ADVAN / MOTOR SPORTS [Japanese SUPER GT Series 2008 / About SUPER GT]

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The Super GT is the pinnacle of touring car races in Japan. The origin of this hugely popular series was the Japanese GT Championship, inaugurated in 1993, which evolved into the Super GT in 2005. In a passing remark, the winning car of the commemorative inaugural race of the Super GT series was ECLIPS ADVAN Supra equipped with ADVAN tires.
　
The standard format of this event is that each car is shared by two drivers in a 300km race, except for the traditional Suzuka 1000km race in August and the 500km Fuji round in May. Those two long distance events are more endurance races than the others and the teams are allowed to add a third driver to their crew.
　
A wide range of modification is permitted by the regulations based on various commercially available sports cars both made in Japan and imported from abroad. One of the most significant regulation change for 2008 season is that relocation of the engine from front to mid-mount is allowed, and this will lead to the introduction of a few new cars designed under the new regulations.
　
There are two classes in the Super GT: the GT500 and the GT300.
　
Two teams are running the ADVAN equipped cars in the GT500 class this year. Tsuchiya Engineering, one of the oldest teams in the series, enters a Lexus SC. Team Manager Haruo Tsuchiya appointed his son, Takeshi Tsuchiya, to be the lead driver, paired with a rising talent, Hiroaki Ishiura. The winner of the fourth round of the 2007 Super GT series in Malaysia, KONDO Racing, switched its machinery from Nissan Fairlady Z to GT-R, while the driving pair of Seiji Ara and Joao Paulo De Oliveira was retained from last year. Under the direction of Team Manager Masahiko Kondo, the team is pushing for more success.
　
Meanwhile, a large number of teams choose ADVAN tires in the GT300 class which consists of a variety of marques, cars and drivers.
　

　　【ADVAN TIRE INFORMATION】
　
For the tough battles of the Super GT series, ADVAN continuously works on the development of its products, both the slick tires for dry surfaces and the grooved rain tires for wet surfaces.
　
KONDO Racing's maiden win in the fourth round of the 2007 Super GT series at Sepang Circuit, Malaysia, was the fruition of the development effort made by ADVAN. Under the tropical climate and very demanding surface conditions, ADVAN tires didn't show any sign of performance degradation during the race, while their rivals struggled with higher than expected tire wear.
　
In the GT300 class as well, ADVAN users fought a fierce battle for the title crown until the final round, which was concluded with the team championship win by Cars TOKAI DREAM 28.
　
With the introduction of new cars, the Super GT series is attracting more interest than ever. Watch for a dramatic and exciting racing series, as well as top notch performances of ADVAN equipped cars.

GT500 Class
	The GT500 class consists of a number of manufacturer-backed teams battling hard with each other and it is literally the pinnacle of tin-top races in Japan. As its name incurs, the maximum power of the engines is around 500ps. The chassis are heavily modified into virtually true racing cars while keeping the appearance of commercially available cars. 　 TOYOTA TEAM TSUCHIYA enters the series with a Lexus SC430. On the other hand, KONDO Racing runs a-much-talked-about Nissan GT-R this year. While the Lexus SC430 has a 4480cc V8 engine, the original power unit of a GT-R, V6 with twin turbo, has been replaced with a 4.5 liter normally aspirated engine, together with a chassis modification from 4WD to rear wheel drive.


GT300 Class
	Among the wide variety of cars in the GT300 class, attention is focused on the Lexus IS that is to debut this season. By applying the new regulations, the car will have a mid-engine layout that should significantly enhance the performance over the front engine front drive configuration of the original car. 　 The biggest appeal of the class is the variety of cars. You won't be bored with watching the sport cars on the track, such as the Fairlady Z, Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini, as well as pure racing models represented by Shiden and Vemacs.

ADVAN has been committed to this top touring car category since the days of the Japanese GT championship in order to develop its products further.
Here, we will introduce you the drivers of ADVAN equipped cars in the GT500 class of the 2008 Super GT series.
　

TOYOTA TEAM TSUCHIYA
	Takeshi Tsuchiya Takeshi Tsuchiya was born in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in 1979 and started car racing with FJ1600 in 1992. Soon after stepping up to the Japanese Formula Three Championship series, the Japanese driver was given his first opportunity to drive a GT car in 1995 when the series was still called the Japanese GT Championship. Ever since, he has established his name as one of the top drivers in the highest class of both touring car and formula car races, i.e. GT and Formula Nippon. Takeshi has drove for Tsuchiya Engineering, his father's eponymous team, since 2006 after his previous stint for the team in 1996 and the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) days. He has a record of the 33 consecutive point finishes in the Super GT series.

	Hiroaki Ishiura Hiroaki Ishiura was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1981. In his very first Kart race, in the YAMAHA class at Shin Tokyo Circuit, Hiroaki made a pole to win when he was nineteen years old, which was the first sign of his talent. Then he won the Motegi Championship FA class title in 2001 and the winning average of his kart career for three years reached as high as 42.9%. After being nominated as a finalist for the Formula Toyota Racing School's (FTRS) development driver candidates in 2002, Ishiura competed in the Formula Toyota series the following year and then went up to F3 in 2006. In 2007, he finally had an opportunity to drive in the Super GT and won the GT300 championship title in his first year in the series.

KONDO Racing
	Joao Paulo Lima De OLIVEIRA Joao Paulo De Oliveira was born in Brazil in 1981. De Oliveira began kart racing in 1997 and started to drive racing cars such as a Formula Ford and a Formula Chevrolet the following year. Then he won the scholarship class title of the South-American F3 Championship in 1999. In 2001, the Brazilian moved to Germany and entered the German F3 Championship in which he took the title crown two years later (2003). After moving to the Japanese F3 Championship series in 2004, he became the champion of the series the following year. This meant he took the titles in three major regions around the world, South America, Europe and Japan. Joao Paulo's Super GT debut came in 2006. For the following season, he moved to KONDO Racing and was appointed as the starting driver in the fourth round of the season when he contributed to the team's first ever win in the series after passing as many as twelve cars in the stifling heat of Malaysia.

	Seiji Ara Seiji Ara was born in Chiba prefecture, Japan, in 1974. Ara started his career in the Volkswagen Cup in 1994 and took the championship in his first season. After a few years' experiences in junior formulae including the Japanese F3 Championship, he was offered a chance to compete in the Japanese GT Championship series in 2000. Seiji also entered many endurance races abroad and became the second Japanese winner of the Le Mans 24 hour race in 2004 in the course of his five consecutive years in the endurance classic (and he was the only Japanese winner who was entrusted with the role of finishing driver in the Le Mans 24H). As for domestic touring car races, Seiji has been a regular competitor in the Japanese GT Championship series since the 2000 season, including the drive at Tsuchiya Engineering in 2003 when he drove the ADVAN liveried Supra in the GT500 class. He joined KONDO Racing in the middle of the 2006 Super GT season and scored the team's maiden win in the Malaysia round of the 2007 season.