The ADVAN equipped HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R scored a splendid come-from-behind GT500 class victory in the season opener of 2010 Super GT series held at Suzuka Circuit. Also in the GT300 class, the top three spots were dominated by the ADVAN shod cars, M7 Mutiara Motors Amemiya SGC-7, Up Start MOLA Z and WedsSport IS350. The results kick-started the new season for ADVAN which aims to become the championship winning tire supplier in both classes.

For this season, the factory cars from three manufacturers in the GT500 class have a unified architecture with a 3,400cc V8 normally aspirated engine and an FR (front-mounted engine and rear wheel drive) chassis layout. And the GT300 class has some new comers, including a Aston Martin Vantage GT2, which only adds to the attractiveness of every Super GT race.

ADVAN continues to supply the tires to HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R (car no.24) in the GT500 class. The car now has a different engine and a slightly modified body work from those of last year, so the weight distribution and aerodynamic balance of the car have changed. This change required some fine tunings on the tires and the team was busy to test them on the race tracks both at home and abroad during the winter.

In contrast to a fine weather on the day before, Suzuka Circuit was hit by Yellow Sand which greatly reduced visibility on Sunday. In addition, the surfaces which had been wet due to rain in the night began to dry when the warm-up session in the morning started and then once dried out.

The formation lap commenced at 2:00 pm and the race duly got underway. As a light drizzle came again just before the race, many drivers including the leaders made mistakes in the early stage on the slippery wet patches dotted along the track. But J.P.Lima de Oliveira, the starting driver of HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R, exhibited his usual steadiness to complete the opening lap in seventh and then moved up to fourth in the next lap.

On Lap 10, three cars in the midfield tangled on the run down to Turn 1 and two of them crashed, which caused the Safety Car to come out. When the race resumed on Lap 15, the strategic battles which foresaw a new era of Super GT series began. In the past, teams running Honda NSXs in the GT500 class sometimes tried to shorten their pit stop time by changing only the two rear tires, as the mid engined Honda was less punishing on its front tires. Despite that now all cars have FR layout, however, some teams experimented such tactics by changing only rear tires or even no tire change at all this time. If this is going to be a trend, it means that the tires would have to endure much harder time than before.

Kondo's team also chose to go throughout the race without tire change. This was decided on the spot by Masahiko Kondo, the team manager, and senior team members in consultation with the ADVAN's tire engineers, after carefully monitoring their rivals' moves.

HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R, de Oliveira at the wheel, completed a 34 lap stint and made a pit stop to change to the Brazilian's new teammate Hironobu Yasuda. By saving time for tire change, the Japanese found himself in the lead when he began his stint. The team was concerned about the tire wear but Yasuda drove steadily and cleverly just as his teammate did, controlling the gap with the following car. He eventually completed the remaining 18 laps without making any mistake and finished first almost ten seconds ahead of the nearest rival.

In the GT300 class, the situation was a bit similar to that of GT500. Nobuteru Taniguchi in the pole sitting M7 Mutiara Motors Amemiya SGC-7 led the first half of the opening lap but ran wide at Degnar curve. Because of this mistake, he completed the lap in sixth but he immediately began his pursuit.

Taniguchi overtook a Lamborghini at the S-curve on Lap 21 and moved up to third. On the same lap, a Ferrari running in second had a problem during its pit stop and this promoted the SGC-7 driver to second. The race was then led by a FIA-GT specification Porsche which had been very fast at Suzuka last year.

On Lap 25 when the race had reached about the halfway point, Taniguchi came into the pit. The team decided not to change tires, as they did quite a few times in the past, to overcome a handicap due to the car's longer refueling time at the pit stop and quickly sent the team's second driver, Ryo Orime, back to the track.

Helped by the fact that the leading Porsche also delayed during its pit stop, M7 Mutiara Motors Amemiya SGC-7 easily won the GT300 class with a nearly 30 second gap, followed by Up Start MOLA Z and WedsSport IS350, the winners of tremendous battles for the podium, in second and third respectively. As a result, the GT300 class podium was dominated by these three ADVAN equipped crews.