The extremely popular Super GT Series has the largest attendance among all race series in Japan today.
For the 2009 season, it revised the event format for race weekends and the practice and qualifying sessions are to be held on Saturday before the final on Sunday, instead of having practice on Friday. This 2-day event format will offer more action on the track on Saturday and the spectators will be able to watch the whole progress of the event in two days over the weekend.
Technical regulations were also modified. For the GT500 class, each car now must have FR (front mounted engine and rear wheel drive) layout and a 3,400cc naturally-aspirated engine. As for Nissan GT-Rs and Honda NSXs, however, certain performance compensation measures are to be imposed for the time being because they don't comply with the new regulations yet.
For the GT300 class, the modification to regulations on aerodynamics includes the enlarged flat bottom area and the ban on the canards on the car's front end. With regard to aerodynamics, the GT500 cars also have to run with less down force than before because of the reduced maximum dimensions of their rear wings.
As was the case last year, the series consist of nine races, including an oversea round in Malaysia. The configuration of classes remains unchanged, comprised of two classes, GT500 and GT300.
In the GT500 class, ADVAN supplies its racing tires for two cars, HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R which won at Sepang in Malaysia last year for the second consecutive time in the same event - and ASTON MARTIN AKASAKA DBR9 which appears in Japanese racing scene for the first time.
The reigning champion of the GT300 class, TEAM NISHIZAWA MOLA switched
the tire supplier to ADVAN. And, of course, the wide variety of cars, including
some new comers such as the Ferrari F430 and the Corolla Axio, rely on
ADVAN tires again this year.
【ADVAN TIRE INFORMATION】
As mentioned above, there are some modifications on technical regulations this season. To answer those changes, ADVAN had to proactively develop its products through the track tests and, as a result, the tires for GT500 cars now generally have softer constructions than before.
With regard to the tires for GT300 cars, the wet weather tire's tread pattern was renewed to further improve the performance in wet conditions. The advantage of this new pattern was already confirmed in the pre-season testing in the rain.
The sporting regulations on the use of tires were also slightly revised for 2009. The number of tire sets allowed to use for each car in an event is reduced from last year's 11 to 9 sets in line with the shortened event format. On top of that, if a car proceeds to the Super Lap session, it must start the race with the same set of tires that it used in the Super Lap. With these new rules, the top ten qualifiers may have to be more careful in tire management.
