The sixth round of the Super GT series was the 'International Pokka 1000km', commonly known as the 'Suzuka 1000km in blistering heat.' The race distance of other rounds in the series are from 300 to 500km but, as indicated by the name, the cars had to endure a two to three times longer than usual distance and the teams were allowed to nominate third drivers to cover it.

The 37th edition of the event was met with unstable weather. Although the first qualifying session on Saturday morning was run on wet surfaces, other sessions scheduled in the afternoon had to be cancelled due to heavy rain. Consequently, the starting grids were decided by the result of the first session, which was a totally unexpected way to start the event.

The race on Sunday was run in dry conditions and the surface temperatures fluctuated between 29℃ and 38℃ which was somewhat lower than expected and easy on the tires. However, because the high temperature of the day was 31℃, with very high humidity, it was still really tough conditions for the drivers.

Partly due to such conditions, the race was filled with accidents but more than fifty thousands spectators enjoyed the high speed battles until the finish.

As proved by the WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R's second consecutive win in Sepang (the fourth round), accompanied by ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 finishing fourth, the recent developments of ADVAN racing tires has steadily produced better results. The Pokka 1000km race was the longest of the series but the distance to be covered by a set of tires was essentially no different from other rounds. Therefore, no major modification on tires was required for this long distance race, except for choosing harder compounds which are able to endure a higher temperature range. The reasons for the choice were the excessive heat anticipated on race day and the characteristics of Suzuka Circuit in which the tires have to bear cornering force for much longer than other race tracks.

ADVAN brought two types of compounds, hard and medium, for this race. ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 chose medium because they wanted more grip, while WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R took the harder ones as the team felt that the grip level was more than enough.

In the free practice sessions on Friday, the surfaces were totally dry. The two ADVAN equipped cars in the GT500 class concentrated on the car set up and, although the lap times weren't remarkable, the drivers felt good about their cars.

However, the first qualifying session on Saturday was hit by rain. It was a good opportunity to assess the performance of ADVAN wet tires which are the product of continuous development, but mainly because of the weight handicaps imposed on the two ADVAN shoed cars for their recent success, WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R remained in fourteenth and ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 in fifteenth in the session. As the performance of the dry tires was consistent throughout the long stint on Friday, their pursuit from the back of the grids were expected in the race which was forecasted to have fine and dry conditions.

Meanwhile, in the GT300 class, the leading ADVAN equipped cars, including Privee KENZO Asset Shiden, WedsSport IS350 and Daishin ADVAN Z, occupied the upper ranks of the grids and a good race was expected. Particularly, after temporarily leading the race at Sugo, WedsSport IS350 seemed to be improving further and not a few people predicted its first win at Suzuka.

The race started on a dry track. WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R steered clear of the incidents on the opening lap and moved up to tenth. On the other hand, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 kept its position on the track but actually completed Lap1 in twelfth as a few rivals had been forced to start from the pits.

The race was quite eventful with many cars suffering racing accidents or mechanical trouble but WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R ran steadily throughout the race and finished in seventh which was seven places higher than its starting position. By adding four points, the team moved up to ninth in the championship.

ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 was also on the way to finish in the upper ranks but the car had mechanical trouble when the race was three quarters over and was forced to retire from the race. As a result, the team failed to add to their recent three successive point finishes.

The battles in the GT300 class were more confusing than the upper class and Yunker Power Taisan Porsche, Willcom ADVAN Vemac 408R, ORC Amemiya SGC-7 and others alternately led the race. Taisan's Porsche and Amemiya's RX-7 had shown splendid pursuits from the lower starting grids to join the contention for the top slot and the latter eventually finished in third, after all of these were hit by trouble or hindered by accidents of varying degrees. The rotary engine powered car was promoted to third in the championship after this podium finish.

　[Result: 3rd in the GT300 class]
 
"It was good for us to gain ground from back in the grid to the podium, but the race itself didn't go as we wished mainly because we were passed by our rivals, whose cars were faster on straightaway, at the early stage of the race when we were still very close to each other. Our RX-7 was faster in cornering speed, but it wasn't easy and it took time to overtake the rival cars in corners.

"I was pushing it to the limit to recover in the first stint, which was an unnecessary effort in a sense. But we were able to make it up somehow by the end of the day.

"It wasn't too hot today but the tires were consistent throughout the race. Anyway, the biggest problem for us was fuel consumption... As the gearbox wasn't in perfect condition in the final stint, we couldn't push harder.

"The championship situation became a bit difficult for us because car no.46 won the race. But we are still in third. We will try to do our best until the last lap of the last race."

"The layout of Suzuka Circuit is very tough on tires, because tires have to bear continuous side force almost throughout each lap. "For this race, we shifted the range of rubber to a harder region to deal with higher temperatures and stronger side force. The supposed working range of the hard compound was up to 50℃ of the surface temperature and the range of the medium compound began around 30℃.

"The actual surface temperature was much lower than expected but both hard and medium compounds worked well in wider ranges than we assumed. As a result, the conditions at Suzuka were well within the working ranges of both hard and medium compounds.

"Because the performance in a long stint was assured in the practice sessions on Friday, we expected that both WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R and ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 would finish in points and even a podium finish might be possible. But the 1000km race was long and tough. Nonetheless, I think we were able to display the performance of our tires."