The 2009 Super GT series, which now has the largest attendance among Japanese motor racing series and has become its true pinnacle, got underway at Okayama International Circuit. The venue hosted the curtain raiser of the series for the first time in four years.

The series' technical regulations were considerably modified for this new season and, consequently, the cars have had much less down force than before. On top of this, the teams now have to sort out their car setups within just the two hours practice session on Saturday morning because the event format was cut down to just two days, Saturday and Sunday, and the practice sessions on Friday were abolished.

Even though the teams had an opportunity to have testing sessions here in Okayama a fortnight ago to collect some invaluable data, the time given to them to do the work properly during the race weekend was limited anyway.

Moreover, it was more annoying for the teams' race engineers that the surface conditions turned to wet on Sunday, following the dry practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. However, the ADVAN's new rain tires, which have completely different tread pattern from the precedent model, did great execution in the rain soaked race.

In the GT500 class, HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R (car no.24) continues to use the tires supplied by ADVAN, joined by a newcomer, ASTON MARTIN AKASAKA DB9R (car no.21), in the YOKOHAMA camp.

As HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R was an updated version of the car they used last year in the Super GT, the tire development work for the Kondo Racing's car to adapt to the new technical regulations didn't cause so many problems. But, because ASTON MARTIN AKASAKA DB9R was originally built to the Le Mans GT1 regulations, a totally different concept was required to create the optimal tires for this car and the ADVAN's development staffs had to work on it flat-out to meet the deadline for this season opener.

Although Lexus SC430s looked superior in the official qualifying session on Saturday, HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R also performed well and managed to advance to the Super Lap session by registering the fifth fastest time which was the highest position among the Nissan GT-Rs.

In the Super Lap session, which was fought by the top eight qualifiers from each class this time, Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira driving HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R wasn't the fastest in the sectors 1 and 2 of his qualifying lap but considerably reduced the deficit in the third and final sector, which was technically demanding, to get the third position of the grid - the second row - where the car started the race from.

The series debutant, ASTON MARTIN AKASAKA DB9R, still lacked testing. Although the car had a very short shakedown session before the team arrived at Okayama, they virtually had to start all the setup work, by the hand of veteran Takeshi Tsuchiya, from Saturday. Eventually, he and his rookie partner, Akihiro Tsuzuki, had to settle for the 14th grid after marking a moderate qualifying time.

Meanwhile, many ADVAN shoed cars in the GT300 class displayed good performances. JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 (car no.11) won the come-from-behind pole position after qualifying in fourth, while the fastest car in the first qualifying session, Weds Sport IS350 (car no.19), took the second in the Super Lap. As a result, two ADVAN equipped cars sat on the front row of the starting grid for the class and their good showings in the race were expected.

The race on Sunday was hit by rain, as it was forecasted. But it actually prepared a perfect debut for the ADVAN's new pattern wet tires.

The starting driver of HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R was de Oliveira. As the track was so wet, the Safety Car led the field for the first two laps of the race - the so-called SC start - and then proper racing started.

When the Safety Car came off, de Oliveira made a good getaway and, after passing one of Lexus SC430s at the entry of Turn 1, he overtook another Lexus on the same lap to complete Lap 1 as the race leader. The Brazilian driver was pursued by Honda NSXs in the early stage but he gradually pulled away from the rest of field and built a considerable lead over his followers.

While the chasing opponents began to visit their pits one after another when he reached the 30 laps mark, de Oliveira drove on for as long as more than 50 laps. And he finally came back to the pit at the end of Lap 52 to change to his partner, Seiji Ara, with more than a one minute margin to the second in hand. The team finished the routine work, changing tires and refueling, in about 30 seconds without a hitch and, when the Japanese driver left the pit, he was still in the lead position.

Ara, whose task was to take the car to the finish, also made the most of the new ADVAN rain tires and was able to keep steady and consistent pace. Having built enough gaps from the followers again, all he had to do was to cruise to the checkered flag and he duly did it. This was the Kondo Racing's first win on the home soil after two wins at Sepang.

In the GT300 class, the ADVAN shoed cars also led throughout the race. The early leader was the pole sitting JIMGAINER ADVAN F430, followed by Weds Sport IS350. On Lap 11, the latter took over the former's top slot but it then lost out the position to the pursuing M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 (car no.7) 17 laps later.

In the second half of the race, as all leading competitors began to make their mandatory pit stops, Weds Sport IS350 moved up to the lead position once again before Privee Apple Shiden (car no.2) emerged as the new race leader. When the Shiden came in to the pit, however, Weds Sport IS350 regained the top slot and remained there until the checkered flag fell; proving its speed shown in the dry qualifying session was still valid on the wet surfaces with an auspicious win.

"Due to the modification of the technical regulations, this year's cars have much less down force than before. The load on tires decreased accordingly, so we adopted a little softer construction. But, considering the roll stiffness, we had to be careful not to make it too soft and finding out a good balance wasn't an easy task.
"The 2009 spec cars look to be sliding around all the time. So the tires must have a higher wear resistance as well as a high level of grip. It was our main concern especially for the GT500 cars.
"We cannot be complacent as Lexus SC430s were so fast in the qualifying trim but our car (HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R) was the fastest among Nissan GT-Rs, which was a relief from the view point of its tire supplier.
"The race was run in the rain and the new tread pattern of our wet tires which we introduced from this race performed very well. It was mainly designed to make the tread blocks stiffer but we found it was also effective against aquaplaning. The drivers gave it the thumbs up for the high level of grip and relatively less degradation.
"Our target for this season is winning at least two times in the GT500. After a few wins at Sepang, we really wanted to win in Japan but we managed to achieve it in this season opener already. So the next target is winning in Japan on the dry surfaces! We will keep working on the tire development to meet the goal."