GT 73 Hideo Fukuyama Porsche 911 GT3-R 310 16th 1st 2001 GT 73 Hideo Fukuyama Kazuyuki Nishikawa Porsche 911 GT3 RS (996) 273 11th 5th 2002 GT 73 Akira Iida Kazuyuki Nishizawa Porsche 911 GT3 RS (996) 316 21st 3rd 2003 GT 77 Akira Iida Kazuyoshi Nishizawa Porsche 911 GT3 RS (996) 304 19th 4th 2006 GT2 93 Kazuyuki Nishizawa Shinichi Yamaji Philip Collin Porsche 911 GT3 RS (996) 291 22nd 5th 2014 LMGTE Am 70 Shinji Nakano Martin Rich Pierre Ehret Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 327 28th 9th

Complete JGTC Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyresClassNo.Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 Pos Pts 1994Ferrari F40 LMGT134 Keiichi Suzuki Hideshi MatsudaFUJSENFUJSUGMIN2nd64Porsche 962C35 Anthony Reid Kazuo Mogi Masahiko KondoFUJSENFUJSUGMINFerrari F40 LM40 Tetsuya Ota Keiichi Suzuki Anthony Reid Oscar LarrauriFUJSENFUJSUGMIN 1995BMW M3 (E30)GT226 Motoji Sekine Fumio Mutoh Junichi Yamanashi Masaoki NagashimaSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMIN 5th 4428 Motoji Sekine Fumio MutohSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINPorsche 911 GT2GT133 Hideshi Matsuda Kaoru Iida Keiichi SuzukiSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMIN1st80Ferrari F40 LM34 Anthony Reid Masahiko Kondo Hideshi Matsuda Takeshi Tsuchiya Oscar Larrauri Keiichi SuzukiSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINPorsche 911 GT235 Keiichi Suzuki Hideshi Matsuda Takeshi Tsuchiya Anthony Reid Masahiko KondoSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINFerrari F40 LM40 Oscar Larrauri Tetsuya OtaSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMIN 1996Porsche 964 RSRGT30026 Keiichi Suzuki Morio NittaSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINNC11st93BMW M3 (E30)28 Masaoki Nagashima Junichi Yamanashi Manabu Orido Takeshi TsuchiyaSUZFUJSENFUJToyota MR2SUGMINNC1Porsche 993 RSR38 Adrian Fu Rodney Jones Masaoki NagashimaSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINNC1Porsche 993 GT2GT50034 Hideshi Matsuda Osamu NakakoSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINNC18th1235 Takeshi Tsuchiya Anthony Reid Oscar Larrauri Mitsuhiro KinoshitaSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMINNC1 1997Porsche 993 RSRGT30026 Keiichi Suzuki Morio NittaSUZFUJSENFUJMINSUGNC1NC22nd89Porsche 993 GT2GT50034 Keiichi Tsuchiya Hideshi MatsudaSUZFUJSENFUJ13th4Chrysler Viper GTS-RMINSUGNC1NC2 1998Toyota MR2GT30025 Keiichi Suzuki Shingo TachiSUZFUJSENFUJMOTMINSUGNC11st106Chrysler Viper GTS-RGT50055 Hideshi Matsuda Eiichi Tajima Fuminori Mizuno Anthony Reid Mitsuhiro KinoshitaSUZFUJSENFUJMOTMINSUGNC117th1 1999Porsche 993 GT3-RGT30026 Hiroaki Suga Dilantha Malagamuwa Dominik Schwager Hideshi Matsuda Tomohiko SunakoSUZFUJSUGMIN 5th 48Porsche 996 GT3-RFUJOKAMOTNC1Porsche 993 GT3-R55 Hiroaki Suga Eiichi TajimaFUJOKAMOT 14th 10Chrysler Viper GTS-RGT500 Eiichi Tajima Hideshi Matsuda Dominik Schwager Yasuyuki HonjoSUZFUJSUGMINNC1 13th 2 2000Porsche 996 GT3-RGT30026 Hideshi Matsuda Hideo Fukuyama Fuminori Mizuno Atsushi YogoMOTFUJSUGNC1FUJOKAMINSUZ1st10128 Hiroaki Suga Shinsuke ShibaharaMOTFUJSUGNC1FUJOKAMINSUZChrysler Viper GTS-R55 Hiroaki Suga Shinsuke Shibahara Eiji Yamada Takahide Tasaki Dilantha MalagamuwaMINSUZ17th1GT500MOTFUJSUGNC1FUJOKA NC 0 2001Porsche 996 GT3-RGT30024 Hideshi Matsuda Kazuyushi NishizawaOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN1st7426 Hideo Fukuyama Atsushi YogoOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMINChrysler Viper GTS-R55 Eiji Yamada Takayuki KinoshitaOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN12th19 2002Porsche 911 GT3-RGT30024 Hideo Fukuyama Mitsuhiro KinoshitaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ1st10226 Atsushi Yogo Kazuyushi Nishizawa Takayuki KinoshitaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ28 Yutaka Yamagishi Yukihiro Hane Sunako JukuchōOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ9th33Chrysler Viper GTS-R55 Eiji Yamada Takashi Shimizu Takayuki KinoshitaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ 2003Porsche 911 GT3-RGT30024 Akihiro Asai Atsushi Yogo Adam WilcoxOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ9th3826 Shinichi Yamaji Kazuyushi NishizawaOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ1st88Dodge Viper Competition Coupe55 Eiji Yamada Takayuki KinoshitaOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ 2004Porsche 911 GT3-RGT30026 Yutaka Yamagishi Kaoru Ijiri Akihiro AsaiOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZNC1NC214th6Dodge Viper Competition Coupe55 Eiji Yamada Patrick Van SchootOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZNC1NC2NC0Sources:

Complete Super GT Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 Pos Points 2005 Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 26 Yutaka Yamagishi Kaoru Ijiri Takashi Inoue Isao Ihashi OKA FUJ SEPSUGMOTFUJAUT SUZ NC 02006Porsche 996 GT3-RSGT30026 Kazuyuki Nishizawa Shinichi YamajiSUZ OKA FUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUT FUJ18th10 2007 Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 26 Nobuteru Taniguchi Shinichi Yamaji Kazuyuki Nishizawa Dominik Farnbacher SUZ OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ MOT AUT FUJ5th72 2008 Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 26 Nobuteru Taniguchi Shinichi Yamaji Keita Sawa Dominik Farnbacher SUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ4th83 2009 Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 26 Haruki Kurosawa Tsubasa Abe Katsuhiko Tsutsui Tsubasa KurosawaOKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT11th38 2010 Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 26 Igor Sushko Masayuki Ueda Shogo MitsuyamaSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOTNC1NC220th1251 Yuya Sakamoto Shogo Mitsuyama Hideki YamauchiSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOTNC1NC222nd5 2011 Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 26 Kyosuke Mineo Hideshi Matsuda Junichiro Yamashita Shogo MitsuyamaOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC216th19Ferrari F430 GT241 Shinichi Yamaji Hiroshi Koizumi Kyosuke Mineo Junichiro YamashitaOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC217th15 2012 Porsche 911 GT3-R GT300 911 Kyosuke Mineo Naoki YokomizoOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC21st102 2013 Porsche 911 GT3-R GT300 0 Kyosuke Mineo Naoki YokomizoOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC29th40 2014 Nissan GT-R GT3 GT300 67 Shogo Mitsuyama Naoki Yokomizo Kyosuke MineoOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT 16th 24 2016 Audi R8 LMS GT300 26 Shogo Mitsuyama Yuya Motojima Tsubasa Kondo OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT 16th 27 2017 Audi R8 LMS GT300 26 Shinnosuke Yamada Jake Parsons Christian Klien OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 24th 11 2018 Audi R8 LMS GT300 26 Shinnosuke Yamada Shintaro Kawabata Shinji Nakano OKA FUJ SUZCHA FUJ SUG AUT MOT19th16Sources: Note: Non-championship races (NC1, NC2) are major races that did not count towards the championship.

References