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 Suzuka Circuit March 22
2 All Japan Fuji GT Race Fuji Speedway May 3
3 HiLand GT Championship Sendai Hi-Land Raceway June 28
4 Japan Special GT-Cup Fuji Speedway August 9
5 Motegi GT Championship Race Twin Ring Motegi September 13
6 CP Mine GT Race Mine Circuit October 11
7 SUGO GT Championship Sportsland SUGO October 25
NC Nicos Cup GT Allstar Race TI Circuit November 15

Season results
Round Circuit GT500 Winning Team GT300 Winning Team
GT500 Winning Drivers GT300 Winning Drivers
1 Suzuka Circuit #23 Pennzoil NISMO GT-R #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2
Masami Kageyama
Érik Comas		 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi
- Mt. Fuji Race abandoned because of crash at start and subsequent fog.[1]
2 Sendai #23 Pennzoil NISMO GT-R #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2
Masami Kageyama
Érik Comas		 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi
3 Mt. Fuji #64 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2
Tom Coronel
Koji Yamanishi		 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi
4 Twin Ring Motegi #16 Castrol Mugen Honda NSX #77 Cusco Subaru Impreza
Ryo Michigami
Osamu Nakako		 Katsuo Kobayashi
Hideyuki Tamamoto
5 Mine Circuit #100 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2
Kunimitsu Takahashi
Akira Iida		 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi
6 Sportsland SUGO #16 Castrol Mugen Honda NSX #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2
Ryo Michigami
Osamu Nakako		 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi
NC TI Circuit #64 Mobil 1 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2
Tom Coronel
Koji Yamanishi		 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi

Point Ranking

Drivers
Rank No. Driver SUZ FUJ SEN FUJ MOT MIN SUG TAI Points
1 23 Masami Kageyama 1 6C 1 10 4 4 6 10 67
1 23 Érik Comas 1 1 10 4 4 6 10 67
2 64 Koji Yamanishi 2 1C 1 16Ret 2 19DNS 1 50
2 64 Tom Coronel 2 1C 19Ret 1 16Ret 2 19DNS 1 50
3 12 Kazuyoshi Hoshino 11 5 3 2 7 4 4 49
3 12 Takuya Kurosawa 11 10C 5 3 2 7 4 5 49
4 16 Osamu Nakako

Ryo Michigami

 17Ret 9C 18Ret 5 1 11 1 7 48
5 3 Masahiro Hasemi

Tetsuya Tanaka

 5 11C 14Ret 2 8 8 5 4 37
6 39 Sakai Tsuchiya

Tatsuya Tanikawa

 3 15C 4 9 14Ret 3 14Ret 3 36
7 36 Masanori Sekiya

Norberto Fontana

 6 3C 3 8 3 16 15Ret 13Ret 33
8 2 Aguri Suzuki 18Ret 2 7 11 5 9 12Ret 29
8 2 Masahiko Kageyama 18Ret 5C 2 7 11 5 9 12Ret 29
9 37 Toshio Suzuki

Kelvin Burt

 7 7C 6 11 18Ret 10 2 6 26
10 100 Kunimitsu Takahashi

Akira Iida

 10 4C 12 19Ret 7 1 13Ret 2 25
11 38 Hironori Takeuchi

Hideki Noda

 9 12C 16Ret 21Ret 5 12 3 11Ret 22
12 50 Satoshi Motoyama 13 11 6 6 9 8 15Ret 17
12 50 Takeshi Tsuchiya 13 8C 11 6 6 9 8 15Ret 17
13 5 Marc Goossens 4 14C 7 20Ret 19Ret 18Ret 16Ret 14
14 5 Yasutaka Sakurai 4 14C 7 14
15 18 Katsutomo Kaneishi 20Ret 2C 17Ret 4 15Ret 15 21DSQ 14Ret 10
16 18 Katsuya Yamamoto 20Ret 2C 17Ret 4 15Ret 10
17 8 Wayne Gardner

Minoru Tanaka

 8 20C 10 12 19Ret 7 8
18 6 Pierre-Henri Raphanel 21Ret 13Ret 13 13Ret 6 20DNQ 6
18 6 Shinichi Takagi 21Ret 18C 13Ret 13 13Ret 6 20DNQ 6
19 30 Yoji Yamada

Hideki Okada

 12 13C 8 15 9 14 17Ret 9 5
20 88 Hisashi Wada

Naohiro Furuya

 19Ret 19C 9 18 10 13 11 3
21 55 Hideshi Matsuda 14 16C 14 10 8 1
22 55 Anthony Reid 10 1
24 55 Eiichi Tajima 14 16C 0
24 5 20Ret 19Ret 18Ret 16Ret 0
24 55 Mizuno Fuminori 14 0
25 13 Mitsuhiro Kinoshita 17C 15Ret 16 12 17 12Ret 0
25 55 8 0
26 13 Mitsuo Fujimura 17C 15Ret 16 12 17 12Ret 0
27 777 Takao Wada

Masayoshi Sugiyama

 15 21C 17 17Ret 18Ret 0
28 18 Juichi Wakisaka 15 21DSQ 14Ret 0
29 64 Koji Sato 19Ret 0
30 2 Pedro de la Rosa 5C 0
31 23 Ralph Firman 6C 0
32 50 Hiroki Kato 8C 0
33 12 Michael Krumm 10C 0
34 6 Anders Olofsson 18C 0
35 89 Kenji Kawagoe

Tonichi Kanamori

 22C 0

Drivers
Rank Drivers Number/Team Points Wins
1 Keiichi Suzuki
Shingo Tachi		 #25 Team Taisan Jr with Tsuchiya MR-2 106 5
2 Manabu Orido #19 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Celica 46 0
3 Morio Nitta #44 MOMOCORSE A'PEX MR-2 45 0
4 Hiroki Kato #21 Hitotsuyama Racing BMW M3 44 0
5 Akihiko Nakaya
Takahiko Hara		 #61 Team Taeivon Ralliart Mitsubishi FTO 37 0

References
  1. "JGTC Fog Bank Ends 2nd Round of GTC". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
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