R&D Sport is a Japanese racing team currently competing in the Super GT series.
Racing history R&D Sport was created in 1991 as a race car management, maintenance, and manufacturing company and expanded to JGTC, racing under the company's own name in 2002.
Super Formula The team first competed in Japanese Formula 3000 in 1992 as AD Racing with Finnish driver Mika Salo. The team changed to Navi Connection Racing in 1995 with driver Masahiko Kageyama taking third place at Suzuka in 1995 and third place at Fuji in 1996. Masami Kageyama, younger brother of Masahiko Kageyama, followed his sibling to third place at Fuji in 1997. A third-place finish at Fuji in 2000 from driver Shinsuke Shibahara would be R&D Sports' last podium in Formula Nippon.
Super GT
In 2001 R&D Sport moved to the JGTC in a Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Shinsuke Shibahara and Shogo Mitsuyama. 2002 would be the first successful year of JGTC competition, changing to a new Vemac RD320R, Shibahara and Mitsuyama would win three rounds of the season, taking victory at Fuji, Twin Ring Motegi, and Mine Circuit and finishing second in the drivers' championship.
R&D moved to GT500 with a Vemac RD350R in 2003, but they would not have the success of the last season, being unable to properly compete with the factory teams of GT500. As a result, the team dedicated 2004 to further developing their new Vemac RD408R competing in only one race of the season.
2005 would see the team move back to the GT300 class, as an accident with the team's RD408R ruined the planned GT500 effort. Instead R&D Sport was forced to use their Vemac RD350R from the 2003 season in the GT300 class, as it was no longer competitive in GT500. The team ran two cars in 2006 with Shogo Mitsuyama and Nobuteru Taniguchi winning at Okayama and taking third in the drivers' championship. Drivers Shinsuke Shibahara and Hiroyuki Yagi won the next round at Fuji and finished sixth in the drivers championship.
Shinsuke Shibahara and Haruki Kurosawa achieved victory at Autopolis in 2007, finishing third in the drivers' championship.
R&D Sport began a partnership with Subaru in 2009 using an AWD Subaru Legacy B4 that debuted at the sixth round of the season at Suzuka. However the car developed problems with its front differential and was retired from the race.
2010 was a shift from the disappointing performance of the Legacy in 2009, by changing the car from an AWD setup to FR, Kota Sasaki and Tetsuya Yamano won at Suzuka. 2011 was an even better performance, with Sasaki and Yamano winning at both Suzuka and Autopolis, finishing fourth overall in the drivers' championship.
STI and R&D Sport began a joint partnership in 2012 with STI general director Eiji Tatsumi taking over as team principal and a new Subaru BRZ for the 2012 season.
In 2013 the team achieved victory at the fifth round of the season at Suzuka, with drivers Kota Sasaki and Tetsuya Yamano finishing fourth in the drivers' championship. At the eighth round of the series Tetsuya Yamano announced his retirement after the end of the 2013 season.
Yamano's replacement, Takuto Iguchi and Kota Sasaki win at Fuji and finish 5th in the drivers' championship in 2014.
The 2015 season is less successful than the previous year with the year's best finish being a third place podium at Suzuka. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season twelfth overall in the driver's championship.
The 2016 season is more successful than the previous year with the year's best finish being a win at Suzuka, third place podium at Sportland Sugo and Fuji. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season sixth overall in the driver's championship.
The 2017 season is less successful than the previous year with the year's best finish being a second place podium at Autopolis. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season ninth overall in the driver's championship.
The 2018 season is more successful than the previous year with the year's best finish being a third place podium at Suzuka and win at Sportland Sugo. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season eighth overall in the driver's championship.
The 2019 season is very worst successful than the previous year with the year's best finish being a third place podium at Suzuka. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season eighteenth overall in the driver's championship.
The 2020 season is very more successful than the previous year with the year's best finish being a second place podium at Fuji and third place podium at Twin Ring Motegi. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season fifth overall in the driver's championship.
The 2021 season is The 1st Champion than the previous year with the year's best finish being win at SUGO, a second place podium at Fuji and third place podium at Fuji and Autopolis. Drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi finished the season first overall in the driver's championship.
Results
Complete JGTC Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyresClassNo.Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 Pos Pts 2001Porsche 911 GT3-RGT30062 Shinsuke Shibahara Yasuhisa Fujiwara Shogo MitsuyamaOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN 7th 3963 "OSAMU" Takamasa NakagawaOKAFUJSUGNC1FUJMOTSUZMIN 2002Porsche 911 GT3-RGT30061 Yasuo Miyagawa Hiroaki Suga Tsubasa Kurosawa Atsushi KatsumasaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ17th162 Shinsuke Shibahara Shogo MitsuyamaOKA2nd85Vemac RD320R Shinsuke Shibahara Shogo MitsuyamaFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZPorsche 911 GT3-R63 "OSAMU" Takamasa NakagawaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ 2003Porsche 911 GT3-RGT30061 Atsushi Katsumata Takeyuki Kishi Keiko IharaOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZNC0Vemac RD350RGT50062 Shinsuke Shibahara Shogo MitsuyamaOKAFUJSUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ14th2 2004Vemac RD408RGT50062 Shinsuke Shibahara Shogo MitsuyamaOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZNC1NC2NC0
Complete Super GT Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 Pos Points 2005 Vemac RD350R GT300 62 Shinsuke Shibahara Tadao Uematsu Hiroyuki Yagi OKA FUJ SEP SUG MOT FUJ AUT SUZ 13th 6 2006 Vemac RD320R GT300 61 Shogo Mitsuyama Nobuteru TaniguchiSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZ MOT AUT FUJ22nd5Vemac RD408R62 Shinsuke Shibahara Hiroyuki Yagi Haruki Kurosawa SUZ OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ MOT AUT FUJ5th49 2007 Vemac RD408R GT300 62 Shinsuke Shibahara Haruki Kurosawa SUZ OKA FUJ SEP SUG SUZ MOT AUT FUJ 3rd 91 2008 Vemac RD408R GT300 62 Shinsuke Shibahara Haruki Kurosawa Shogo MitsuyamaSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ9th56 2009 Subaru Legacy B4 GT300 62 Shogo Mitsuyama Tetsuya YamanoOKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT25th1 2010 Subaru Legacy B4 GT300 62 Kota Sasaki Tetsuya YamanoSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOTNC1NC211th30 2011 Subaru Legacy B4 GT300 62 Kota Sasaki Tetsuya YamanoOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC24th75 2012 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Kota Sasaki Tetsuya YamanoOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC212th33 2013 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Kota Sasaki Tetsuya Yamano Takuto IguchiOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC1NC24th87 2014 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Kota Sasaki Takuto IguchiOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT 6th 60 2015 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ CHA FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT10th49 2016 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT 6th 62 2017 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 9th 45 2018 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ SUG AUT MOT11th49 2019 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ SUZ BUR FUJ AUT SUG MOTNC1NC2 13th 34 2020 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi FUJ FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ6th64 2021 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ 1st 87 2022 Subaru BRZ GT300 61 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 3rd 682023Subaru BRZGT30061 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 7th 592024Subaru BRZGT30061 Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUG AUT MOT SUZ 17th 202025Subaru BRZGT30061 Takuto Iguchi Hideki YamauchiOKAFUJSEPFS1FS2SUZSUGAUTMOT9th81.5 Note: Non-championship (NC1, NC2) races are major races that do not count towards the championship.
Super Formula (Formula Nippon, Japanese Formula 3000) YearTeamChassisEngineDriversDrivers' rankings1992AD RacingReynard 92DMugen Honda Mika Salo14th1993AD RacingLola T93/50Mugen Honda Mika Salo17th1995NAVI CONNECTIONReynardMugen Honda Masahiko Kageyama / Masahiko Kondo17th1996NAVI CONNECTIONReynardMugen Honda Masahiko Kageyama / Masahiko Kondo15th1997NAVI CONNECTIONReynardMugen Honda Masami Kageyama / Katsumi Yamamoto5th1998Team LeyJunReynardMugen Honda Shinsuke Shibahara / Osamu / Taichiro Oonishi24th1999Team LeyJunReynard 99LMugen Honda Peter Dumbreck / Osamu / Shinsuke Shibahara7th2000Team LeyJunReynard 2KLMugen Honda Shinsuke Shibahara / Osamu11thTAKAGI B-1Reynard 99LMugen Honda Tetsuji Tamanaka19th2001TAKAGI B-1Reynard 2KLMugen Honda Tetsuji Tamanaka / Masahiko Kageyama18th
References