1996 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship
The 1996 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the fourth season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing. It was marked as well as the fourteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The GT500 class champion was the #61 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR driven by David Brabham and John Nielsen, and the GT300 class champion was the #26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964 driven by Keiichi Suzuki and Morio Nitta.
For the 1996 season, the names of the two classes of the JGTC were changed to GT500 and GT300, replacing the previous GT1 and GT2 names from the 1994 and 1995 season. This season also mandated two-driver teams for all races. On November 17, the series held its first non-championship "All-Star Race" at Central Circuit.
The arrival of the McLaren F1 GTRs, prepared by Team Goh, was the biggest story of the 1996 season. The number 60 McLaren of Naoki Hattori and Ralf Schumacher led a 1-2 finish at the season opening round at Suzuka. However, despite winning three races, Hattori and Schumacher also suffered three retirements, and were beaten to the title by their senior teammates, Brabham and Nielsen. Despite massive performance handicaps instituted by the GTA, the two McLaren F1 GTRs combined to win four of the six championship races, and won pole position and set fastest lap in all six. At odds with the GTA over further performance handicaps that were to be proposed, Team Goh withdrew from the series after the championship finale at Miné Circuit, and after an aborted attempt to return in 2006, they would not return to the series until 2019.
The season also featured the debut of the Honda NSX in the series, although direct factory support would not appear until the following season; as such, the car entered by Team Kunimitsu was mostly mechanically identical to the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 class winner.
Schedule
Season results
| Round | Circuit | GT500 Winning Team | GT300 Winning Team |
| Round | Circuit | GT500 Winning Drivers | GT300 Winning Drivers |
| 1 | Suzuka Circuit | #60 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR | #26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964 |
| 1 | Suzuka Circuit |  Naoki Hattori Ralf Schumacher | Keiichi Suzuki Morio Nitta |
| 2 | Mt. Fuji | #61 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR | #910 910 Racing Porsche 993 |
| 2 | Mt. Fuji |  David Brabham John Nielsen | Seiichi Sodeyama Naoki Nagasaka |
| 3 | Sendai | #37 Castrol Cerumo Toyota Supra | #72 Makiguchi Engineering BMW M3 |
| 3 | Sendai | Hironori Takeuchi Érik Comas | Morio Makiguchi Takayuki Kinoshita |
| 4 | Mt. Fuji | #1 Calsonic Hoshino Racing GT-R | #910 910 Racing Porsche 993 |
| 4 | Mt. Fuji | Masahiko Kageyama Kazuyoshi Hoshino | Seiichi Sodeyama Naoki Nagasaka |
| 5 | Sportsland SUGO | #60 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR | #26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964 |
| 5 | Sportsland SUGO | Naoki Hattori Ralf Schumacher | Keiichi Suzuki Morio Nitta |
| 6 | Mine Circuit | #60 Team Lark McLaren F1 GTR | #26 Team Taisan Jr Porsche 964 |
| 6 | Mine Circuit | Naoki Hattori Ralf Schumacher | Keiichi Suzuki Morio Nitta |
| NC | Central Circuit | #3 Hasemi Motorsports GT-R | #7 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 |
| NC | Central Circuit | Masahiro Hasemi Tetsuya Tanaka | Shinichi Yamaji Haruhiko Matsumoto |