Le Mans Ltd., headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo is an automobile parts manufacturer founded in 1967. The original company name was Le Mans Chamber of Commerce. The company is mainly engaged in the development and sales of motorsport parts and the import and sale of race cars overseas.

Le Mans Ltd.
Company typeInc.
Founded1967
HeadquartersShibuya, Tokyo
Websitehttp://www.lemans.co.jp/
Japan Team LeMans
Founded1969
BaseGotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture
Team principal(s)Yoshinori Katayama
Current seriesSuper GT
Former seriesAll-Japan Formula Three Championship
All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship
Fuji Grand Champion Series
Super Formula
Current drivers
Teams'
Championships
Super Formula:
1996, 1999
Drivers'
Championships
Super Formula:
1979: Keiji Matsumoto
1996: Ralf Schumacher
1998: Satoshi Motoyama
All-Japan Formula Three Championship:
1986: Akio Morimoto
Fuji Grand Champion Series:
1983: Keiji Matsumoto
1988-89: Geoff Lees
Super GT:
2002: Juichi Wakisaka, Akira Iida
2019: Kenta Yamashita, Kazuya Oshima
WebsiteTeam Le Mans

They also have a racing division called Team LeMans. The origin of the team name comes from 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team currently competes in Super GT, fielding the #6 Audi R8 LMS Evo II in the GT300 class for Yoshiaki Katayama, Roberto Merhi and Seiya Jin.

Team LeMans

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In 1969 Team LeMans was established as a racing department of Le Mans Chamber of Commerce. It has been active in a variety of categories since the 1970s as one of the top teams of Japan.

 
ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 (2011)

The team has competed in single-seaters since 1976, when they entered the All-Japan F2000 Championship. They served as the Japanese distributor of Reynard products until 2002. In 1991, Michael Schumacher, before his Formula One debut, raced with the team in the Sportsland SUGO round of the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, while in 1996 his brother Ralf became the champion with the same team.

They also developed their own racing machine, that complied to Group C regulations.

In 2012 in collaboration with Hideki Noda they founded "NODA racing Academy Senior High School", several engineers such as Donuma Hiroyoshi, the team principal, have served as lecturers at the school.[1]

History

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All-Japan F2000/F2/F3000 Championship

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Their participation in the All Japan F2000 Championship started with Keiji Matsumoto in 1976. In 1979 he won the championship title. In 1988-89 Geoff Lees and Emanuele Pirro raced for the team, both winning one race.

Formula Nippon

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In 1996, the team had its most successful year in Japan's top level open wheel series, when Ralf Schumacher and Naoki Hattori took the first two spots in the drivers' championship, also winning the first team title. The team repeated wins in the drivers and team championship with Satoshi Motoyama in 1998.

Fuji GC

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The team achieved titles in The Fuji Grand Champion Series (Fuji GC) with in Keiji Matsumoto in 1983 and Geoff Lees in 1988 and 1989.

24 Hours of Le Mans

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Team LeMans first entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1987 under the name Italya Sports. They competed in the race through 1990 without a single finish.

All-Japan GT Championship/Super GT

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ESSO Ultraflo Supra (2002)

Team LeMans first entered the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship on its inaugural season in 1994, fielding a production based Nissan 300ZX-LM in the GT1 class with FedEx as their primary sponsor. The team took three top-10 finishes with Masami Kageyama and finished 17th in the drivers standings. Kageyama and the 300ZX returned to compete in the following year, but the team failed to score any points and was not classified in the standings.[2]

For the 1996 season, Team LeMans bought an ex-IMSA Nissan 300ZX-GTS to compete in the rebranded GT500 class. Kageyama and series debutant Yuji Tachikawa took one top-10 finish in the final round of the championship at Mine Circuit and finished 25th in the drivers standings. Tachikawa stayed with the team for the 1997 season and was partnered by Tsuyoshi Takahashi, who replaced Kageyama after he was signed by SARD. The team took a 10th place finish in the season opening round at Suzuka, but a practice crash in the next round at Fuji totaled their 300ZX-GTS and the team was forced to withdraw their entry for the rest of the season.[2]

Team LeMans didn't take part in the 1998 season, but they returned in 1999 after they took over the entry of the #6 Esso Tiger Toyota Supra from Inging Motorsport. LeMans signed former Formula One driver Hideki Noda and reigning GT300 champion Shingo Tachi to compete with the team, but Tachi was killed in a pre-season testing accident at TI Aida with less than two weeks before the start of the 1999 season. Former MotoGP champion Wayne Gardner was then signed by the team to replace Tachi. The team took a pole position in the third round at Sportsland Sugo and a victory in the fifth round at Fuji Speedway on their first season with Toyota, finishing 12th in the drivers standings.[3]

In 2002, the team won drivers' championship in the GT500 class of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship with Akira Iida and Juichi Wakisaka, who competed in a Toyota Supra race car.[4] Wakisaka, as team principal, would later led Team LeMans to a second GT500 class title in 2019 with the driving pairing of Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita, but the team left the series at the conclusion of the season.[5][6]

Team LeMans provided support to Hitotsuyama Racing in 2020 before they reentered the series in 2021 under a collaboration with Motoyama Racing. LeMans entered the #6 Audi R8 LMS Evo for ex-GT500 champion Satoshi Motoyama and Yoshiaki Katayama, son of the team's owner Yoshinori Katayama, in the GT300 class.[7] The team finished all races that year, but was not classified as they failed to score a points finish. Motoyama and Katayama returned the following year with an Evo II model of the Audi R8 LMS, but Motoyama was released after one round. Financial issues on Motoyama's sponsors was reported to be the primary reason of Motoyama's dismissal. Roberto Merhi was then signed by the team to replace Motoyama for the rest of the season.[8][9][10]

Team LeMans Results

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Complete JGTC Results[11] [12]

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Car Tyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos Pts
1993 Nissan R92CP B C1 25   Takao Wada
  Toshio Suzuki
FUJ FUJ SUZ
1
FUJ N/A N/A
1994 Nissan Fairlady Z B GT1 25   Masami Kageyama
  Akira Ishikawa
  Richard Dean
FUJ
Ret
SEN
9
FUJ
11
SUG
7
MIN
7
10th 10
1995 Nissan Fairlady Z Y GT1 25   Masami Kageyama SUZ
12
FUJ
DNS
SEN FUJ
Ret
SUG
Ret
MIN
Ret
NC 0
1996 Nissan Fairlady Z Y GT500 25   Masami Kageyama
  Yuji Tachikawa
SUZ FUJ
Ret
SEN
Ret
FUJ SUG
Ret
MIN
9
13th 2
1997 Nissan Fairlady Z Y GT500 75   Yuji Tachikawa
  Tsuyoshi Takahashi
SUZ
10
FUJ
DNS
SEN FUJ MIN SUG NC 1
1999 Toyota Supra B GT500 6   Wayne Gardner
  Hideki Noda
SUZ
DNA
FUJ
8
SUG
16
MIN
5
FUJ
1
OKA
9
MOT
13
7th 33
2000 Toyota Supra B GT500 6   Wayne Gardner
  Hideki Noda
MOT
8
FUJ
4
SUG
7
FUJ
15
OKA
7
MIN
5
SUZ
6
6th 35
2001 Toyota Supra B GT500 6   Hideki Noda
  Juichi Wakisaka
OKA
Ret
FUJ
1
SUG
5
FUJ
3
MOT
13
SUZ
Ret
MIN
14
6th 40
2002 Toyota Supra B GT500 6   Akira Iida
  Juichi Wakisaka
OKA
10
FUJ
2
SUG
1
SEP
11
FUJ
7
MOT
4
MIN
4
SUZ
3
2nd 75
2003 Toyota Supra B GT500 1   Akira Iida
  Juichi Wakisaka
OKA
1
FUJ
12
SUG
1
FUJ
6
FUJ
4
MOT
4
AUT
4
SUZ
7
2nd 83
2004 Toyota Supra B GT500 6   Akira Iida
  Juichi Wakisaka
OKA
2
SUG
11
SEP
14
TOK
2
MOT
2
AUT
4
SUZ
Ret
4th 57

Complete Super GT Results[13][14]

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Car Tyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos Points
2005 Toyota Supra B GT500 6   Akira Iida
  Juichi Wakisaka
OKA
11
FUJ
5
SEP
4
SUG
4
MOT
9
FUJ
3
AUT
10
SUZ
3
5th 51
2006 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Akira Iida
  Tatsuya Kataoka
  Björn Wirdheim
SUZ
6
OKA
11
FUJ
2
SEP
14
SUG
9
SUZ
Ret
MOT
4
AUT
13
FUJ
5
11th 36
2007 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Tatsuya Kataoka
  Björn Wirdheim
SUZ
4
OKA
14
FUJ
3
SEP
9
SUG
DNS
SUZ
9
MOT
3
AUT
8
FUJ
16
9th 56
2008 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Daisuke Ito
  Björn Wirdheim
  Akira Iida
  Roberto Streit
SUZ
9
OKA
13
FUJ
6
SEP
8
SUG
7
SUZ
6
MOT
4
AUT
14
FUJ
3
8th 64
2009 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Daisuke Ito
  Björn Wirdheim
OKA
10
SUZ
4
FUJ
6
SEP
14
SUG
5
SUZ
Ret
FUJ
4
AUT
10
MOT
4
11th 54
2010 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Daisuke Ito
  Björn Wirdheim
SUZ
2
OKA
5
FUJ
3
SEP
4
SUG
3
SUZ
11
FUJ
C
MOT
12
4th 70
2011 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Daisuke Ito
  Kazuya Oshima
OKA
12
FUJ
2
SEP
8
SUG
5
SUZ
8
FUJ
10
AUT
13
MOT
15
10th 50
2012 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Daisuke Ito
  Kazuya Oshima
OKA
13
FUJ
10
SEP
3
SUG
1
SUZ
Ret
FUJ
10
AUT
12
MOT
12
10th 50
2013 Lexus SC430 B GT500 6   Kazuya Oshima
  Yuji Kunimoto
OKA
7
FUJ
3
SEP
7
SUG
6
SUZ
Ret
FUJ
4
AUT
11
MOT
1
5th 72
2014 Lexus RC F B GT500 6   Kazuya Oshima
  Yuji Kunimoto
OKA
2
FUJ
3
AUT
9
SUG
5
FUJ
13
SUZ
5
BUR
9
MOT
11
6th 62
2015 Lexus RC F B GT500 6   Kazuya Oshima
  Yuji Kunimoto
OKA
9
FUJ
9
CHA
2
FUJ
13
SUZ
Ret
SUG
4
AUT
8
MOT
9
9th 49
2016 Lexus RC F B GT500 6   Andrea Caldarelli
  Kazuya Oshima
OKA
4
FUJ
5
SUG
4
FUJ
9
SUZ
4
CHA
3
MOT
4
MOT
2
2nd 92
2017 Lexus LC500 GT500 B GT500 6   Andrea Caldarelli
  Kazuya Oshima
OKA
2
FUJ
2
AUT
13
SUG
3
FUJ
9
SUZ
7
CHA
2
MOT
13
3rd 82
2018 Lexus LC500 GT500 B GT500 6   Kazuya Oshima
  Felix Rosenqvist
  James Rossiter
OKA
4
FUJ
5
SUZ
12
CHA
2
FUJ
7
SUG
11
AUT
9
MOT
6
7th 65
2019 Lexus LC500 GT500 B GT500 6   Kazuya Oshima
  Kenta Yamashita
OKA
13
FUJ
8
SUZ
3
BUR
1
FUJ
1
AUT
6
SUG
6
MOT
2
2nd 106
2021 Audi R8 LMS Evo Y GT300 6   Yoshiaki Katayama
  Satoshi Motoyama
OKA
22
FUJ
23
MOT
19
SUZ
12
SUG
18
AUT
24
MOT
20
FUJ
18
22nd 21
2022 Audi R8 LMS Evo II Y GT300 6   Yoshiaki Katayama
  Satoshi Motoyama
  Roberto Merhi
  Shintaro Kawabata
OKA
5
FUJ
14
SUZ
18
FUJ
16
SUZ
5
SUG
16
AUT
20
MOT
13
16th 31.5
2023 Audi R8 LMS Evo II Y GT300 6   Yoshiaki Katayama
  Roberto Merhi
  Seiya Jin
OKA
21
FUJ
7
SUZ
15
FUJ
3
SUZ
Ret
SUG
3
AUT
15
MOT
3
10th 55

Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.


All Japan Sports Prototype Championship

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Year Car Drivers
1984 Nissan Skyline Turbo C (LM04C)  Kenji Takahashi /  Osamu Nakako /  Toshio Suzuki
1985 Nissan LM04C

Nissan LM05C

 Keji Matsumoto /  Osamu Nakako /  Akio Morimoto
1986 Nissan March 86G  Keji Matsumoto /  Aguri Suzuki
1987 Nissan March 86G  Anders Olofsson /  Takao Wada
1988 #86 Nissan March 88G  Anders Olofsson /  Takao Wada
1989 #85 Nissan March 88G  Osamu Nakako /  Akio Morimoto /  Koji Sato
1990 #85 Nissan R89C  Osamu Nakako /  Takao Wada /  Maurizio Sandro Sala
1991 #25 Nissan R89C

#25 Nissan R90CP

 Hideki Okada /  Takao Wada

 Masahiko Kageyama /  Maurizio Sandro Sala

24 Hours of Le Mans

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Year Entrant No. Tyres Car Drivers Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1987   Italya Sports
  Team LeMans
29 Y Nissan R86V   Anders Olofsson
  Alain Ferté
  Patrick Gonin
Gr.C1 86 DNF DNF
1988   Italya Cabin
  Team LeMans Co.
85 Y Nissan R87S   Toshio Suzuki
  Danny Ongais
  Michel Trollé
Gr.C1 74 DNF DNF
86 Y Nissan R88S   Anders Olofsson
  Lamberto Leoni
  Akio Morimoto
Gr.C1 69 DNF DNF
1989   Team LeMans Co.
  Courage Compétition
32 Y March 88S   Takao Wada
  Akio Morimoto
  Anders Olofsson
C1 221 DNF DNF
1990   Team Le Mans 85 Y Nissan R89C   Takao Wada
  Anders Olofsson
  Maurizio Sandro Sala
C1 182 DNF DNF

Super Formula (Formula Nippon, Japanese Formula 3000, Japanese Formula 2000)

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Year Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rankings
1979 Team LeMans March 792 BMW M12/7   Keiji Matsumoto 1st
1988 Team LeMans March Mugen Honda  Emanuele Pirro /   Geoff Lees 3rd
Reynard
1989 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda  Emanuele Pirro /   Geoff Lees 6th
1990 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda  Johnny Herbert /  Takuya Kurosawa 16th
1991 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda   Ross Cheever /  Johnny Herbert /   Michael Schumacher 2nd
Ralt
1992 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda   Ross Cheever 3rd
1993 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda   Akira Ishikawa NA
1994 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda   Ross Cheever /  Naoki Hattori /  Masami Kageyama 3rd
1995 Team LeMans Reynard Mugen Honda  Naoki Hattori 8th
1996 X Japan Racing Team LeMans Reynard 96D Mugen MF308  Naoki Hattori /   Ralf Schumacher 1st
1997 Team LeMans Reynard 96D

Reynard 97D

Mugen MF308   Norberto Fontana 3rd
1998 LEMONed Racing Team LeMans Reynard 97D Mugen MF308   Norberto Fontana /   Satoshi Motoyama 1st
1999 Unlimited Racing Team LeMans Reynard 99L Mugen MF308  Satoshi Motoyama /   Koji Yamanishi 2nd
2000 Team LeMans Reynard 99L Mugen MF308  Hideki Noda /  Yudai Igarashi 5th
2001 Team LeMans Reynard 99L Mugen MF308  Alex Yoong /  Koji Yamanishi /  Yudai Igarashi 14th
2002 Team LeMans Reynard 99L

Reynard 01L

Mugen MF308  Masami Kageyama /  Dominik Schwager 13th
 Takeshi Tsuchiya 4th
2003 Forum Engineering ARTA Team LeMans Lola B03/51 Mugen MF308  Toshihiro Kaneishi 4th
 Takeshi Tsuchiya 8th
2004 Team LeMans Lola B03/51 Mugen MF308  Juichi Wakisaka 5th
 Takeshi Tsuchiya 13th
2005 Forum Engineering Team LeMans Lola B03/51 Mugen MF308  Tatsuya Kataoka 11th
 Takeshi Tsuchiya 8th
2006 Team LeMans Lola FN06 Toyota RV8J  Tatsuya Kataoka 7th
 Toranosuke Takagi 18th
2007 Forum Engineering Team LeMans Lola FN06 Toyota RV8J  Tatsuya Kataoka 14th
 Toranosuke Takagi 16th
2008 Team LeMans Lola FN06 Toyota RV8J  Satoshi Motoyama 11th
 Hiroaki Ishiura 16th
2009 Team LeMans Swift 017.n Toyota RV8K  Keisuke Kunimoto 13th
 Hiroaki Ishiura 6th
2010 Team LeMans Swift 017.n Toyota RV8K  Kei Cozzolino 10th
 Hiroaki Ishiura 8th
2011 Team LeMans Swift 017.n Toyota RV8K  Kazuya Oshima 5th
Team Kygnus Sunoco  Hiroaki Ishiura 6th
2012 Team LeMans Swift 017.n Toyota RV8K  Kazuya Oshima 7th
Team Kygnus Sunoco  Loïc Duval 6th
2013 Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans Swift 017.n Toyota RV8K  Ryō Hirakawa 11th
 Andrea Caldarelli / Loïc Duval 13th / 3rd
2014 Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans Dallara SF14 Toyota RI4A  Ryō Hirakawa 8th
 Andrea Caldarelli / Loïc Duval 12th / 4th
2015 Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans Dallara SF14 Toyota RI4A  Ryō Hirakawa 8th
 Kamui Kobayashi 6th
2016 SUNOCO Team LeMans Dallara SF14 Toyota RI4A  Narain Karthikeyan 14th
 Kamui Kobayashi 17th
2017 SUNOCO Team LeMans Dallara SF14 Toyota RI4A  Felix Rosenqvist TBD
 Kazuya Oshima TBD

Footnotes

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  1. ^ NODA racing Academy Senior High School
  2. ^ a b "Nissan's History In GT500, In Pictures". dailysportscar.com. 29 December 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Remembering Shingo Tachi, 20 Years Later". dailysportscar.com. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  4. ^ "All-Japan GT Championship — Class GT500 2002 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Kazuya Oshima & Kenta Yamashita Take GT500 Title". dailysportscar.com. 3 November 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Team LeMans, Toyota To Part Ways After Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival". dailysportscar.com. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Satoshi Motoyama Returning To Super GT With Team LeMans". dailysportscar.com. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Motoyama SUPER GT Audi gets Evo II upgrade for 2022". Motorsport.com. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  9. ^ "Motoyama confirms split from Team LeMans SUPER GT squad". Motorsport.com. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  10. ^ "Satoshi Motoyama Confirms Dismissal From Team LeMans". dailysportscar.com. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  11. ^ "World Sports Racing Prototypes - All Japan Grand Touring Championship". www.wsrp.cz. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  12. ^ "Results | SUPER GT OFFICIAL WEBSITE". supergt.net. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  13. ^ Magazine, Speedsport. "Super GT & All Japan GT: Overview of seasons". www.speedsport-magazine.com. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  14. ^ "Results | SUPER GT OFFICIAL WEBSITE". supergt.net. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
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