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The final race of the hotly fought 2007 Super GT series was held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka prefecture. As it was the 100th race for the GT series, a memorial ceremony took place before the start of the race.
In the GT300 class, the championship was to be decided in this race. The list of potential champions consisted of four cars, including two ADVAN equipped cars, Privee KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi / Hiroki Katoh) and WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R (Shinsuke Shibahara / Haruki Kurosawa).
Privee KENZO Asset Shiden was leading in the point standings. Therefore, if they beat the four other title contenders, they could win the championship on their own. On the other hand, fourth-placed WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R had to finish the race in on of the top three positions to at least keep their tile hope alive while depending on other contenders finishing positions for the title.
As it turned November, the temperature became much lower at Fuji and it was cloudy when the official practice session started on Friday, October 2nd. In the qualifying session on Saturday, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 marked a good lap time which was enough to stay in the top ten in the early stage. WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z managed to cut down their lap time substantially later in the session. As a result, both cars proceeded to the Super Lap qualifying session in the afternoon and took the seventh and eighth grids respectively.
The starting positions were even more important for the title contenders in the GT300 class. Privee KENZO Asset Shiden set the fastest time in the morning session. In the Super Lap session during which the temperature gradually went down, however, the Shiden was beaten by two rival cars and finished the session in third. The pole position of the class went to a Toyota MR-S.
The sky was clear on race day, as if the weather also celebrated the 100th race of the series. The race started on time and, in the GT500 class, WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z ran steadily throughout and concluded their season by finishing in fifth which was only two positions shy from the podium.
In the GT300 class, the pole sitter got away from his followers in the opening lap. But YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE gradually came up from seventh at the start because they had quite a good race setup and finally passed the leading MR-S on Lap 13 when the opponent got in a tangle with a GT500 car.
As the drop off in lap times was smaller than other GT300 cars, YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE took a strong lead in the second half of the race. After the driver change from Nobuteru Taniguchi, the rookie Dominik Farnbacher didn't make a major mistake and secured their second win of the season in almost perfect manner. This was ADVAN's sixth win of the season.
The battle for the championship between an MR-S and Privee KENZO Asset Shiden excited the spectators very much. The pole sitting MR-S got away at a quicker pace from the start, while the Shiden dropped to fifth. However, since the surface temperature rose higher than expected, the MR-S had to ease down soon due to concerns about tire wear. On the other hand, the starting driver of Shiden, Katoh, had been controlling his pace to preserve the tires, so he could pass the MR-S easily.
Now the Shiden was third, following YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE and AKTIO MURCIE RG-1 and leading the MR-S in fourth. If this order kept until the end, Privee KENZO Asset Shiden would secure the championship title. Running on medium compound tires, Katoh extended his stint as long as the rules allowed and came in to the pit after completing 41 laps. Then the team sent the car back on the track with soft tires after the driver change.
As soon as Shiden resumed racing with Takahashi at the wheel, the main rival for the title, the MR-S, came was close from behind. Obviously, Shiden's tires weren't warm enough yet as the car had just come out from the pit. On the other hand, the rival had already spent a few laps on the track and had a better grip. In spite of his desperate effort to stay ahead, Takahashi had to give way to the MR-S at Turn 1 as the latter was superior in straight line speed. Since the MURCIE had dropped out, Shiden fell back to the third.
Provided that they finished in this order, Privee KENZO Asset Shiden would tie with the MR-S in championship points, but then the title would go to the latter by the number of wins. Shiden pursued hard making the most of ADVAN tires that had less drop off in lap time even in the case of soft compound, and the gap with the MR-S was sometimes reduced to less than a second. The duel continued until the checkered flag but Takahashi couldn't turn the table on his rival, partly due to the intervention of back markers. As a result, the Shiden drivers, Takahashi and Katoh lost out on their contention for the drivers' championship, but the team, Cars Tokai Dream 28, secured the team championship title.
In this race, ADVAN equipped cars took two places on the podium in the GT300 class including the top slot and the drivers admired the performance of ADVAN racing tires, saying "they're very consistent in lap times during a long stint." Looking forward, these results were significant for regaining the title next season.
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