Racing Project Bandoh

Racing Project Bandoh Ltd. is a Japanese racing team competing in the Super GT series.

Racing Project Bandoh
FoundedDecember 7, 1990 (1990-12-07)
Founder(s)Masaaki Bando
BaseMachida, Tokyo Onoji-cho, 1059
Team principal(s)Masataka Bando
Current seriesSuper GT
Former seriesJTCC, JGTC
Current driversYuhi Sekiguchi, Yuji Kunimoto
Teams'
Championships		2 (JGTC, 1997/GT300, 2009)
Drivers'
Championships		2 (JGTC, 1997/GT300, 2009)
Websitewww.bandohracing.com

Racing History
#19 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus SC430 at Fuji Speedway in 2011

Created in 1990 by Masaaki Bando, Racing Project Bandoh raced in the All Japan Touring Car Championship from 1987 (as an earlier organization created by Bando until 1990) to 1997[1] and entered the Japanese Grand Touring Championship in 1997, competing with a Nissan Silvia S14 in the GT300 class winning five consecutive podiums. In the team's first year of competition, drivers Hideo Fukuyama and Manabu Orido won the GT300 class championship. The next year Bandoh switched to a Toyota Celica, but could not recreate the success of the previous year, taking no podiums with driver Manabu Orido placing second in the drivers' championship. Racing Project Bandoh won the first race of the season at the Suzuka GT 300, and ended the season with drivers Takahiko Hara and Manabu Orido taking third in the drivers championship. Three points behind the winner, Morio Nitta. Bandoh would win one race in 2000 at Sportsland SUGO, and one race in 2001 at Twin Ring Motegi.

2003 brought more success for the team after changing to a new Toyota Celica mid-way through the season, taking wins at Mt. Fuji and Suzuka and drivers Takayuki Aoki and Minoru Tanaka finishing fourth in the championship. Bandoh won one race at Sportsland SUGO in 2004.

It was not until 2007 that Racing Project Bandoh would achieve victory again, winning the fifth round of the season at Sportsland SUGO. In 2008 the team won the seventh round of the season at Motegi. The same year Masaaki Bando's son Masataka Bando took over operations of the team after Masaaki Bando was appointed as the chairman of the Super GT series.[2] The following year in 2009 drivers Manabu Orido and Tatsuya Kataoka in a Lexus IS350 took five podiums including one win. As a result, Racing Project Bandoh won both the team and drivers championship by 3 points over Nobuteru Taniguchi and Ryo Orime in the GT300 class.[3]

In 2011 Racing Project Bandoh moved to the GT500 class competing in a Lexus SC430 under the name LEXUS TEAM WedsSport BANDOH.[4]

In 2015 and 2016 the team fielded both a Lexus RC F in the GT500 class and a Toyota 86 in the GT300 class in conjunction with UP GARAGE.

Racing Project Bandoh has long been associated with the team's main sponsor WedsSport, a Japanese aftermarket wheel manufacturer.

Results
Year Class Car Drivers Drivers' rankings
1997 GT300 RS☆R Nissan Silvia S14 Manabu Orido / Hideo Fukuyama 1st
1998 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Manabu Orido / Max Angelelli / Katsumi Yamamoto 2nd
1999 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Manabu Orido / Takahiko Hara 3rd
2000 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Wakisaka KaoruHajime / Takahiko Hara 6th
2001 GT300 WedsSport Toyota MR-S Tanaka Minoru / Satoshi Goto 8th
2002 GT300 WedsSport Toyota MR-S Tanaka Minoru / Satoshi Goto 12th
2003 GT300 WedsSport Toyota MR-S (Round 2) Takayuki Aoki / Tanaka Minoru 4th
WedsSport Toyota Celica (Round 3)
2004 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Takayuki Aoki / Nobuteru Taniguchi 5th
2005 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Hiroki Kato / Nobuteru Taniguchi 7th
2006 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Koji Matsuda / Shigekazu Wakisaka 10th
2007 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica Akira Iida / Yuhi Sekiguchi 10th
2008 GT300 WedsSport Toyota Celica (Round 2) Manabu Orido / Tsubasa Abe / Yuhi Sekiguchi 12th
WedsSport Lexus IS350 (Round 3)
2009 GT300 WedsSport Lexus IS350 Manabu Orido / Tatsuya Kataoka 1st
2010 GT300 WedsSport Lexus IS350 Manabu Orido / Tatsuya Kataoka 8th
2011 GT500 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus SC430 Tatsuya Kataoka / Seiji Ara 13th
2012 GT500 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus SC430 Seiji Ara / Andre Couto / Marino Franchitti 9th
2013 GT500 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus SC430 Seiji Ara / Andre Couto 13th
2014 GT500 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus RC F Juichi Wakisaka / Yuhi Sekiguchi 15th
2015 GT500 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus RC F Juichi Wakisaka / Yuhi Sekiguchi 11th
GT300 UP GARAGE BANDOH Toyota 86 Yuki Nakayama / Marko Asmer / Yuji Ide 25th
2016 GT500 WedsSport ADVAN Lexus RC F Yuji Kunimoto / Yuhi Sekiguchi 4th
GT300 UP GARAGE BANDOH Toyota 86 Yuhki Nakayama / Shinnosuke Yamada 14th
2017 GT500 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 Yuji Kunimoto / Yuhi Sekiguchi / Kenta Yamashita / Kamui Kobayashi 13th / 14th / 20th / NC
GT300 Team Upgarage with Bandoh Toyota 86 Yuhki Nakayama / Shintaro Kawabata 18th
2018 GT500 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 Yuji Kunimoto / Kenta Yamashita 11th
GT300 Team UpGarage BANDOH Toyota 86 MC Yuhki Nakayama / Takashi Kobayashi 12th
2019 GT500 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 GT500 Yuji Kunimoto / Sho Tsuboi 11th
GT300 Team UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 Evo Takashi Kobayashi / Kosuke Matsuura / Shinnosuke Yamada 22nd / NC
2020 GT500 Toyota Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota GR Supra GT500
GT300 Team UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 Evo Takashi Kobayashi / Kosuke Matsuura
gollark: > Should I get nitro<@585502232397742101> Is, er, fancy emojis and the opportunity to very slightly improve (boost) a server worth £5 or so a month to you?
gollark: Is that just based on number of tests? you could have people be tested multiple times.
gollark: National security reasons.
gollark: You might as well buy lottery tickets because they don't cost much. Despite the negative expected value.
gollark: > honestly, id take that riskThat is not very smart.

References
  1. "RACING PROJECT BANDOH -SPONSOR COLLECTION-". www.bandohracing.com. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  2. "RACING PROJECT BANDOH -COMPANY-". www.bandohracing.com. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  3. "SUPERGT.net | 2009 Point Ranking". supergt.net. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  4. "Tandds | SUPER GT OFFICIAL WEBSITE". supergt.net. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.