The Japan Le Mans Challenge (abbreviated JLMC) was an
endurance
Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...
sportscar series based in Japan built around the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
that began in 2006. It was run by the Sports Car Endurance Race Operation (SERO) sanctioning body and ran under the rules laid out by the
Automobile Club de l'Ouest
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...
(ACO). It is the first endurance sportscar series in Japan since the demise of the
All Japan Sports Prototype Championship
The , abbreviated as JSPC, formed by the Japan Automobile Federation, was a domestic championship which took place in Japan for Group C and IMSA GTP prototype cars and also featured cars that were eligible for touring car racing in its earlier yea ...
in 1992, although the ACO had run a single endurance race since then, the
1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000 km
The 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000 km was an endurance race backed by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), who ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), who ran the JGTC race series. It was run on November 7, 1999.
Pre ...
. The series was cancelled in 2007 following two poor seasons.
Rules
The rules for the JLMC were based around the rules used by the ACO for the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in France, similar to those used by the
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
in Europe and the
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
in North America. Cars were broken into two general classes, known as
Le Mans Prototype
A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...
s (LMP) and
Grand Touring
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a ...
(GT). These classes were further broken down into a larger, more powerful class and a cheaper, less powerful class, which created four classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. All four classes raced at the same time on the same track, with a winner being declared for each class as well as an overall race winner. Points were based on finishing position are awarded for overall championships amongst drivers, teams, and engine builders. However, unlike the two other Le Mans-based series, the JLMC allowed cars which did not meet ACO guidelines in an attempt to increase the number of entrants. This was allowed with the belief that by 2008, JLMC would fully adapt to ACO rules and run fully compliant cars.
The ACO planned to also grant automatic entries to the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
for the teams that win the season championships in each class. However, due to the use of cars which do not meet ACO guidelines, this plan for invitations was also moved to 2008.
History
During the brief two seasons of the Japan Le Mans Challenge, the series struggled to provide grids similar to those in the American Le Mans Series and Le Mans Series. Most races averaged approximately 12 cars total, with only a few meeting actual LMP and GT regulations.
Mugen Motorsports
Mugen Motorsports (無限), legally known as M-TEC Company, Ltd., is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda, and Masao Kimura. Mugen, meaning "without limit", "unlimited" o ...
backed an LMP1 entry using one of their engines, while Hitotsuyama Racing attempted to increase field size by entering cars in two of the four classes. The LMP2 class however consisted entirely of rebodied single seaters, some of these were modified
Dallara
Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created "D ...
F3s from the domestic
GC21 Championship. Even with some factory support and proven Le Mans cars, most teams struggled to survive the 1000 kilometer race distances. The first two races of the 2006 season were won by a Hitotsuyama
Ferrari 550 Maranello
The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 ye ...
in the GT1 class, while the two proper LMP1s failed to finish. It was not until the final race of 2006 that Mugen's LMP managed to earn an overall victory.
For 2007, Hitotsuyama's
Zytek
Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981.
In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...
LMP1 managed to prove reliable enough to earn the first three victories of the season, before it once again struggled to finish in the final race of the year, leaving an LMP2 GC21 to take overall victory. During that 2007 season, SERO announced that they were relinquishing control of the series due to their failure to promote it and increase not only grid size, but also fan viewership. The
ACO initially announced that they were to take over the series for 2008. However, shortly after this announcement, the ACO announced their intentions to cancel the series entirely, citing a continued lack of participants as well as being unable to make contracts with circuits over the lack of ticket sales.
Asian Le Mans Series
The ACO announced a new Asian-based sports car series in 2009, which will encompass all of Asia in an attempt to increase support from outside Japan. A teasing race was to be held at the
Shanghai International Circuit
The Shanghai International Circuit () is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Chinese Grand Prix which was hosted from 2004 to 2019 and was scheduled again fro ...
on November 1–2, 2008 but was later cancelled. The initial 2009 season comprised at least four three-hour races: two at
Okayama International Circuit
Okayama International Circuit (岡山国際サーキット), formerly known as TI Circuit Aida (TIサーキット英田) before 2005, is a private motorsport race track in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. TI was the abbreviation of "Tanak ...
on October 30–November 1, and the other two at Shanghai on November 7–8, which was later cancelled due to economic reasons.
The winners would be awarded entries for the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. The ACO aimed to attract teams from ALMS, LMS and the
Super GT
Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...
. Following the cancellation of the Shanghai race, the Asian Le Mans series would not be held again until 2013,
this time following the ELMS class structure (with additional classes for
Group GT3
Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various au ...
and Super GT GT300 cars
), but the series continued to struggle from entry list issues until ACO took over the organisation of the series at the end of 2014 season.
References
See also
*
1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000 km
The 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000 km was an endurance race backed by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), who ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), who ran the JGTC race series. It was run on November 7, 1999.
Pre ...
*
Fuji Grand Champion Series
The ran from 1971 to 1989. It was a drivers' championship in Japan and was originally for 2 litre Group B6 cars. The series was started in 1971, and all races were held at the Fuji Speedway circuit.
History
In its formative years, cars eligi ...
*
Fuji Long Distance Series
The was a Japanese endurance championship which took place mainly at Fuji International Speedway.
The series began in 1977 and until 1984 was an independent championship with three rounds, all held at Fuji. In the first two seasons the series wa ...
{{Asian Le Mans Series
Sports car racing series
es:Asian Le Mans Series