Team LeMans
| Type | Inc. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1967 |
| Headquarters | Shibuya, Tokyo |
| Website | http://www.lemans.co.jp/ |
| Founded | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Base | Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture |
| Team principal(s) | Juichi Wakisaka |
| Current series | Super Formula Super GT |
| Former series | All-Japan Formula Three Championship All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship Fuji Grand Champion Series |
| Current drivers |  Felix Rosenqvist Kazuya Oshima |
| 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 |
| Website | Team Le Mans |
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.
They also have a racing division called Team LeMans. The origin of the team name comes from 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Team LeMans[]
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.
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[]
All-Japan F2000/F2/F3000 Championship[]
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[]
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[]
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[]
Team LeMans first entered the 24 Hours of Lemans in 1987 under the name Italya Sports. They competed in the race through 1990 without a single finish.
All-Japan GT Championship/Super GT[]
In 2002, the team won drivers' championship in the GT500 Class of the All-Japan GT Championship with Akira Iida and Juichi Wakisaka, who competed in a Toyota Supra race car.[2]
Team LeMans Results[]
Super GT (JGTC)[]
| Year | Class | Car | Drivers | Drivers' rankings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | GT500 | #6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra |  Wayne Gardner / Hideki Noda
|
12th |
| 2000 | GT500 | #6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra | Wayne Gardner / Hideki Noda
|
9th |
| 2001 | GT500 | #6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra | Hideki Noda / Juichi Wakisaka
|
7th |
| 2002 | GT500 | #6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra | Akira Iida / Juichi Wakisaka
|
1st |
| 2003 | GT500 | #1 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra | Akira Iida / Juichi Wakisaka
|
2nd |
| 2004 | GT500 | #6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra | Akira Iida / Juichi Wakisaka
|
3rd |
| 2005 | GT500 | #6 Esso Toyota Team LeMans Toyota Supra | Akira Iida / Juichi Wakisaka
|
6th |
| 2006 | GT500 | #6 Mobil 1 Toyota Team LeMans Lexus SC430 | Akira Iida / Tatsuya Kataoka / Björn Wirdheim
|
12th |
| 2007 | GT500 | #6 Forum Engineering Toyota Team LeMans Lexus SC430 | Tatsuya Kataoka / Björn Wirdheim
|
9th |
| 2008 | GT500 | #6 ENEOS Toyota Team LeMans | Daisuke Ito / Björn Wirdheim / Akira Iida /  Roberto Streit
|
13th |
| 2009 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus SC430 | Daisuke Ito / Björn Wirdheim
|
12th |
| 2010 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus SC430 | Daisuke Ito / Björn Wirdheim
|
4th |
| 2011 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus SC430 | Daisuke Ito / Kazuya Oshima
|
11th |
| 2012 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus SC430 | Daisuke Ito / Kazuya Oshima
|
10th |
| 2013 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus SC430 | Kazuya Oshima / Yuji Kunimoto
|
5th |
| 2014 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus RC F | Yuji Kunimoto / Kazuya Oshima
|
7th |
| 2015 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS Lexus RC F | Yuji Kunimoto / Kazuya Oshima
|
9th |
| 2016 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans WAKO'S Lexus RC F |  Andrea Caldarelli / Kazuya Oshima
|
2nd |
| 2017 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans WAKO'S Lexus LC 500 GT500 | Andrea Caldarelli / Kazuya Oshima
|
3rd |
| 2018 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans WAKO'S Lexus LC 500 GT500 | Felix Rosenqvist / Kazuya Oshima
|
10th |
| 2019 | GT500 | #6 Lexus Team LeMans WAKO'S Lexus LC 500 GT500 | Kenta Yamashita / Kazuya Oshima
|
1st |
| 2020 | GT500 | #14 TGR Team WAKO'S Rookie Toyota GR Supra GT500 | Kenta Yamashita / Kazuya Oshima
|
7th |
| 2021 | GT500 | #14 TGR Team Eneos Rookie Toyota GR Supra GT500 | Kenta Yamashita / Kazuya Oshima
|
All Japan Sports Prototype Championship[]
| Year | Car | Drivers |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Nissan Skyline Turbo C (LM04C) | / 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 /
|
| 1990 | #85 Nissan R89C | Osamu Nakako / Takao Wada / Maurizio Sandro Sala
|
| 1991 | #25 Nissan R89C
#25 Nissan R90CP |
Hideki Okada / Takao Wada
|
24 Hours of Le Mans[]
| Year | Car | Drivers | Rankings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | #29 Nissan R86V | Anders Olofsson /  Alain Ferté / Patrick Gonin
|
32nd DNF |
| 1988 | #85 March 88S | Michel Trollé / Toshio Suzuki /  Danny Ongais
|
42nd DNF |
| #86 March 88S | Lamberto Leoni / Akio Morimoto / Anders Olofsson
|
43rd DNF | |
| 1989 | #32 March 88S | Takao Wada / Akio Morimoto / Anders Olofsson
|
27th DNF |
| 1990 | #85 Nissan R89C | Takao Wada / Akio Morimoto / Maurizio Sandro Sala
|
35th DNF |
Super Formula (Formula Nippon, Japanese Formula 3000, Japanese Formula 2000)[]
| 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 | #7 Reynard 99L
#7 Reynard 01L |
Mugen MF308 | Masami Kageyama / Dominik Schwager
|
13th |
| #8 Reynard 01L | Takeshi Tsuchiya
|
4th | |||
| 2003 | Forum Engineering ARTA Team LeMans | #7 Lola B3/51 | Mugen MF308 | Toshihiro Kaneishi
|
4th |
| #8 Lola B3/51 | Takeshi Tsuchiya
|
8th | |||
| 2004 | Team LeMans | #7 Lola B3/51 | Mugen MF308 | Juichi Wakisaka
|
5th |
| #8 Lola B3/51 | Takeshi Tsuchiya
|
13th | |||
| 2005 | Forum Engineering Team LeMans | #7 Lola B3/51 | Mugen MF308 | Tatsuya Kataoka
|
11th |
| #8 Lola B3/51 | Takeshi Tsuchiya
|
8th | |||
| 2006 | Team LeMans | #7 Lola FN06 | Toyota RV8J | Tatsuya Kataoka
|
7th |
| #8 Lola FN06 | Toranosuke Takagi
|
18th | |||
| 2007 | Forum Engineering Team LeMans | #7 Lola FN06 | Toyota RV8J | Tatsuya Kataoka
|
14th |
| #8 Lola FN06 | Toranosuke Takagi
|
16th | |||
| 2008 | Team LeMans | #7 Lola FN06 | Toyota RV8J | Satoshi Motoyama
|
11th |
| #8 Lola FN06 | Hiroaki Ishiura
|
16th | |||
| 2009 | Team LeMans | #7 Swift 017.n | Toyota RV8K | Keisuke Kunimoto
|
13th |
| #8 Swift 017.n | Hiroaki Ishiura
|
6th | |||
| 2010 | Team LeMans | #7 Swift 017.n | Toyota RV8K | Kei Cozzolino
|
10th |
| #8 Swift 017.n | Hiroaki Ishiura
|
8th | |||
| 2011 | Team LeMans | #7 Swift 017.n | Toyota RV8K | Kazuya Oshima
|
5th |
| Team Kygnus Sunoco | #8 Swift 017.n | Hiroaki Ishiura
|
6th | ||
| 2012 | Team LeMans | #7 Swift 017.n | Toyota RV8K | Kazuya Oshima
|
7th |
| Team Kygnus Sunoco | #8 Swift 017.n | Loïc Duval
|
6th | ||
| 2013 | Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans | #7 Swift 017.n | Toyota RV8K | Ryō Hirakawa
|
11th |
| #8 Swift 017.n | Andrea Caldarelli /Loïc Duval
|
13th / 3rd | |||
| 2014 | Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans | #7 Dallara SF14 | Toyota RI4A | Ryō Hirakawa
|
8th |
| #8 Dallara SF14 | Andrea Caldarelli /Loïc Duval
|
12th / 4th | |||
| 2015 | Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans | #7 Dallara SF14 | Toyota RI4A | Ryō Hirakawa
|
8th |
| #8 Dallara SF14 | Kamui Kobayashi
|
6th | |||
| 2016 | SUNOCO Team LeMans | #7 Dallara SF14 | Toyota RI4A |  Narain Karthikeyan
|
14th |
| #8 Dallara SF14 | Kamui Kobayashi
|
17th | |||
| 2017 | SUNOCO Team LeMans | #7 Dallara SF14 | Toyota RI4A | Felix Rosenqvist
|
TBD |
| #8 Dallara SF14 | Kazuya Oshima
|
TBD |
Footnotes[]
- ^ NODA racing Academy Senior High School
- ^ "All-Japan GT Championship — Class GT500 2002 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
External links[]
- Japanese racecar constructors
- Japanese auto racing teams
- Automotive companies based in Tokyo
- Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo
- Japanese Formula 3 Championship teams
- Formula Nippon teams
- Super GT teams
- Super Formula teams