2008 Super GT Series

The2008 Autobacs Super GT Series was the sixteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including theAll Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fourth season as theSuper GT series. It marked as well as the twenty-sixth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to theAll Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It is a series forGrand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300. This was the first season for the newR35 GT-R, replacing theZ which had been used for all GT500 Nissan teams from 2004-2007. The season began on March 15 and ended on November 9, 2008 after 9 races.

Drivers and teams

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GT500

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Team	Make	Car	Engine	No.	Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	1	Ralph Firman	B	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	1	Takuya Izawa	B	All
Hasemi Motorsport	Nissan	Nissan GT-R GT500	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 LV8	3	Ronnie Quintarelli	B	All
Hasemi Motorsport	Nissan	Nissan GT-R GT500	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 LV8	3	Naoki Yokomizo	B	All
ENEOS ToyotaTeam LeMans	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	6	Daisuke Ito	B	1–4, 9
					Björn Wirdheim		All
					Akira Iida		5–8
					Roberto Streit		6
Team Impul	Nissan	Nissan GT-R GT500	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 LV8	12	Tsugio Matsuda	B	1–4, 6–9
					Sébastien Philippe		All
					Dominik Schwager		5
Real Racing with Leon	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	17	Katsutomo Kaneishi	B	All
					Toshihiro Kaneishi		All
					Koudai Tsukakoshi		6
Dome Racing Team	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	18	Ryo Michigami	B	All
Dome Racing Team	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	18	Takashi Kogure	B	All
Nismo	Nissan	Nissan GT-R GT500	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 LV8	22	Michael Krumm	B	All
					Masataka Yanagida		All
					Dominik Schwager		6
				23	Satoshi Motoyama		All
					Benoît Tréluyer		All
					Fabio Carbone		6
Kondo Racing	Nissan	Nissan GT-R GT500	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 LV8	24	João Paulo de Oliveira	Y	All
Kondo Racing	Nissan	Nissan GT-R GT500	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 LV8	24	Seiji Ara	Y	All
Toyota Team Tsuchiya	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya	Y	All
Toyota Team Tsuchiya	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	25	Hiroaki Ishiura	Y	All
Nakajima Racing	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	32	Loïc Duval	D	All
Nakajima Racing	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	32	Katsuyuki Hiranaka	D	All
Houzan Toyota Team Kraft	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	35	Peter Dumbreck	B	All
					Tatsuya Kataoka		All
					Shigekazu Wakisaka		6
Petronas Toyota TeamTOM'S	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	36	Juichi Wakisaka	B	All
					André Lotterer		All
					Carlo van Dam		6
ZENT Toyota TeamCerumo	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	38	Yuji Tachikawa	B	All
ZENT Toyota TeamCerumo	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	38	Richard Lyons	B	All
Toyota TeamSARD	Lexus	Lexus SC430 GT500	Lexus 3UZ-FE 4.5 LV8	39	Toranosuke Takagi	D	All
					André Couto		All
					Koki Saga		6
Team Kunimitsu	Honda	Honda NSX GT500	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	100	Yuji Ide	B	All
					Shinya Hosokawa		All
					Kosuke Matsuura		6

GT300

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Team	Make	Car	Engine	No.	Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
Cars Tokai Dream28	Mooncraft	Mooncraft Shiden	Toyota 1UZ-FE 4.4 LV8	2	Kazuho Takahashi	Y	All
					Hiroki Katoh		All
					Hiroki Yoshimoto		6
Team Uematsu Nova	Vemac	Vemac RD320R	Honda C32B 3.4 LV6	4	Ryohei Sakaguchi	Y	All
					Masaki Matsushita		All
					Tadao Uematsu		6
		Vemac RD350R	Zytek ZV348 3.9 LV8	16	Tadao Uematsu		1, 3, 9
		Vemac RD350R	Zytek ZV348 3.9 LV8	16	Katsuhiko Tsutsui		1, 3, 9
TeamMach	Vemac	Vemac RD320R	Honda C32B 3.4 LV6	5	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Y	All
					Naoya Yamano		1–7, 9
					Katsuhiko Tsutsui		6, 8
RE Amemiya Racing	Mazda	Mazda RX-7	Mazda RE20B 2.0 L3-rotor	7	Hiroyuki Iiri	Y	All
					Ryo Orime		All
					Hiroyuki Matsumura		6
A&S Racing	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet LS1 6.0 LV8	9	Tatsuya Tanigawa	K	3, 6, 8
					Hirofumi Takei		3, 6, 8
					Takayuki Matsumoto		6
Jim Gainer Racing	Ferrari	Ferrari F430	Ferrari F136E 4.3 LV8	11	Tetsuya Tanaka	Y	All
Jim Gainer Racing	Ferrari	Ferrari F430	Ferrari F136E 4.3 LV8	11	Masayuki Ueda	Y	All
Racing Project Bandoh	Toyota	Toyota Celica	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 LTurbo I4	19	Manabu Orido	Y	1–3
	Toyota	Toyota Celica	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.0 LTurbo I4		Tsubasa Abe		1–3
	Lexus	Lexus IS350	Lexus RV8J 3.4 LV8		Manabu Orido		4–9
					Tsubasa Abe		4–9
					Yuhi Sekiguchi		6
Team Taisan with Nishizawa	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	Porsche M96/77 3.6 LF6	26	Nobuteru Taniguchi	Y	All
					Shinichi Yamaji		1–8
					Keita Sawa		6
					Dominik Farnbacher		9
Team Shadow	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	Porsche M96/73 3.6 LF6	27	Takashi Inoue	H	1, 3, 6–7, 9
					Hwang Jin Woo		1, 3, 6–7
					Yasuhiro Takasaki		6
					Koji Aoyama		9
apr	Toyota	Toyota MR-S	Toyota 2GR-FSE 3.5 LV6	31	Kyosuke Mineo	M	1–5, 7–9
				31	Yuya Sakamoto		1–5, 7–9
				95	Kohei Hirate		1–5, 8–9
					Keisuke Kunimoto		All
					Yuya Sakamoto		6
					Kazuya Oshima		6
					Hideki Yamauchi		7
Hankook KTR	Porsche	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche M97/80 3.8 LF6	33	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita	H	All
Hankook KTR	Porsche	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche M97/80 3.8 LF6	33	Masami Kageyama	H	All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	ASL	ASL ARTA Garaiya	Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 LV6	43	Morio Nitta	M	All
					Shinichi Takagi		All
					Kyosuke Mineo		6
MOLA	Nissan	Nissan Fairlady Z	Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 LV6	46	Kazuki Hoshino	M	All
MOLA	Nissan	Nissan Fairlady Z	Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 LV6	46	Hironobu Yasuda	M	All
Team Takeuchi with Shift	Lexus	Lexus IS350	Lexus RV8J 3.4 LV8	52	Takuya Kurosawa	K	3–9
					Takuto Iguchi		3–9
					Hideki Yamauchi		6
WillcomR&D Sport	Vemac	Vemac RD408R	Mugen MF458S 4.5 LV8	62	Shinsuke Shibahara	Y	1, 5–9
					Haruki Kurosawa		All
					Shogo Mitsuyama		2–4, 6
JLOC	Lamborghini	Lamborghini Murciélago RG-1	Lamborghini L535 6.0 LV12	66	Koji Yamanishi	Y	All
		Lamborghini Murciélago RG-1	Lamborghini L535 6.0 LV12	66	Atsushi Yogo		All
		Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3	Lamborghini 07L1 5.0 LV10	87	Hisashi Wada		All
					Muneyuki Kurihara		All
					Yoshihisa Namekata		6
				88	Hideshi Matsuda		All
					Naohiro Furuya		All
					Yuya Sakamoto		6
Team Gaikokuya	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	Porsche M96/77 3.6 LF6	70	Takehide Maeda	Y	1
					Yutaka Yamagishi		1–7, 9
					Akazame Oyaji		2–3
					Yoshimi Ishibashi		4–7
					Kazuyoshi Takamizawa		6, 9
Cusco Racing	Subaru	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	Subaru EJ20 2.0 LTurbo F4	77	Tetsuya Yamano	D	All
					Kota Sasaki		1–7
					Carlo van Dam		8–9
Team Daishin	Nissan	Nissan Fairlady Z	Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 LV6	81	Takayuki Aoki	Y	All
Team Daishin	Nissan	Nissan Fairlady Z	Nissan VQ35DE 3.5 LV6	81	Tomonobu Fujii	Y	All
Arktech Motorsports	Porsche	Porsche 986 Boxster	Porsche M96/77 3.6 LF6	110	Hidetoshi Mitsusada	K	All
				110	Daisuke Ikeda		All
				111	Hiroshi Koizumi		1–6
					Guts Jyonai		1
					Tsubasa Kurosawa		2–6
					Paul Ip		6
Tomei Sports	Porsche	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	Porsche M96/77 3.6 LF6	118	Takashi Miyamoto	Y	1, 3, 6–9
					Takashi Ohi		1
					Masayuki Kurihara		3, 6–7
					Guts Jyonai		6, 8–9
Avanzza Rosso	Vemac	Vemac RD320R	Honda C32B 3.5 LV6	666	Shogo Suho	K	1–3, 5–9
					Junichiro Yamashita		1–3, 5–9
					Takamori.com		6
Studie & Glad with Asada Racing	BMW	BMW Z4 M Coupe	BMW S62B50 4.9 LV8	808	Yasushi Kikuchi	Y	6–7, 9
Studie & Glad with Asada Racing	BMW	BMW Z4 M Coupe	BMW S62B50 4.9 LV8	808	Shozo Tagahara	Y	6–7, 9

Schedule

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Round	Race	Circuit	Date
1	Suzuka GT 300 km	Suzuka Circuit	March 16
2	Okayama GT 300 km	Okayama International Circuit	April 13
3	Fuji GT 500 km	Fuji Speedway	May 4
4	Super GT International Series Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit	June 22
5	SUGO GT 300 km	Sportsland SUGO	July 27
6	International POKKA 1000km	Suzuka Circuit	August 24
7	Motegi GT 300 km	Twin Ring Motegi	September 14
8	Autopolis GT 300 km	Autopolis	October 19
9	Fuji GT 300 km	Fuji Speedway	November 9

Season Winners

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Rd	Circuit	GT500 Winning Team	GT300 Winning Team
Rd	Circuit	GT500 Winning Drivers	GT300 Winning Drivers
1	Suzuka	#23 XanaviNismo GT-R	#7 ORCAmemiya SGC-7
1	Suzuka	Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer	Hiroyuki Iiri Ryo Orime
2	Okayama	#23 XanaviNismo GT-R	#43ARTA Garaiya
2	Okayama	Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi
3	Mt. Fuji	#38 ZENT CerumoSC430	#95Lightning McQueen aprMR-S
3	Mt. Fuji	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	Kohei Hirate Keisuke Kunimoto
4	Kuala Lumpur	#24 Woodone ADVAN ClarionGT-R	#77 Cusco DunlopSubaru Impreza
4	Kuala Lumpur	João Paulo de Oliveira Seiji Ara	Tetsuya Yamano Kouta Sasaki
5	Sportsland SUGO	#18 TakataDOME NSX	#43ARTA Garaiya
5	Sportsland SUGO	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi
6	Suzuka Report	#12 CalsonicIMPUL GT-R	#46 MOLA LEOPALACEZ
6	Suzuka Report	Tsugio Matsuda Sebastien Philippe	Kazuki Hoshino Hironobu Yasuda
7	Motegi	#3 Yellow Hat YMSTomica GT-R	#19WedsSport IS350
7	Motegi	Ronnie Quintarelli Naoki Yokomizo	Manabu Orido Tsubasa Abe
8	Autopolis	#23 XanaviNismo GT-R	#81 DaishinAdvan Z
8	Autopolis	Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii
9	Mt. Fuji	#12 CalsonicIMPUL GT-R	#26 Yunker-PowerTaisan Porsche 996 GT3
9	Mt. Fuji	Tsugio Matsuda Sebastien Philippe	Nobuteru Taniguchi Dominik Farnbacher

Standings

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GT500 Drivers

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Scoring system

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	20	15	11	8	6	5	4	3	2	1
Qualifying	3	2	1
Fastest Lap	1	1	1

Only the best four results in the first six races would be counted for the championship.
There were no points awarded for pole position and fastest lap in the final race.

Rank	Driver	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	PTS
1 (#23 XanaviNismo GT-R)	Satoshi Motoyama Benoît Tréluyer	1	1	14	13	14	8	12	1	9	76
2 (#38 ZENT Toyota Team CerumoSC430)	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	4	7	1	Ret	3	9	9	4	2	72
3 (#36Petronas Toyota TeamTOM'S SC430)	Juichi Wakisaka André Lotterer	3	4	2	7	10	3	3	8	7	63
4 (#12Calsonic TeamImpul Nismo GT-R)	Sébastien Philippe	Ret	2	9	14	12	1	11	10	1	61
5 (#12Calsonic TeamImpul Nismo GT-R)	Tsugio Matsuda (Only attempted rounds 1–4, 6–9)	Ret	2	9	14		1	11	10	1	61
6 (#18Takata Dome Honda NSX)	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	7	12	3	3	1	12	8	7	14	60
7 (#22Motul Nismo GT-R)	Michael Krumm Masataka Yanagida	2	15	15	2	13	4	7	5	11	57
8 (#1Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX)	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	14	3	Ret	11	15	13	2	3	12	49
9 (#35 Houzan Toyota Team KraftLexus SC430)	Peter Dumbreck Tatsuya Kataoka	6	6	5	10	2	10	6	15	6	45
10 (#32Nakajima Racing Epson Honda NSX)	Loïc Duval Katsuyuki Hiranaka	10	5	7	Ret	Ret	11	5	2	4	43
11 (#100Team Kunimitsu Raybrig Honda NSX)	Yuji Ide Shinya Hosokawa	13	9	4	5	5	2	16	9	Ret	41
12 (#3Hasemi Motorsport Yellow Hat YMSTomica Nismo GT-R)	Ronnie Quintarelli Naoki Yokomizo	15	10	15	9	11	5	1	6	13	39
13 (#6ENEOS ToyotaTeam LeMans Lexus SC430)	Björn Wirdheim	9	13	6	8	7	6	4	14	3	39
14 (#24Kondo Racing Clarion Nismo GT-R)	João Paulo de Oliveira Seiji Ara	5	8	11	1	8	7	14	16	15	34
15 (#25 Toyota Team TsuchiyaLexus SC430)	Takeshi Tsuchiya Hiroaki Ishiura	11	11	8	4	4	14	10	12	8	23
16 (#6ENEOS ToyotaTeam LeMans Lexus SC430)	Daisuke Ito (Only attempted round 1–4, 9)	9	13	6	8					3	21
17 (#6ENEOS ToyotaTeam LeMans Lexus SC430)	Akira Iida (only attempted rounds 5–8)					7	6	4	14		20
18 (#100Team Kunimitsu Raybrig Honda NSX)	Kosuke Matsuura (only attempted round 6)						2				19
19 (#17 Real Racing with LeonHonda NSX)	Katsutomo Kaneishi Toshihiro Kaneishi	8	16	10	6	9	Ret	15	11	Ret	16
20 (#36Petronas Toyota TeamTOM'S SC430)	Carlo van Dam (only attempted round 6)						3				11
21 (#39 Toyota TeamSARD Lexus SC430)	Toranosuke Takagi André Couto	12	14	13	12	6	15	13	13	5	11
22 (#12Calsonic TeamImpul Nismo GT-R)	Dominik Schwager (only attempted round 5)					12	4				10
23 (#6ENEOS ToyotaTeam LeMans Lexus SC430)	Roberto Streit (only attempted round 6)						6				5
24 (#23 XanaviNismo GT-R)	Fabio Carbone (only attempted round 6)						8				3
25 (#23 Real Racing with LeonHonda NSX)	Koudai Tsukakoshi (only attempted round 6)						Ret				1
Rank	Driver	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	PTS

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Teams' standings

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Rank^[1]^[2]	Team	No.	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	Pts.
1	Petronas Toyota Team TOM'S	36	3	4	2	7	10	3	3	8	7	94
2	ZENT Toyota TeamCerumo	38	4	7	1	Ret	3	9	9	4	2	93
3	Nismo	23	1	1	14	13	14	8	12	1	9	86
4	Team Impul	12	Ret	2	9	14	12	1	11	10	1	78
5	Dome Racing Team	18	7	12	3	3	1	12	8	7	14	75
6	Nismo	22	2	15	12	2	13	4	7	5	11	69
7	Houzan Toyota Team Kraft	35	6	6	5	10	2	10	6	15	6	68
8	Eneos Toyota Team LeMans	6	9	13	6	8	7	6	4	14	3	64
9	Team Kunimitsu	100	13	9	4	5	5	2	16	9	Ret	60
10	Nakajima Racing	32	10	5	7	Ret	Ret	11	5	2	4	60
11	Kondo Racing	24	5	8	11	1	8	7	14	16	15	56
12	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	1	14	3	Ret	11	15	13	2	3	12	54
13	Hasemi Motorsport	3	15	10	15	9	11	5	1	6	13	53
14	Toyota Team Tsuchiya	25	11	11	8	4	4	14	10	12	8	44
15	Real Racing with LEON	17	8	16	10	6	9	Ret	15	11	10	30
16	Toyota Team SARD	39	12	14	13	12	6	15	13	13	5	29
Rank	Team	No.	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ	MOT	AUT	FUJ	Pts.

GT300 Class (Top 3)

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Drivers

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Rank	Drivers	Number/Team	Points	Wins
1	Kazuki Hoshino Hironobu Yasuda	#46 MOLA LEOPALACEZ	78	1
2	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	#43ARTA Garaiya	77	2
3	Nobuteru Taniguchi	#26 Yunker-PowerTaisan Porsche	71	1