As the season opening Okayama round had been postponed due to the aftermath of Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, the Fuji GT 400km Race was held at Fuji Speedway as the de facto curtain raiser of 2011 season. Because the scheduled pre-season official test session was cancelled for the same reason, most of the teams were forced to head to this round without rehearsal and the organizers arranged a "test day" on Friday, just before the planned two day event staring from Saturday. But the weather was worsening and a strong wind blew during the official qualifying sessions on Saturday. Particularly, the conditions were tricky when the Super Lap session was run, as the surface temperature dropped below 20 degree C.

Nevertheless, in the GT500 class, Hironobu Yasuda who was at the wheel of ADVAN Kondo GT-R in the Super Lap session registered 1'33"058 which was good enough to secure the third position. In the GT300 class, the ADVAN equipped JLOC Lamborghini RG-3 (car no.88) set the fastest time in the Super Lap but the car was disqualified later due to a technical infringement - the car's weight was slightly less than the prescribed minimum. Consequently, Pacific NAC Ikamusume Ferrari became the highest ranked ADVAN shoed car, sitting on the second grid.

As forcasted, it rained on Sunday and was chilly for a day in early May with the air temperature at only 13 degree C and surface at 14 degree C at the time of start. Because the rain became heavier just before the start of 300km, 66 lap race, it got underway with the Safety Car start.

After five laps of a Saftey Car period, the race properly began from Lap 6 and the cars rushed into Turn 1 with a huge water spray. Making the most of the warm up characteristics of ADVAN tires, Bjorn Wirlheim driving ADVAN Kondo GT-R took over the lead from the third grid and led the race for a while. However, he was soon forced to slow down and had ultimately to give away the lead on Lap 12, because the car's wind screen got misted up and his vision was severely limited.

But, as the amount of rainfall quickly fluctuated, the new leader also dropped out because of an accident, while Tatsuya Kataoka at the wheel of WedsSport ADVAN SC430 was catching up swiftly after starting from the lowly 14th grid. He steadily moved up through the ranks and was eighth on Lap 10, then sixth on Lap 15. Kataoka eventually drove a long 44 lap stint before the pit stop and the team decided not to change the tires to reduce the pit stop time, making the most of superior durability of ADVAN rain tires.

The rain became heavier in the second half of the race but Seiji Ara, who was handed the wheel of the car from Kataoka, displayed consistent drive under the very difficult condition and secured an admirable podium finish in the first race of the season by finishing in third, as the race was cut short by the red flag due to the worsening weather condition and ended at the completion of Lap 59.

As for the GT300 class, three ADVAN equipped cars contended for the second place in the early stage. At first, it was a battle between Terunobu Taniguchi in Hatsune Miku Goodsmile BMW and Hideki Yamauchi in Pacific NAC Ikamusume Ferrari but Akihiro Tsuzuki's ZENT Porsche RSR which was catching up from eighth at the start joined in later.

Keeping the no tire change strategy in mind from the start, Tsuzuki drove in fast and consistent pace with the ADVAN's deep grooved rain tires, even though the rain got heavier during his stint. Behind him, now other two ADVAN shoed cars, R&D Sport Legacy B4 and Hasepro MA Iwasaki apr Corolla, Tetsuya Yamano and Koki Saga at the wheel respectively, added excitement to the race by showing a great battle for third place.

On Lap 33, Tsuzuki changed to Takeshi Tsuchiya and the veteran resumed racing without changing tires at the stop, just as planned. As the conditions grew worse and worse, a lot of cars went off the track or spun and Tsuchiya regained the second position on Lap 56. However, the red flag was shown to cut short the race on the same lap and the final result was decided by the positions at the end of the previous lap. Thus, ZENT Porsche RSR was declared as the third place finisher of the class.

　[Result : 3rd in the GT500 class]
"I was told that ADVAN was very confident about their wet tires, so I switched to the heavy rain tires from the intermediates without question before the start. We didn't have a pre-event test session before the race and I had no experience on the ADVAN's deep grooved rain tires to date but I immediately felt its good warm up characteristics and grip in the first few laps led by the Safety Car. And then I was convinced that my pace was clearly faster than other car around me only after three laps from the proper race start. I was comfortable with the tires and able to push as much as I wanted.
"I am really happy to finish in third and get on the podium in this GT500 debut race for the team. But I personally feel the result today was largely due to the performance of ADVAN wet tires and I think we are still the youngest and 15th team in the class in terms of our real ability.
"To step up further, we would like to accumulate data little by little and be of some help in the ADVAN's tire development."

　[Result : 7th in the GT500 class]
"This was the first time for me to be in charge of time attack in the qualifying session and I certainly felt some pressure. But, thanks to the team's help and the ADVAN tire's performance, I was able to turn it into a positive result.
"The race was run on the wet surfaces. To be honest, I thought we might win this race when I saw Bjorn was leading soon after the start... For my stint, we chose the shallower grooved rain tires to close the gap with leading cars. But the rain got heavier after I went out the pit and just staying on the track was all I could do from then on.
"It was really disappointing but we will do our best in the next round in Okayama. Our aim there will be qualifying in top three and fighting in the same position during the race.

　[Result : 7th in the GT300 class]
"Only if the red flag was shown one lap later, we could have finished in second. But I can't help it. That's the rule. I am sure we made the best judgment and I have no regret at all whatever the result is.
"I was under a lot of pressure because I made a mistake yesterday (in the Super Lap session) and my teammate did a great drive but the pressure helped me to concentrate during the race. So I was able to push very hard without fear of making mistake and I even thought we could take advantage of the conditions when the rain got heavier in the closing stage, despite it was a little tight in terms of tires, as we didn't change them at the pit stop.
"We started the race with the medium compound heavy rain tires. I guess our opponents might use the medium hard.
"This is the second year for this team and this car. I am sure our team's ability in general has improved a lot and we are properly prepared to do the best we can. So we are just going to do what we should do in the next race at Okayama."

"As the weather during the race week was worse than forcasted, the actual conditions throughout the weekend were generally a bit cold, considering the working temperature ranges of the tires we brought in.
"It rained on the race day and it was quite difficult to judge how the conditions would evolve but both ADVAN Kondo GT-R and WedsSport ADVAN SC430 eventually used the same heavy rain tires for the start.
"Bjorn Wirdheim in ADVAN Kondo GT-R led the early stage of the race and performed very well. It's a shame that he had to slow down because of the misting up wind screen but it was compensated by a great drive by Tatsuya Kataoka and Seiji Ara in WedsSport ADVAN SC430. They had a more than ten second deficit from the car in front at the time of pit stop and we were sure that the tires would last until the finish, as we were watching their lap times until then, so we recommended the team not to change tires at the stop.
"In terms of results, this tactics didn't dramatically reduce the gap with leaders because the two leading cars also did the same. But the team and drivers duly fulfill our expectations.
"In the GT300 class, we are glad Akihiro Tsuzuki and Takeshi Tsuchiya in ZENT Porsche RSR had a really good race and finished in third. If the race hadn't ended with the red flag, they would certainly have secured the second place but the tires performed well enough anyway, I would say.
"For the next Okayama round, we had the testing there in early March. Making the most of that experience, we are sure that we will be able to supply the tires which are precisely suitable for the conditions expected there."