2016 Super GT Series

The 2016 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fourth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the twelfth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fourth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 10 and ended on November 13, after 8 races.

2016 Super GT Series
Previous: 2015 Next: 2017
Support series:
F4 Japanese Championship
2016 GT500 champions, #39 Denso Kobelco SARD Lexus RC F.
2016 GT300 champions, #25 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Toyota 86 MC.

Schedule
Round Race Circuit Date
1 Okayama GT
300 km		 Okayama International Circuit April 10
2 Fuji GT
500 km		 Fuji Speedway May 4
4 Sugo GT
300 km		 Sportsland SUGO July 24
5 Fuji GT
300 km		 Fuji Speedway August 7
6 45th International Suzuka 1000km
1000 km		 Suzuka Circuit August 28
7 Buriram United Super GT Race
300 km		 Chang International Circuit October 9
3 Motegi GT
250 km I[1]		 Twin Ring Motegi November 12
8 Motegi GT
250 km II[1]		 November 13

Calendar Changes
  • The Super GT in Kyushu 300km at Autopolis was scheduled for May 22nd as the third round of the season but was subsequently cancelled in the aftermath of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. On May 20th, series organizers announced that the final weekend at Twin Ring Motegi would host two 250 kilometer races, with the race on Saturday being promoted as "Round 3" of the championship as it replaces the Autopolis race.
  • The SUGO GT 300km was brought forward to July from its previous date in September.
  • The overseas round at Buriram, Thailand was moved from its 2015 date of June to October. The series first visited the circuit in October 2014.
2016 Japanese venues
2016 International venue

Drivers and Teams
The BMW M6 GT3 (top-left), Ferrari 488 GT3 (top-right), Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (bottom-left), and Mercedes-AMG GT3 (bottom-right) all made their debuts in the GT300 class this season.

GT500
Team Make Car No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Nismo[2] Nissan Nissan GT-R 1 Tsugio Matsuda M All
Ronnie Quintarelli All
Lexus Team LeMans WAKO'S[3] Lexus Lexus RC F 6 Andrea Caldarelli B All
Kazuya Oshima All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri[4] Honda Honda NSX-GT 8 Kosuke Matsuura B All
Tomoki Nojiri All
Team Impul[2] Nissan Nissan GT-R 12 João Paulo de Oliveira B All
Hironobu Yasuda All
Drago Modulo Honda Racing[4] Honda Honda NSX-GT 15 Hideki Mutoh B All
Oliver Turvey 1-2, 4-6
Tadasuke Makino 3, 7-8
Keihin Real Racing[4] Honda Honda NSX-GT 17 Takashi Kogure B All
Koudai Tsukakoshi All
Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh[3] Lexus Lexus RC F 19 Yuji Kunimoto Y All
Yuhi Sekiguchi All
Kondo Racing[2] Nissan Nissan GT-R 24 Daiki Sasaki Y All
Masataka Yanagida All
Lexus Team TOM'S[3] Lexus Lexus RC F 36 Nick Cassidy B All
Daisuke Ito All
37 Ryō Hirakawa B All
James Rossiter All
Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo[3] Lexus Lexus RC F 38 Hiroaki Ishiura B All
Yuji Tachikawa All
Lexus Team SARD[3] Lexus Lexus RC F 39 Kohei Hirate B All
Heikki Kovalainen All
MOLA[2] Nissan Nissan GT-R 46 Satoshi Motoyama M All
Katsumasa Chiyo 1–4, 6-8
Mitsunori Takaboshi 5
Nakajima Racing[4] Honda Honda NSX-GT 64 Bertrand Baguette D All
Daisuke Nakajima All
Team Kunimitsu[4] Honda Honda NSX-GT 100 Takuya Izawa B All
Naoki Yamamoto All

GT300
Team Make Car No. Drivers Tyre Rounds
Gainer Racing[5] Nissan Nissan GT-R GT3 0 André Couto D All
Ryuichiro Tomita All
Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 11 Katsuyuki Hiranaka All
Björn Wirdheim All
Cars Tokai Dream28[5] Lotus Lotus Evora 2 Hiroki Katoh Y All
Kazuho Takahashi All
Tadasuke Makino 6
NDDP Racing[5] Nissan Nissan GT-R GT3 3 Kazuki Hoshino Y All
Jann Mardenborough All
Goodsmile Racing & Team Ukyo[5] Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 4 Tatsuya Kataoka Y All
Nobuteru Taniguchi All
Team Mach[5] Toyota Toyota 86 5 Tetsuji Tamanaka Y 1–2, 6, 3, 8
Junichiro Yamashita 1–2, 4-6
Masami Kageyama 2, 4-6, 3, 8
BMW Team Studie[5] BMW BMW M6 GT3 7 Seiji Ara Y All
Jörg Müller All
Augusto Farfus 6[6]
Gulf Racing with Pacific[5] Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R 9 Ryohei Sakaguchi Y All
Hiroki Yoshida All
Dylan Derdaele 2
Team Up Garage with Bandoh[5] Toyota Toyota 86 18 Yuhki Nakayama Y All
Shinnosuke Yamada All
Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama[5] Audi Audi R8 LMS 21 Tomonobu Fujii D All
Richard Lyons All
R'Qs Motor Sports[5] Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 22 Masaki Jyonai Y All
Hisashi Wada All
Tohjiro Azuma 6
VivaC team Tsuchiya[5] Toyota Toyota 86 25 Takamitsu Matsui Y All
Takeshi Tsuchiya All
Kenta Yamashita 6[7]
Team Taisan SARD[5] Audi Audi R8 LMS ultra (Rd. 1)

Audi R8 LMS (Rd. 2, 4-6, 3, 8)

 26 Shogo Mitsuyama Y 1-2, 4-6
Yuya Motojima 1-2, 4-6, 3, 8
Tsubasa Kondo 3, 8
Vattana Motorsport[5] BMW BMW M6 GT3 28 Chonsawat Asavahame Y 7
Morgan Haber 7
apr[5] Toyota Toyota Prius 30 Hiroaki Nagai Y All
Kota Sasaki All
31 Yuichi Nakayama B All
Koki Saga All
Excellence Porsche Team KTR[5] Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R 33 Naoya Yamano Y All
Jörg Bergmeister 1–2, 7, 3, 8
Tim Bergmeister 4
Yuya Sakamoto 5-6
Toyota Team Thailand[5] Toyota Toyota 86 35 Nattavude Charoensukhawatana Y 7
Piti Bhirombhakdi 7
Dijon Racing[5] Nissan Nissan GT-R GT3 48 Hiroshi Takamori Y 1-2, 4, 6
Masaki Tanaka 1–2, 6
Takayuki Aoki 2, 4-6, 3, 8
Mitsunori Takaboshi 5, 3, 8
Arnage Racing[5] Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 50 Rintaro Kubo Y All
Hideto Yasuoka All
Masaki Kano 2
LM corsa[5] Ferrari Ferrari 488 GT3 51 Morio Nitta Y All
Akihiro Tsuzuki All
Shigekazu Wakisaka 2, 6
Lexus Lexus RC F GT3 60 Akira Iida All
Hiroki Yoshimoto All
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri[5] BMW BMW M6 GT3 55 Takashi Kobayashi B All
Shinichi Takagi All
R&D Sport[5] Subaru Subaru BRZ 61 Takuto Iguchi D All
Hideki Yamauchi All
Lamborghini Team Direction[5] Lamborghini Lamborghini Huracan GT3 63 Naoki Yokomizo Y All
Adrian Zaugg All
K2 R&D Leon Racing[5] Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 65 Naoya Gamou Y All
Haruki Kurosawa All
JLOC[5] Lamborghini Lamborghini Huracan GT3 87 Shinya Hosokawa Y All
Kimiya Sato All
Taiyo Iida 2, 6
88 Kazuki Hiramine All
Manabu Orido All
Lamborghini Team Direction Shift[5] Lamborghini Lamborghini Huracan GT3 108 Kyosuke Mineo 1–2, 5-6, 3, 8
Kei Cozzolino Y 1–2
Jono Lester 5-6
Hironori Takeuchi 6, 3, 8
Rn-sports[5] Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 111 Kazuya Tsuruta Y All
Masayuki Ueda All
Keisuke Ishihara 6
Tomei Sports[5] Nissan Nissan GT-R GT3 360 Yusaku Shibata Y 1-2, 4-6, 3, 8
Atsushi Tanaka 1–2, 5-6, 3, 8
Shota Kiyohara 2, 4, 6

Driver Changes

Team Transfers
  • Andrea Caldarelli switched from the KeePer TOM's team to the Wako's LeMans team.
  • Yuji Kunimoto moved over from Team LeMans to drive for the WedsSport BANDOH team.
  • Two-time and defending 1000 km Suzuka winner James Rossiter switched from the Petronas TOM's team to the KeePer TOM's team.
  • Takashi Kogure and Hideki Mutoh swapped seats within the Honda fleet. Mutoh moved to Drago Modulo Honda Racing alongside Oliver Turvey, while Kogure joined Koudai Tsukakoshi at Keihin Real Racing.
  • Katsumasa Chiyo stepped up to the GT500 class for 2016 driving for MOLA, after helping GAINER secure their first GT300 championship last season.
  • Masataka Yanagida moved from MOLA to Kondo Racing, his third different team in four seasons.
  • After participating in selected rounds last year, Ryuichiro Tomita became a full-time driver of the #0 GAINER Nissan GT-R.
  • Kota Sasaki drove a second Toyota Prius GT for apr.

Entering Super GT
  • Reigning Japanese Formula 3 champion Nick Cassidy joined the number 36 TOM's team. He was the first driver from New Zealand to race in the series since Mark Porter in 1998.
  • GT Academy champion and Nissan factory driver Jann Mardenborough joined the NDDP team, partnering Kazuki Hoshino.
  • Former Rolex 24 champion Jörg Bergmeister joined Excellence Porsche Team KTR on a full-time basis, after driving two rounds for the team in 2014.
  • WEC LMP1 driver Pierre Kaffer drove for Audi Team Braille in his debut GT300 campaign.
  • Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Yuya Motojima, as well as fellow PCCJ drivers Rintaro Kubo and Hiroaki Nagai, moved to GT300, driving for Team Taisan SARD, Arnage Racing, and apr respectively.
  • Shinnosuke Yamada graduated from the F4 Japanese Championship to race for Team Upgarage with Bandoh.
  • South African Adrian Zaugg and Japanese-Italian driver Kei Cozzolino made their Super GT debuts for Lamborghini Team Direction.

Leaving Super GT
  • Three-time GT500 champion Juichi Wakisaka announced his retirement from racing at the Toyota Gazoo Racing press conference on February 4. He will stay in the series as the team principal of Lexus Team Wako's LeMans.
  • Inaugural GT Academy champion Lucas Ordóñez returned to racing in Europe, competing in the Blancpain GT Series for NISMO RJN Motorsport.
  • Mitsunori Takaboshi left the series after a successful rookie season with NDDP to drive in Blancpain GT. However, he returned for the fourth race of the season at Fuji Speedway.
  • Former GT500 champion Michael Krumm had no plans to race in Super GT in 2016 after competing for Kondo Racing last season.
  • Alexandre Imperatori left Super GT to focus on his World Endurance Championship campaign with Rebellion Racing.
  • Former 24h Nürburgring winner Christian Mamerow did not return to the series after running a partial campaign with Audi Team Racing Tech.

Team Changes

GT500
  • Au replaced Petronas as the title sponsor of the number 36 TOM's RC-F.
  • Petrochemical company WAKO's replaced Eneos as the title sponsor of Team Le Mans.
  • Forum Engineering took over from D'Station as the title sponsor of Kondo Racing.

GT300
  • Goodsmile Racing with Team UKYO, the number 11 GAINER team, LEON Racing, and Rn-sports fielded the new Mercedes-AMG GT3.
  • EVA Racing became the primary sponsor of the Rn-sports AMG.
  • apr fielded two new Toyota Prius GTs, with the number 31 car on Bridgestone tyres, and the number 30 on Yokohama tyres.
  • Audi Team Hitotsuyama debuted the second-generation Audi R8 LMS and switched from Yokohama to Dunlop Tyres.
  • BMW Team Studie and Autobacs Racing Team Aguri used the new BMW M6 GT3 in 2016. ARTA switched to BMW after the retirement of their previous Honda CR-Z, while Studie received additional support from BMW.
  • Gulf Racing merged with Pacific Racing Team to form Gulf Racing with PACIFIC, fielding an all-new Porsche 911 GT3-R.
  • Excellence Porsche Team KTR also fielded the new 911 GT3-R, and received additional support from Porsche.
  • LM Corsa's number 51 team switched from BMW to the new Ferrari 488 GT3. The number 60 team continued to use the Lexus RC-F GT3.
  • JLOC was one of two teams introducing the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 to Super GT in 2016.
  • Direction Racing changed their name to Lamborghini Team Direction, and also fielded two Huracán GT3s.
  • After withdrawing from the 2015 season, Team Taisan returned to GT300 in alliance with SARD.
  • Before the start of the season, an entry was announced for Audi Team Braille, with a new 2016 Audi R8 LMS and veteran World Endurance Championship driver Pierre Kaffer. However, the team never appeared in the 2016 season.

Mid-season changes
  • From the second round, Team Taisan SARD switched to a 2016 model Audi R8 LMS.

Results
Round Circuit Date Class Pole Position Race Winner
1 Okayama International Circuit
Report		 10 April GT500 No. 37 Lexus Team KeePer TOM'S No. 1 Nismo
James Rossiter
Ryō Hirakawa		 Tsugio Matsuda
Ronnie Quintarelli
GT300 No. 25 VivaC team Tsuchiya No. 65 LEON Racing
Takamitsu Matsui
Takeshi Tsuchiya		 Naoya Gamou
Haruki Kurosawa
2 Fuji Speedway
Report		 4 May GT500 No. 12 Team Impul No. 1 Nismo
Hironobu Yasuda
Joao Paulo de Oliveira		 Tsugio Matsuda
Ronnie Quintarelli
GT300 No. 55 ARTA No. 3 NDDP Racing
Takashi Kobayashi
Shinichi Takagi		 Kazuki Hoshino
Jann Mardenborough
3 Sportsland SUGO
Report		 24 July GT500 No. 6 Lexus Team LeMans WAKO'S No. 24 Kondo Racing
Andrea Caldarelli
Kazuya Oshima		 Daiki Sasaki
Masataka Yanagida
GT300 No. 25 VivaC team Tsuchiya No. 31 apr
Takamitsu Matsui
Takeshi Tsuchiya		 Yuichi Nakayama
Koki Saga
4 Fuji Speedway
Report		 7 August GT500 No. 12 Team Impul No. 12 Team Impul
Hironobu Yasuda
Joao Paulo de Oliveira		 Hironobu Yasuda
Joao Paulo de Oliveira
GT300 No. 55 ARTA No. 55 ARTA
Takashi Kobayashi
Shinichi Takagi		 Takashi Kobayashi
Shinichi Takagi
5 Suzuka Circuit
Report		 28 August GT500 No. 15 Drago Modulo Honda Racing No. 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo
Hideki Mutoh
Oliver Turvey		 Hiroaki Ishiura
Yuji Tachikawa
GT300 No. 18 Team Up Garage with Bandoh No. 61 R&D Sport
Yuhki Nakayama
Shinnosuke Yamada		 Takuto Iguchi
Hideki Yamauchi
6 Chang International Circuit
Report		 9 October GT500 No. 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh No. 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh
Yuji Kunimoto
Yuhi Sekiguchi		 Yuji Kunimoto
Yuhi Sekiguchi
GT300 No. 25 VivaC team Tsuchiya No. 25 VivaC team Tsuchiya
Takamitsu Matsui
Takeshi Tsuchiya		 Takamitsu Matsui
Takeshi Tsuchiya
7 Twin Ring Motegi
Report		 12 November GT500 No. 39 Lexus Team SARD No. 24 Kondo Racing
Kohei Hirate
Heikki Kovalainen		 Daiki Sasaki
Masataka Yanagida
GT300 No. 11 Gainer Racing No. 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama
Katsuyuki Hiranaka
Björn Wirdheim		 Tomonobu Fujii
Richard Lyons
8 Twin Ring Motegi
Report		 13 November GT500 No. 39 Lexus Team SARD No. 39 Lexus Team SARD
Kohei Hirate
Heikki Kovalainen		 Kohei Hirate
Heikki Kovalainen
GT300 No. 31 apr No. 25 VivaC team Tsuchiya
Yuichi Nakayama
Koki Saga		 Takamitsu Matsui
Takeshi Tsuchiya

Championship Standings
Scoring system
Position1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10thPole
Points20151186543211
Suzuka251813108654321

Drivers' championships

GT500
Driver Ranking GT500 2016 Series[8]
Rank Driver OKA
 FUJ
 SUG[9]
 FUJ
 SUZ
 CHA
 MOT
 MOT
 Points
1 Heikki Kovalainen
Kohei Hirate		 7 2 2 8 8 7 2 1 82
2 Kazuya Oshima
Andrea Caldarelli		 4 5 4 9 4 3 4 2 69
3 Tsugio Matsuda
Ronnie Quintarelli		 1 1 9 4 6 14 9 7 62
4 Yuhi Sekiguchi
Yuji Kunimoto		 9 8 5 10 5 1 5 3 58
5 Daisuke Ito
Nick Cassidy		 8 4 11 5 2 11 3 4 54
6 Yuji Tachikawa
Hiroaki Ishiura		 6 14 3 7 1 15 6 9 52
7 Daiki Sasaki
Masataka Yanagida		 13 9 1 Ret 12 13 1 10 43
8 Hironobu Yasuda
Joao Paulo de Oliveira		 5 11 Ret 1 Ret 4 7 8 43
9 James Rossiter
Ryo Hirakawa		 2 3 8 12 Ret 9 Ret 5 38
10 Satoshi Motoyama 3 7 13 Ret 3 12 8 6 36
11 Koudai Tsukakoshi
Takashi Kogure		 11 12 6 2 10 6 Ret 11 27
12 Katsumasa Chiyo 3 7 13 Ret 12 8 6 23
13 Hideki Mutoh 12 13 7 Ret Ret 2 12 15 20
14 Naoki Yamamoto
Takuya Izawa		 10 Ret 10 3 7 10 10 12 20
15 Kosuke Matsuura
Tomoki Nojiri		 Ret 6 14 6 9 8 11 13 16
16 Tadasuke Makino 2 12 15 15
17 Mitsunori Takaboshi 3 13
18 Daisuke Nakajima
Bertrand Baguette		 14 10 12 11 11 5 13 14 7
19 Oliver Turvey 12 13 7 Ret Ret 5
Rank Driver OKA
 FUJ
 SUG
 FUJ
 SUZ
 CHA
 MOT
 MOT
 Points
ColourResult
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate (DNP)
Excluded (EX)

GT300
Driver Ranking GT300 2016 Series[10]
Rank Driver OKA
 FUJ
 SUG[11]
 FUJ
 SUZ
 CHA
 MOT
 MOT
 Points
1 Takeshi Tsuchiya
Takamitsu Matsui		 6 3 2 13 22 1 7 1 78
2 Koki Saga
Yuichi Nakayama		 12 20 1 25 2 5 24 2 60
3 Richard Lyons
Tomonobu Fujii		 7 7 Ret 2 6 24 1 4 57
4 Kazuki Hoshino
Jann Mardenborough		 10 1 5 6 10 2 13 6 52
5 Shinichi Takagi
Takashi Kobayashi		 11 2 Ret 1 14 3 Ret DNS 48
6 Takuto Iguchi
Hideki Yamauchi		 23 11 3 3 1 Ret 23 13 47
7 Nobuteru Taniguchi
Tatsuya Kataoka		 2 18 7 5 5 8 18 3 47
8 Andre Couto
Ryuichiro Tomita		 8 5 11 9 3 4 5 15 38
9 Katsuyuki Hiranaka
Bjorn Wirdheim		 4 Ret 4 7 Ret 9 4 10 32
10 Naoya Yamano 22 23 14 24 7 7 2 5 30
11 Manabu Orido
Kazuki Hiramine		 9 25 6 4 9 10 3 Ret 30
12 Haruki Kurosawa
Naoya Gamou		 1 Ret 16 23 8 11 9 24 26
13 Jörg Bergmeister 22 23 7 2 5 25
14 Yuhki Nakayama
Shinnosuke Yamada		 15 4 8 10 4 22 12 9 25
15 Jörg Müller
Seiji Ara		 3 24 10 20 DNS 6 15 12 17
16 Akihiro Tsuzuki
Morio Nitta		 5 6 9 11 11 12 11 Ret 13
17 Yuya Motojima 20 15 19 8 20 6 7 12
18 Tsubasa Kondo 6 7 9
19 Shinya Hosokawa
Kimiya Sato		 13 8 22 19 17 21 8 11 6
20 Shigekazu Wakisaka 6 5
21 Yuya Sakamoto 24 7 5
22 Ryohei Sakaguchi
Hiroki Yoshida		 DNS Ret 13 21 13 17 22 8 3
23 Shogo Mitsuyama 20 15 19 8 20 3
24 Hiroaki Nagai
Kota Sasaki		 14 9 18 15 24 14 16 17 2
25 Takayuki Aoki 10 17 12 21 10 14 2
26 Masaki Tanaka 27 10 21 1
27 Hiroshi Takamori 27 10 17 21 1
28 Mitsunori Takaboshi 12 10 14 1
Rank Driver OKA
 FUJ
 SUG
 FUJ
 SUZ
 CHA
 MOT
 MOT
 Points

References
  1. "スーパーGT第8戦もてぎの週末2レースは、どちらも250kmでの争いに". 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  2. "Nissan announces 2016 motorsports activities". Nismo. February 26, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  3. "Toyota GAZOO Racing Outlines 2016 Motorsports Activities". Toyota Global Newsroom. Toyota. February 4, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  4. "Honda 2016 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda. February 12, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  5. "2016 Teams and Drivers". Super GT Teams and Drivers. Super GT. March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  6. "鈴鹿1000km第3ドライバー決定". BMW Team Studie. 2016-06-22. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  7. "VivaC 86 MC、鈴鹿1000kmで山下健太を起用へ。メーカーテストで初ドライブ | F1、スーパーGT、SF etc. モータースポーツ総合サイト AUTOSPORT web（オートスポーツweb）". AUTO SPORT web（オートスポーツweb）. 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  8. "Driver Ranking GT500". 株式会社GTアソシエイション. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  9. "Round4 SUGO GT500 Results". 株式会社GTアソシエイション. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  10. "Driver Ranking GT300". 株式会社GTアソシエイション. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  11. "Round4 SUGO GT300 Results". 株式会社GTアソシエイション. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
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