A Look at the Early Years of JGTC (Japan's Greatest Race Series)
Plenty of countries have their own regional race series such our own BTCC as well as America’s ALMS and Germanies DTM. But you may not have heard of Japan’s JGTC. The JGTC (Japanese Grand Touring Championship) began in 1994 following the European GT1 & GT2 regulations with a rather unambitious start. The series was 5 races long and mostly made up of homegrown Nissan Skylines, who’d having previously dominated the All-Japan Touring Car Championship from 1990 to 1992. But the season did contain a variety of machines. 2 Porsche 962C’s and 2 Ferrari F40’s entered by team Taisan who both proved to be close rivals to the Nissan’s, a Lamborghini Countach (built by the Japanese Lamborghini Owner’s Club) and for Round 3 at Fuji, an ex-Group B Lancia 037. The winner for GT1 was team Calsonic’s Nissan Skyline and the GT2 winner was Korg Kegani’s Porsche 964 RS. Immediately the series was a hit, and it’s easy to see why, the races were always close, mainly because for every point you...