1998 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship
The 1998 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the sixth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the sixteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class champion was the #23 Pennzoil NISMO Nissan Skyline GT-R driven by Érik Comas and Masami Kageyama, and the GT300 class champion was the #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR2 driven by Keiichi Suzuki and Shingo Tachi, who won a record five championship races, plus the post-season all-star race, giving them a total of six wins in 1998.
1998 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship | |||
Previous: | 1997 | Next: | 1999 |
The season was marred by a horrific crash at the All Japan Fuji GT Race on May 3, 1998, when Ferrari Club of Japan driver Tetsuya Ota lost control of his Ferrari F355 in heavy rain and fog, and crashed into the stationary Porsche 911 of Jukuchou (Tomohiko) Sunako. Ota's car erupted into flames upon impact, and fellow racer Shinichi Yamaji rushed to extinguish the fire. Ota suffered severe burns and nerve damage that would force him to retire from full-time racing. Sunako suffered a broken leg, but would continue to race in the series later on.
1998 also saw the first GT500 class victory for Honda, at the Japan Special GT Cup at Fuji Speedway.
Schedule
Round | Race | Circuit | Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Suzuka GT 300 | March 22 | |
2 | All Japan Fuji GT Race | May 3 | |
3 | HiLand GT Championship | June 28 | |
4 | Japan Special GT-Cup | August 9 | |
5 | Motegi GT Championship Race | September 13 | |
6 | CP Mine GT Race | October 11 | |
7 | SUGO GT Championship | October 25 | |
NC | Nicos Cup GT Allstar Race | November 15 | |
Season results
Point Ranking
GT500
Drivers
Rank | No. | Driver | SUZ | FUJ | SEN | FUJ | MOT | MIN | SUG | TAI | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 | Masami Kageyama | 1 | C | 1 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 67 |
1 | 23 | Érik Comas | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 67 | |
2 | 64 | Koji Yamanishi | 2 | C | 1 | Ret | 2 | DNS | 1 | 50 | |
2 | 64 | Tom Coronel | 2 | C | Ret | 1 | Ret | 2 | DNS | 1 | 50 |
3 | 12 | Kazuyoshi Hoshino | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 49 | |
3 | 12 | Takuya Kurosawa | 11 | C | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 49 |
4 | 16 | Osamu Nakako | Ret | C | Ret | 5 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 48 |
5 | 3 | Masahiro Hasemi | 5 | C | Ret | 2 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 37 |
6 | 39 | Sakai Tsuchiya
Tatsuya Tanikawa |
3 | C | 4 | 9 | Ret | 3 | Ret | 3 | 36 |
7 | 36 | Masanori Sekiya | 6 | C | 3 | 8 | 3 | 16 | Ret | Ret | 33 |
8 | 2 | Aguri Suzuki | Ret | 2 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | Ret | 29 | |
8 | 2 | Masahiko Kageyama | Ret | C | 2 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | Ret | 29 |
9 | 37 | Toshio Suzuki | 7 | C | 6 | 11 | Ret | 10 | 2 | 6 | 26 |
10 | 100 | Kunimitsu Takahashi | 10 | C | 12 | Ret | 7 | 1 | Ret | 2 | 25 |
11 | 38 | Hironori Takeuchi | 9 | C | Ret | Ret | 5 | 12 | 3 | Ret | 22 |
12 | 50 | Satoshi Motoyama | 13 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | Ret | 17 | |
12 | 50 | Takeshi Tsuchiya | 13 | C | 11 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | Ret | 17 |
13 | 5 | Marc Goossens | 4 | C | 7 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 14 | |
14 | 5 | Yasutaka Sakurai | 4 | C | 7 | 14 | |||||
15 | 18 | Katsutomo Kaneishi | Ret | C | Ret | 4 | Ret | 15 | DSQ | Ret | 10 |
16 | 18 | Katsuya Yamamoto | Ret | C | Ret | 4 | Ret | 10 | |||
17 | 8 | Wayne Gardner
Minoru Tanaka |
8 | C | 10 | 12 | Ret | 7 | 8 | ||
18 | 6 | Pierre-Henri Raphanel | Ret | Ret | 13 | Ret | 6 | DNQ | 6 | ||
18 | 6 | Shinichi Takagi | Ret | C | Ret | 13 | Ret | 6 | DNQ | 6 | |
19 | 30 | Yoji Yamada | 12 | C | 8 | 15 | 9 | 14 | Ret | 9 | 5 |
20 | 88 | Hisashi Wada
Naohiro Furuya |
Ret | C | 9 | 18 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 3 | |
21 | 55 | Hideshi Matsuda | 14 | C | 14 | 10 | 8 | 1 | |||
22 | 55 | Anthony Reid | 10 | 1 | |||||||
55 | Eiichi Tajima | 14 | C | 0 | |||||||
5 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||||
55 | Mizuno Fuminori | 14 | 0 | ||||||||
13 | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | C | Ret | 16 | 12 | 17 | Ret | 0 | |||
55 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||
13 | Mitsuo Fujimura | C | Ret | 16 | 12 | 17 | Ret | 0 | |||
777 | Takao Wada
Masayoshi Sugiyama |
15 | C | 17 | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||
18 | Juichi Wakisaka | 15 | DSQ | Ret | 0 | ||||||
64 | Koji Sato | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
2 | Pedro de la Rosa | C | 0 | ||||||||
23 | Ralph Firman | C | 0 | ||||||||
50 | Hiroki Kato | C | 0 | ||||||||
12 | Michael Krumm | C | 0 | ||||||||
6 | Anders Olofsson | C | 0 | ||||||||
89 | Kenji Kawagoe
Tonichi Kanamori |
C | 0 |
GT300 Class (Top 5)
Drivers
Rank | Drivers | Number/Team | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2 | 106 | 5 | |
2 | #19 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Celica | 46 | 0 | |
3 | #44 MOMOCORSE A'PEX MR-2 | 45 | 0 | |
4 | #21 Hitotsuyama Racing BMW M3 | 44 | 0 | |
5 | #61 Team Taeivon Ralliart Mitsubishi FTO | 37 | 0 |
References
- "JGTC Fog Bank Ends 2nd Round of GTC". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
External links
- Super GT/JGTC official race archive (in Japanese)
- 1998 season results