One of the popular fixtures in Japan's Golden Week holidays, the Fuji 500km race (the third round of the Super GT series), was held at Fuji Speedway.
 
The surface conditions were somewhat unstable on Friday and Saturday. It went from semi wet to dry in the first practice session, and then it became wet in the afternoon. The first qualifying session was run on a wet surface but it was dry during the Super Lap session on Saturday afternoon. As a consequence, teams were really confused in terms of tire choice for the race.
 
In the GT500 class, YOKOHAMA Rubber Co. supplies the tires for TOYOTA TEAM TSUCHIYA's ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 and KONDO Racing's WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R. While the former car is an upgraded version of the 2007 model, KONDO Racing replaced its Fairlead Z with a brand new Nissan GT-R this season.
 
Because of the lack of continuity, KONDO Racing needed some extra work to set up their car. But the performance level of their new car is certainly higher than the old one and it was proved by the WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R's two consecutive point finishes since the season opener.
 
For this race, however, Nissan GT-Rs were given extra weight handicaps of 80kg as an equalization measure to compensate for their superior performance in the early stage of the season. This would give them a hard time. On the other hand, TOYOTA TEAM TSUCHIYA's SC430 was allowed to increase the size of intake air restrictors by two steps.
 
Saturday's qualifying sessions were run on mixed conditions. ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 was seventh in the wet first session and proceeded to the Super Lap. Even though it fell back to ninth in the Super Lap on a dry surface, starting from the fifth row meant that the point finish was certainly within reach.
 
Being heavily handicapped, WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R failed to qualify for the Super Lap together with most of the GT-Rs, but it was second quickest in the Nissan camp, following car no.12 (which narrowly found the way into the Super Lap after disqualification of a Honda NSX), and sat on the twelfth grid for the race.
 
In the GT300 class, ORC Amemiya SGC-7 took the sixth position and Weedsport IS350, which made its debut in this race, followed in seventh. The brand new IS350 was still in the process of initial setting but marked a competitive time second only to an all-wheel-drive car of a rival team in the rain soaked morning session. Although it had to settle for seventh in the Super Lap session due to an unsuccessful set up change, the car looked very promising anyway.
 
In this 500km race, all GT500 cars and some GT300 cars needed two pit stops during the race. This meant that the rest of the GT300 cars had a choice of two strategies, one stop or two stops, and it just might be the key to decide the race for them.
 
The sky was overcast on Sunday, but the race started under dry conditions. WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R completed the opening lap in ninth after jumping up at the start and ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 was in tenth.
 
With the longer distance, this race has usually been more eventful than other rounds because the chances of accidents and mechanical trouble during the race become higher. However, most of the GT500 teams seemed to take a careful approach for the race and it was rather a quiet one this year.
 
Two ADVAN equipped GT500 cars kept their positions until the closing stage, but then WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop due to mechanical trouble and failed to score a point. And because of KONDO Racing's setback, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 gained a position and eventually finished in eighth, which was their first point finish of the season.
 
Meanwhile, GT300 class race wasn't that quiet. Among the four cars in the leading echelon in the early stage, three cars actually fell back due to accidents or mechanical trouble.
 
Privee KENZO Asset Shiden started the race from the sixteenth grid, as it couldn't make a proper attack lap in the qualifying session, but its speed in the race was more than equal to the actual race leaders. The starting driver of the car, Hiroki Kato, steadily came up in the ranks and took the top slot on Lap 50 during his long stint.
 
After the driver change, Kazuho Takahashi resumed the race in the third position. Despite being passed by a pursuing rival, he could keep his position thanks to another competitor dropping out in front of him. In the closing stage of the race, the owner-driver of the Shiden was involved in a dog fight with a MR-S which pushed him hard from behind. But Takahashi managed to hold on until the finish and took his team to the last place of the podium with just a 0.1 second gap.

　[Result: Third in the GT300 class]
 
"It was a tough race because our rivals were quicker than we had anticipated.
 
"As a result of the unpredictable qualifying sessions, we were far behind the 'usual rivals' on the grid. In such an unusual situation, I thought I would have to gain positions as soon as possible, which put some extra pressure on me.
 
"So I drove a bit harder than usual, which taxed the tires, but they actually lasted until the end of my stint. I guess the fact that it was overcast and the lowere surface temperature helped us.
 
"As the fuel consumption of our car was better than expected, we could extend the first stint a bit longer and our strategy worked well.
 
"I have no idea what we can do in the next round at Sepang but we will make the best possible preparation for the race and go for it."

"We adopted a new compound which was favorable at the test session in Sugo and added some fine tuning to make it suitable for Fuji. To be specific, we tried to exploit more grip under lower load conditions to be able to drive faster through the third sector of the circuit.
 
"We brought soft and medium compounds. But both of our GT500 cars chose mediums because the longer life of mediums would give them more flexibility in race strategies.
 
"The competitors in the GT300 class had very strategic race, as more teams than ever tried really tight one stop strategies.
 
"Contrary to expectations, the race in the GT500 wasn't so eventful and saw only a few position changes. It was a pity that WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R lost its position in the closing stage but, instead of this, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 finished in eighth.
 
"In the GT300 class, Privee KENZO Asset Shiden finished in third, in spite of starting from as low as the sixteenth grid. All in all, our target for this season, producing 'strong tires', was achieved, I should say."