In this Fuji Sprint Cup event, the GT300 races were held separately from the GT500 class, instead of running together as they usually do. As a major contributor to the lesser class, ADVAN supplied its racing tires to 17 out of 22 competitors this time.

In the same way with the GT500, there were two 100km sprint races, one each on Saturday and Sunday; so many fierce battles were inevitable. The younger drivers were familiar with the standing start format, as it is widely used in other categories, especially in single seater races, but some of veteran drivers said it's been a long while since they did it last time, so the start of the races might be interesting point to watch.

The fastest car in the official practice session on Friday was 'triple a' Vantage GT2 (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Hideshi Matsuda, car no.66) and JLOC Lamborghini RG-3 (Yuuhi Sekiguchi/Kouji Yamanishi, car no.86) followed by a narrow margin. The long straightaway which is the most distinctive feature of Fuji Speedway meant the FIA-GT spec cars had clear advantage, as they tend to have higher top speeds than that of the JAF-GT spec cars.

The trend remained the same in the qualifying session in the afternoon. But some of the JAF-GT cars proved themselves despite their handicap in straight line speed and the two ADVAN shoed Fairlady Zs, the championship winning Tomika Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Masataka Yanagida, car no.3) and Up Start Mola Z (Tsubasa Abe/Naoki Yokomizo, car no.46), secured good starting positions.

Haruki Kurosawa in Mach Go-Go-Go Shaken 408R (car no.5) also performed well in the qualifying for Race 2 and sat in the front row. The car is built to JAF-GT spec but is always one of the fastest in top speed among the category, so it certainly suited to Fuji Speedway.

Race 1 started at 2 p.m. on Saturday. While the weather was getting worse and the sky was fully covered by clouds, no rain was expected and the track surface was completely dry. At the start, which was the first focus of attention, Yoshimoto did very well and jumped straight to third from the fifth grid, as he quickly responded to a bad start of the car in front of him.

In addition, starting from the sixth grid, Abe moved up three positions when he completed the opening lap. Ryo Orime in M7 Mutiara Motors Amemiya SGC-7 also gained a few positions during the lap from tenth where he started.

After being passed by Abe, Yoshimoto hit back and regained the position on Lap 2 and then he began to reduce the gap with the leaders. On Lap 5, he overtook the struggling Garaiya and was getting closer to the race leader, making the most of his top speed advantage.

On Lap 10, he made a move to the race leader and took up the position. However, a Ferrari was catching up from behind, as it was really fast on the straightaway, and it seemed to become a duel between Yoshimoto's Aston Martin and the Ferrari. Then, on Lap 18, the Ferrari finally moved up to second and a close battle was about to begin.

Yoshimoto tried to defend the position by pushing to the limit in corners and actually went through side-by-side with the Ferrari from the pit straight of Lap 19 to Turn 2 of the next lap. Unfortunately, his fierce resistance came to end there and he had to settle for second until the checkered flag fell.

But he was later given a 30 second time penalty instead of a drive through, for contact with the Ferrari during the battle. This sen? "Yoshimoto down to 13th in the official result. Among other ADVAN equipped drivers, Orime and Hoshino finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

Race 2 on Sunday began at 2 p.m. like the race on Saturday. There was a mishap for the two cars which sat on the front row, as the pole sitter and Kurosawa moved slightly before the red signals went out. This was judged as jump starts and both cars were given a drive through penalty, which meant Kurosawa threw away the good starting position he had earned.

As a result, Yokomizo became the race leader and Yanagida followed to form a one-two by two Fairlady Zs. Behind them, two FIA-GT cars, Zent Porsche RSR with Takeshi Tsuchiya at the wheel and the Ferrari which won the first race, was fighting for third. But the Ferrari was superior in top speed again, so Tsuchiya had to surrender at last.

As for the leading pair, Yanagida's car was slightly faster on the straightway than Yokomizo's, probably due to some difference in car set up. Thus, Yokomizo had a little advantage in corners but then Yanagida caught him up on the pit straight and this stalemate continued for a while. However, Yanagida managed to break through the situation at Turn 1 on Lap 14 and then gradually pulled away from Yokomizo.

In the second half of the race, the Ferrari began to threaten the leading Zs from behind. Since the FIA-GT spec car had undeniable advantage in top speed, Yokomizo had to give way on the pit straight on Lap 17 and then the same thing happened to Yanagida on the next lap. Nevertheless, both Yanagida and Yokomizo kept consistent pace until the flag fell and concluded their season with the second and third place finish respectively.