2010 Super GT Series
The 2010 Autobacs Super GT Series was the eighteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era and the sixth season as the Super GT series. It marked as well as the twenty-eighth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
In both classes, every race was won by a different pairing, with Weider Honda Racing duo Takashi Kogure and Loïc Duval eventually becoming GT500 champions for the first time, giving the Honda HSV-010 GT a championship-winning début season. Defending champions Juichi Wakisaka and André Lotterer finished the season as runners-up, while Toshihiro Kaneishi and Koudai Tsukakoshi finished third. In GT300, Kazuki Hoshino and Masataka Yanagida overhauled an 11-point deficit heading into the final round of the championship to claim the title for Hasemi Motorsport. Their final round win, coupled with finishes or lower than eighth place for Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi, and Ryo Orime and Nobuteru Taniguchi, gave them a championship-winning margin of nine points.
Drivers and teams
GT500
Team | Make | Car | # | Drivers | Tyre | Round |
Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 1 | Juichi Wakisaka | All | |
Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 1 | André Lotterer | All | |
Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 6 | Daisuke Itō | All | |
Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 6 | Björn Wirdheim | All | |
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 8 | Ralph Firman | All | |
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 8 | Yuji Ide | All | |
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 8 | Takashi Kobayashi | 6 | |
Team Impul | Nissan | Nissan GT-R | 12 | Tsugio Matsuda | All | |
Team Impul | Nissan | Nissan GT-R | 12 | Ronnie Quintarelli | All | |
Keihin Real Racing | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 17 | Toshihiro Kaneishi | All | |
Keihin Real Racing | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 17 | Koudai Tsukakoshi | All | |
Weider Honda Racing | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 18 | Loïc Duval | All | |
Weider Honda Racing | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 18 | Takashi Kogure | All | |
Nismo | Nissan | Nissan GT-R | 23 | Satoshi Motoyama | All | |
Nismo | Nissan | Nissan GT-R | 23 | Benoît Tréluyer | All | |
Kondō Racing | Nissan | Nissan GT-R | 24 | João Paulo de Oliveira | All | |
Kondō Racing | Nissan | Nissan GT-R | 24 | Hironobu Yasuda | All | |
Nakajima Racing | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 32 | Ryo Michigami | All | |
Nakajima Racing | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 32 | Yuhki Nakayama | All | |
Lexus Team Kraft | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 35 | Hiroaki Ishiura | All | |
Lexus Team Kraft | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 35 | Kazuya Oshima | All | |
Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 38 | Yuji Tachikawa | All | |
Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 38 | Richard Lyons | All | |
Lexus Team SARD | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 39 | Kohei Hirate | All | |
Lexus Team SARD | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 39 | André Couto | 1–7, NC | |
Lexus Team SARD | Lexus | Lexus SC430 | 39 | Carlo van Dam | 8 | |
Team Kunimitsu | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 100 | Takuya Izawa | All | |
Team Kunimitsu | Honda | Honda HSV-010 GT | 100 | Naoki Yamamoto | All |
GT300
Team | Make | Car | # | Drivers | Tyre | Round |
Apple K-ONE Shiden | Mooncraft | Mooncraft Shiden | 2 | Hiroki Katoh | All | |
Apple K-ONE Shiden | Mooncraft | Mooncraft Shiden | 2 | Hiroshi Hamaguchi | 1–8 | |
Apple K-ONE Shiden | Mooncraft | Mooncraft Shiden | 2 | Kazuho Takahashi | 6, NC | |
Hasemi Motorsport | Nissan | Nissan Fairlady Z | 3 | Kazuki Hoshino | All | |
Hasemi Motorsport | Nissan | Nissan Fairlady Z | 3 | Masataka Yanagida | All | |
Team Mach | Vemac | Vemac RD408R | 5 | Tetsuji Tamanaka | All | |
Team Mach | Vemac | Vemac RD408R | 5 | Haruki Kurosawa | All | |
RE Amemiya Racing | Mazda | Mazda RX-7 | 7 | Ryo Orime | All | |
RE Amemiya Racing | Mazda | Mazda RX-7 | 7 | Nobuteru Taniguchi | All | |
Goodsmile Racing with COX | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche 997 GT3-R | 9 | Taku Bamba | 1–3, 5–8 | |
Goodsmile Racing with COX | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche 997 GT3-R | 9 | Masahiro Sasaki | 1–3, 5–8, NC | |
Goodsmile Racing with COX | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche 997 GT3-R | 9 | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | 6 | |
Goodsmile Racing with COX | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR Porsche 997 GT3-R | 9 | Hideto Yasuoka | NC | |
Jim Gainer Racing | Ferrari | Ferrari F430 | 11 | Tetsuya Tanaka | All | |
Jim Gainer Racing | Ferrari | Ferrari F430 | 11 | Katsuyuki Hiranaka | All | |
Racing Project Bandoh | Lexus | Lexus IS350 | 19 | Tatsuya Kataoka | All | |
Racing Project Bandoh | Lexus | Lexus IS350 | 19 | Manabu Orido | All | |
Team RQS Motorsports | Vemac | Vemac 350R | 22 | Hisashi Wada | 6–8 | |
Team RQS Motorsports | Vemac | Vemac 350R | 22 | Masaki Jyonai | 6–8 | |
Team RQS Motorsports | Vemac | Vemac 350R | 22 | Ryohei Sakaguchi | 6 | |
Samurai Team Tsuchiya | Porsche | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 25 | Akihiro Tsuzuki | 3, 5–8, NC | |
Samurai Team Tsuchiya | Porsche | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya | 3, 5–8, NC | |
Samurai Team Tsuchiya | Porsche | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 25 | Yoshio Tsuzuki | 6 | |
Team Taisan | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 26 | Igor Sushko | 1–3, 5–7 | |
Team Taisan | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 26 | Masayuki Ueda | 1–3, 5–8, NC | |
Team Taisan | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 26 | Shogo Mitsuyama | 6, 8, NC | |
Team Taisan | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 51 | Yuya Sakamoto | 3, 5–8, NC | |
Team Taisan | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 51 | Shogo Mitsuyama | 3, 5, 7 | |
Team Taisan | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 51 | Hideki Yamauchi | 8, NC | |
LMP Motorsport | Ferrari | Ferrari F430 | 27 | Yutaka Yamagishi | All | |
LMP Motorsport | Ferrari | Ferrari F430 | 27 | Hiroshi Koizumi | All | |
LMP Motorsport | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 28 | Akihiro Asai | 6–8 | |
LMP Motorsport | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 28 | Yuki Iwasaki | 6–8 | |
EVA Racing Team apr | Toyota | Toyota Corolla Axio | 31 | Kosuke Matsuura | All | |
EVA Racing Team apr | Toyota | Toyota Corolla Axio | 31 | Koki Saga | All | |
EVA Racing Team apr | Toyota | Toyota Corolla Axio | 31 | Yuya Sakamoto | 6 | |
EVA Racing Team apr | Toyota | Toyota Corolla Axio | 74 | Takuto Iguchi | All | |
EVA Racing Team apr | Toyota | Toyota Corolla Axio | 74 | Yuji Kunimoto | All | |
Hankook KTR | Porsche | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 33 | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | 1–4 | |
Hankook KTR | Porsche | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 33 | Masami Kageyama | 1–4, 7, NC | |
Hankook KTR | Porsche | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 33 | Tomonobu Fujii | 3, 7, NC | |
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | ASL | ASL Garaiya | 43 | Morio Nitta | All | |
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | ASL | ASL Garaiya | 43 | Shinichi Takagi | All | |
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | ASL | ASL Garaiya | 43 | Kyosuke Mineo | 6 | |
MOLA | Nissan | Nissan Fairlady Z | 46 | Tsubasa Abe | All | |
MOLA | Nissan | Nissan Fairlady Z | 46 | Naoki Yokomizo | All | |
R&D Sport | Subaru | Subaru Legacy B4 | 62 | Kota Sasaki | 1–3, 5–8, NC | |
R&D Sport | Subaru | Subaru Legacy B4 | 62 | Tetsuya Yamano | 1–3, 5–8, NC | |
A speed | Aston Martin | Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 | 66 | Hideshi Matsuda | All | |
A speed | Aston Martin | Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 | 66 | Hiroki Yoshimoto | All | |
A speed | Aston Martin | Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 | 66 | Tomonobu Fujii | 6 | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 86 | Yuhi Sekiguchi | All | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 86 | Koji Yamanishi | All | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 87 | Hiroyuki Iiri | All | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 87 | Yuya Sakamoto | All | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 87 | Naohiro Furuya | 6 | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 88 | Shinya Hosokawa | 1–7 | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 88 | Atsushi Yogo | All | |
JLOC | Lamborghini | Lamborghini Gallardo | 88 | Tsubasa Kurosawa | 8, NC | |
Tomei Sports | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR | 360 | Keita Sawa | 1 | |
Tomei Sports | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR | 360 | Takamori.com | 1 | |
Tomei Sports | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR | 360 | Masahiro Matsunaga | 3–5, 7–8 | |
Tomei Sports | Porsche | Porsche 996 GT3-RSR | 360 | Atsushi Tanaka | 3–5, 7–8 | |
365 Thunder Asia Racing | Mosler | Mosler MT900M | 365 | Melvin Choo | 2–8, NC | |
365 Thunder Asia Racing | Mosler | Mosler MT900M | 365 | Tim Sugden | 2–5, 7 | |
365 Thunder Asia Racing | Mosler | Mosler MT900M | 365 | Shinsuke Yamazaki | 6 | |
365 Thunder Asia Racing | Mosler | Mosler MT900M | 365 | Keita Sawa | 6, NC | |
Bomex Rosso | Porsche | Porsche Boxster | 666 | Junichiro Yamashita | 1, 3–8 | |
Bomex Rosso | Porsche | Porsche Boxster | 666 | Takashi Miyamoto | 1, 3 | |
Bomex Rosso | Porsche | Porsche Boxster | 666 | Takamori.com | 3–8 | |
Bomex Rosso | Porsche | Porsche Boxster | 666 | Satoshi Kimura | 6 |
- Goodsmile Racing with COX announced a mid-season car change that will occur at the fifth round. The Porsche 996 GT3-RSR was retired after the third round.
- Team apr changed the name on one of their cars midway through the season, as a promotion towards the movie adaption of animation series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Thus the #31 car runs under the "Eva Racing" banner since the third round, with the exception of the fourth round due to a copyright issue, with the #74 remaining unchanged.
Car changes
GT500
- Honda: Having used the NSX since 1996, Honda replaced the unique MR-layout model with a FMR-layout prototype HSV-010, which has been homologated by the JAF. However, Honda have cancelled their plans to produce a road-going model of the HSV-010.
- All three teams united their engine specification to 3.4 L V8 with an FR-layout vehicle which was planned to be done last season.
GT300
- Hasemi Motorsport moved into the class from GT500, competing with a Nissan Fairlady Z.
- The JLOC team which previously used a Lamborghini Murciélago, have changed all their cars to Lamborghini Gallardos.
- A speed, a new team participating in Super GT, uses an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
- Thunder Asia Racing, which raced in Malaysia last year, became the first team not based in Japan to participate in the full season in Super GT history. They use a Mosler MT900M, and in addition, Melvin Choo, one of the team's drivers, was appointed as the Super GT official negotiator to help bring a race to Singapore in future.
- Studie, which used a BMW Z4 in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, had originally planned to participate the series as AS Studie Racing in 2010, but did not participate due to the withdrawal of Advance Step. Advance Step had been a co-partner for Studie over the previous two seasons. However at the end of the season, the teams parted ways and will compete separately in 2011.
- Good Smile Racing made their debut in the series after becoming the primary sponsors for Studie under the Hatsune Miku banner in the past two seasons. Team COX, the first Porsche works team in Super GT, would become Good Smile Racing's partner. The team originally planned to use a 2010-specification Porsche 997 GT3-R for the entire season. However, as the car was delivered in late May, the team used a Porsche 996 RSR for the first three races of the season. They will also miss the event in Sepang, to test the new vehicle. Porsche and COX also announced that they are planning to supply at least one more GT3-R to other teams participating in 2011.
- RE Amemiya Racing announced it will be the final season of the Mazda RX-7, as after the season ends, the car will be donated to the motor racing museum of Malaysia. They would later announce their withdrawal from the series.
- R&D Sport have changed the drivetrain on their Subaru Legacy from AWD to RWD, making AWD cars absent.
Others
- The use of a three-way catalytic converter is compulsory for all teams.
Schedule
- The calendar was provisionally announced on September 25, 2009. Autopolis has been removed from the calendar, with no replacement round nor venue added. However, with alterations made to the Formula One calendar, including the moving of the, the calendar was altered on October 19, 2009.
- Apart from the eight championship rounds, a non-championship round, originally entitled Super GT and Formula Nippon Sprint Cup 2010, will be held at the conclusion of the season. After the Japan Automobile Federation recognised the race as a "JAF Grand Prix" round, it was renamed as JAF Grand Prix Super GT and Formula Nippon Sprint Cup 2010.
- The 400 km race at Fuji will adopt regulations with two mandatory pit stops, while the knockout qualifying format was used in the first two rounds as well as the Suzuka 700 km of the season.
- The 300 km race at Fuji scheduled to be held on September 12 was cancelled due to the serious damage to Oyama, the town where the circuit is located, caused by the typhoon Malou. This is the first event in Super GT to be cancelled by series organisers, and the first Japanese Grand touring round to be cancelled since Sepang in 2003.
Standings
GT500 Drivers
;Scoring system:Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
GT300 Drivers
;Scoring system:Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |