For the past three years, the Suzuka round of the Super GT series had been run as a 700km or 500km race for various reasons but the traditional 1000km race has revived this year. The International Pokka 1000km race was by far the longest race of the series and the battles in the hot summer sun proved to be tougher than ever because of the resurfacing in the western part of the circuit, as the new surfaces were more abrasive for tires than before.

The race got underway at half past noon on Sunday, 19th August, with the ambient temperature being at 32 Celsius degrees and the surface temperature at 50. As for the two Yokohama equipped GT500 cars, D'station ADVAN GT-R began the race with Bjorn Wirdheim at the wheel and Seiji Ara took on the same role for WedsSport ADVAN SC430. And they aggressively raced with their opponents from the early stage amid a lot of incidents on the track.

Because the air and track temperatures were gradually getting higher, some of the opponents were forced to make their pit stops earlier than initially planned. But the two Yokohama shoed cars were able to do solid races, thanks to the consistency of the ADVAN racing tires. Consequently, Ara steadily drove for 33 laps and Wirdheim did for 34 laps before making their scheduled pit stops. For the second stints, Andre Couto drove WedsSport ADVAN SC430 and Hironobu Yasuda was at the wheel of D'station ADVAN GT-R. And, at the end of their duties, the former was running in fifth and the latter was in third, while not a few of their opponents got into trouble during the period.

Even after the race reached its halfway point, the two ADVAN equipped cars kept good pace and performed very well under the really tough conditions which delayed their main rivals one after another. Both D'station ADVAN GT-R and WedsSport ADVAN SC430 were running on the five stints strategies, as planned before the start. However, the GT-R was forced to make an extra pit stop on Lap 151 of the 173 lap race because of a miscalculation of the amount of fuel at the fourth - and supposed to be the last - pit stop, when it was running in forth after the intense fighting with Motul Autech GT-R. Due to this pit stop, D'station ADVAN GT-R fell down to fifth.

On the other hand, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 was in sixth with 20 laps to go but Keihin HSV-010 was rapidly closing in with a very good pace. On Lap 158, the Honda finally got ahead of Ara's Lexus and moved up to sixth before the 130R corner but, immediately after exiting the corner, Keihin HSV-010 was hit by a tire bursting on its right-hand rear wheel and crashed hard into the barrier just in front of Ara! He narrowly steered clear away from the scattered debris, including complete wheels, from the crashed car and got back to sixth.

This accident caused the Safety Car to come out, for the second time in this race, and gave D'station ADVAN GT-R a chance to recover the lost ground by the unscheduled pit stop, as the gap with the cars ahead of it was effectively eliminated. When the racing resumed from Lap 162, Wirdheim pushed as hard as he could and began a four way battle for third with Calsonic IMPUL GT-R, KeePer Kraft SC430 and Motul Autech GT-R. The Swede, after exiting the 130R on Lap 167, overtook the Motul car which lost momentum by riding over the curb in the aftermath of losing the battle with the KeePer Lexus. D'station ADVAN GT-R was now in fourth.

Still pushing hard, Wirdheim got an opportunity to make a move on the Calsonic car at the exit of the Chicane on Lap 170, only three laps to go. Having a GT300 car between them, he took the inside position against the opponent which opted for the outside and the two GT-Rs were racing each other towards Turn 1. "I got slightly better acceleration and I could just catch the Calsonic car at Turn 1. It was very, very exciting," he said later and he won the close battle to move up to third, bringing a lot of excitement to the spectators.

The race was eventually won by the pole sitting S Road Reito MOLA GT-R in style and D'station ADVAN GT-R finished in third to get on the podium for the first time this season. WedsSport ADVAN SC430 ended a solid race with the sixth place finish. On the final lap, Ara put heavy pressure on Motul Autech GT-R which finished in fifth but it just fell short. In contrast with many opponents struggling under the tough conditions, the Yokohama shoed GT500 cars had a really good race and shone brilliantly.

The race in the GT300 class was similarly eventful. Although 'triple a' Vantage GT3 was forced to start the race from the back end of the grids because of a technical infringement found after the qualifying session, Kazuki Hoshino at the wheel of the car passed as many as seven cars only in the opening lap and was still moving up through the field lap after lap.

Hoshino was unstoppable, as the team opted for the five stop strategy, rather than the four stops that most of other teams planned, and instructed him to push as hard as possible. Therefore, 'triple a' Vantage GT3's first pit stop to change to Hiroki Yoshimoto, on Lap 27, was much earlier than the other car's first one but, with fresh tires, Yoshimoto's pace was equally prominent. Now the only question was if the car would endure such a fast pace throughout the very long race.

From Lap 28, Tatsuya Kataoka in GSR Hatsune Miku BMW was leading the race for a while but he had to park the car on Lap 35, when he was about to come in for the scheduled pit stop and change to Nobuteru Taniguchi, due to running out of fuel!

This gave back the lead position to Yoshimoto and he already had a more than one minute margin with the car in second when he handed the car to Hoshino again on Lap 56. The gap continued to grow and, helped by not a few accidents which involved the other leading cars, the pair finally lapped all other cars in the class on Lap 114. Two laps later, they made a routine pit stop but resumed racing without handing over the lead position.

However, in the closing stage - on Lap 147 for the GT300 race leader, the Safety Car came out because of the crash of a GT500 car and this meant that Yoshimoto's lead suddenly shrunk to only 12 seconds.

During this Safety Car period, S Road NDDP GT-R made a quick pit stop just to add some more fuel. Yuhi Sekiguchi at the wheel of the GT-R was running in second when the race resumed and was allowed to push as hard as he could without caring about the remaining amount of fuel. On the other hand, the race leading 'triple a' Vantage GT3 was developing a problem with its engine, so it looked like a tall order for them to increase the pace to defend the position from Sekiguchi's attack and the gap between two became less than ten seconds on Lap 156. But alas, soon after that, S Road NDDP GT-R was given a ten second penalty stop for overtaking during the Safety Car period.

Consequently, 'triple a' Vantage GT3 won the traditional 1000km race in Suzuka but, immediately after the car received the checkered flag, its engine caught fire as Yoshimoto backed off the throttle. If the race was one lap longer, the result might have been very different... Despite the late stage penalty, S Road NDDP GT-R finished in second and Manepa Lamborghini GT3 in third. Thus, at the end of this long and tough race, the podium was dominated by Yokohama equipped teams for the second consecutive races and for the third time this season.

　[Result : 3rd in the GT500 class]
"We had a good strategy of making four stops and we had done a perfect job until the fourth stop. But then we made a mistake to stop refueling before we got enough fuel to the finish onboard. This meant we had to make an extra pit stop and I was, to be honest, almost giving up a podium finish. But Bjorn did a great job during the last stint. I really thank him for his effort.

"Without that extra stop, I'm sure we should have finished in second. But it is still an incredible achievement for us to get on the podium and I'm really happy with the result today because we have been trying very, very hard to join the leading pack.

"I predicted a tough race for us until the race began but the other tire manufacturers seemed to be suffering more than we were today. Yokohama tires have been showing tremendous improvement since the last testing at Fuji, so I think we can expect even better result in the next Fuji round than that of this race.

　[Result : Winner in the GT300 class]
"After our qualifying times were cancelled, I was deeply depressed and didn't join the Kids Walk event, which I have to apologize about to the kids. But, while I was having dinner together with teammates, I could change my mind and thought that 'Don't give up. We will try again to win the race tomorrow.'

"Even if the times were deleted from the official record, we were the fastest in all sessions in fact. The car was very good and the tires were perfect. We didn't see any drop off in terms of lap times and we could rely on the consistent performance throughout the race.

"I am so happy to get on the center of the podium at last. It was a great feeling. I knew my engine had a problem in the closing stage but I guess our main rival didn't notice it because I was still fast in corners and my lap times didn't drop too much, thanks to the good tires, of course!"

　[Result : Winner in the GT300 class]
"I thought it would be good enough if I was leading the race when I would hand the car to Yossie (Yoshimoto) but it came true very much earlier than I expected, to be honest. But I was determined to pass all cars in front of me anyway!

"I knew I had to keep cool but I must admit I went wild with anger until I actually became the leader. I didn't look after my tires at all and just kept pushing but I could calm down a little when the lead position was within reach. Then, after I made it, I could stay cool and focus on pulling away from the field without taking unnecessary risks."

"For this 1000km race at Suzuka, we haven't had enough opportunities to evaluate the tires for the event because we didn't have testing during the last winter at Suzuka and then the last testing here was hit by rain, which gave us a serious headache. Considering the very high temperatures expected in this mid-summer race meeting and the resurfaced western part of the track which has become more abrasive than before, we had to be prepared for having a very difficult race for us.

"Just as predicted, it proved to be very hot and tough race for everyone and many teams had their tire related problems. But in fact our tires consistently performed well both in the GT500 and GT300 classes under the difficult conditions.

"As we had a few tire problems with our GT500 cars earlier in this season, we have focused our tire development effort around that area and I believe it paid off, even though the lap times were faster than last year, which meant more loads were put on tires.

"As a result, D'station ADVAN GT-R got on the podium by finishing in third and WedsSport ADVAN SC430 finished in sixth, thanks to the great efforts from both teams. But we have to admit there was a significant performance gap with the actual race winner, S Road Reito MOLA GT-R, so we need to keep pushing in the tire development works.

"In the last Fuji group testing, both of our cars looked promising and, in particular, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 seemed to make a good progress in the car set up after the latest update of chassis. Our expectation for the next round can be high because we are supplying the latest tires based on the data collected in the testing.

"The GT300 class saw another eventful race. The speed of 'triple a' Vantage GT3 was overwhelming for the opponents and it was beyond our imagination that it became the race leader in that early stage of the race, after staring from the back end of the grids. I would say the best possible combination of the car, the drivers and the tires resulted in their incredible performance.

"It was also surprising that Manepa Lamborghini GT3 finished in third, despite making as many as seven pit stops during the race. At the end of the day, Yokohama equipped cars dominated the GT300 podium for the third time this season and we will try hard to continue this trend in the future races."