The 2011 Autobacs Super GT Series was the 18th season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami required the race to be postponed.
The provisional calendar was released on 8 August 2010. The Autopolis round which was absent last season was added to the calendar while the Suzuka race was reduced to a 700 km Endurance race only. Like the previous season, the non-Super GT pointed race JAF Grand Prix will be raced as a conclusion to the season.
However, due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, A large part of the season has been modified to cope with the situations.
The calendar was updated at 15 April 2011.
Impact of Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
As a response of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the racing calendar and regulations were given a lot of modifications as a response to the national policy of energy conservation.
The Okayama GT event, originally to be held on April 2 was postponed to 22 May despite damage to the Okayama International Circuit being minimal. The GT Association would still consider it as the 1st Round. The postponement of the Fuji Round was put under consideration as well.
All race distances will be trimmed from 300 km to 250 km, other than the first Fuji race will change from 500 km to 300 km, and the Suzuka round from 700 km to 500 km. In addition, the Suzuka round will be only run in day sessions.
Pitworks at nights are limited to a shorter period of time. Overnight works are not allowed between qualifying and the race.
Honda
The original driver lineup from the ARTA, Ralph Firman and Yuji Ide, both left the team this season. They were replaced by Hideki Mutoh and Takashi Kobayashi respectively.
Lexus
Racing Project Bandoh, GT300 Class Champion in 2009 season, will be participating in GT500 class this year.
Björn Wirdheim who drove in the ENEOS last season, moved to Nissan's Kondō Racing.
Lexus will using SC430 until season ends, as there are remaining SC430s in the factory. The SC430 will be replaced by the LFA in the next season.
Nissan
MOLA, GT300 Class Champion in the 2008 season, will be participating in GT500 class this year. With Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli as their drivers, while João Paulo de Oliveira who was with Kondō Racing filled the void in the Impul team.
RE Amemiya, a regular GT300 entrant in the class since the 1995 JGTC season, has withdrawn from the series completely. While 2008 and 2009 GT300 Champion Team MOLA and Racing Project Bandoh both moved up to the GT500 class respectively. 2010 GT300 Champion Hasemi Motorsport also withdrawn the series in early April. Making both Nissan and Mazda car absent in the GT300 lineup this year, for the first time since 1995.
Jim Gainer Team, which was using the Ferrari F430 in the 2010 season, switched 1 of their 2 cars to a Ferrari F458 GTC. Ferrari stated they are not likely to supply F458's to any of the Super GT teams. Team Mach also showed interest in using an F458 this season but due to the reason above, the plan was not implemented and they had to drive with a Vemac.
Studie, which used a BMW Z4 (E86) in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, returned to the series with a BMW Z4 GT3, previously the #76 car used by Schubert Motorsport (Team Need for Speed) in the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship season. They have hired former F1 driver Ukyo Katayama as their sporting director, and former RE Amemiya driver Nobuteru Taniguchi as their driver, partnered with Taku Bamba.
Chevrolet cars, which previously appeared in Super GT in the 2007 season also returned to the series, with Tomei Sports replacing their 996 type Porsche 911 GT3 with a Corvette Z06-R.
Porsche supplied two new 2010 specification Porsche 911 GT3Rs to Direction Racing and Team Art Taste, the latter team, which was a regular entrant of Super Taikyu series, also marked their debut season in Super GT. The 2010 specification Porsche 911 GT3R which was used by Team COX (Goodsmile Racing, GSR) last season was given to the Hankook KTR team.
Team SG Changi, which uses a Lexus IS350 with former RE Amemiya driver Ryo Orime and Alexandre Imperatori is participating in the series for the first time.
Kazuki Hoshino, the driver's Champion of GT300 last year, moved from Hasemi Motorsport to A Speed (using an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2), replacing Hideshi Matsuda. Hasemi Motorsport was later to announce their withdrawal from the series.
Notes:
^1 – Race stopped early due to bad weather, full points awarded.
^2 – The Okayama round was still considered Round 1.
^3 – Race stopped early due to energy curfew, full points awarded.
Scoring system
Scoring system
