The seventh round of the 2013 Super GT series, Super GT in Kyushu 300km, held at Autopolis in Ohita prefecture, got underway under rainy conditions, as a typhoon was approaching the Islands of Okinawa.

The official practice session began in the rain at 9 a.m. on Saturday but it soon had to be stopped because the rain became heavier, accompanied by a thick fog, and the session eventually ended at eleven o'clock without resuming any on-track action. As the intermittent heavy rain and fog stayed around even after that, the organizers were also forced to reschedule the qualifying session that was supposed to start at 2 p.m. to the morning hours on Sunday. Thus the qualifying and race now had to be held just in one day!

Although it drizzled from time to time, the weather got a little better on Sunday. The 25 minute qualifying session was run from 9 a.m. with a different format than usual in which only one driver per car made qualifying attempt. With air/surface temperatures at 20/21 degrees Celsius, which was much colder than usual in this season of the year, the track still had a lot of wet patches here and there when the session began. So, in the session for the GT300 class that took place first, all cars went out with the intermediate tires but, after a few laps, all of them came back to the pits to switch to the slick tires for their all-out qualifying laps.

Despite the conditions not looking very good, not a few cars broke the course record in this session and Kazuki Hoshino in S Road NDDP GT-R took his first pole position of the season with the time of 1'47”222. He was followed by Katsumasa Chiyo in Dijon Racing IS GT-R and Hideto Yasuoka in Exe Aston Martin, which meant the Yokohama shoed drivers locked out the others from the top three grids.

The qualifying session for the GT500 class began at 9:25 a.m. and all drivers chose the slick tires when they left their pits. Andre Couto in WedsSport ADVAN SC430 just struggled. “I had too much understeer, so my qualifying attempt wasn't ideal. It turned out to be a tough qualifying session,” he said, after ending the closely fought session in 14th with 1'39”893. Hironobu Yasuda drove D'station ADVAN GT-R and set 1'39”877, which was the eighth fastest at that time, in his first attempt. With the second sets of tires, he reduced the time to 1'39”012 but some of his opponents did even better, so his qualifying position dropped to 11th at the end of the session.

The 65 lap race started at 2 p.m. under the overcast sky with the air/surface temperatures at 22/24 degrees that were slightly higher than those in the morning. D'station ADVAN GT-R sat on the grid with Yasuda at the wheel and did WedsSport ADVAN SC430 so with Couto. All teams hadn't had enough track time to prepare for the race and there was virtually no rubber put on the track yet, so no one can be sure about what was happening during the race.

The GT500 class race began rather quietly and the two Yokohama equipped cars kept their positions where they had started for a while. But, on Lap 5, one of the opponents which was running in seventh suddenly slowed down and was absorbed into the close pack that included Yasuda. He played smartly in this pack and managed to come up to ninth on Lap 6. Couto was also gaining positions gradually, as his opponents struggled with a lot of marbles on the track. Thus, by Lap 11, D'station ADVAN GT-R and WedsSport ADVAN SC430 were running in points, eighth and tenth respectively.

However, the tires that D'station ADVAN GT-R had started with didn't seem to be suited to the conditions very well and quickly wore out. So Yasuda was forced to come in the pit on Lap 25, while he was still running in eighth, to switch to the harder tires and hand the car to Michael Krumm.

Meanwhile, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 was consistent in its lap times and gained one more position by passing KeePer Tom's SC430 at Turn 1 on Lap 15. Now running in ninth, Couto just kept going despite the drizzle that came back then and moved up to third on Lap 31. With growing expectations for a good result, Couto brought back the car to the pit to change to Seiji Ara.

When all competitors had served mandatory pit stops by Lap 36, D'station ADVAN GT-R was in sixth and WedsSport ADVAN SC430, which set its fastest lap time 1'42”613 soon after the pit stop, was in tenth. Yokohama shoed cars' double point finish seemed to be well within their reach. But then Ara's pace rapidly dropped, probably because the tires that the team had chosen for his stint didn't suit to the conditions, and he had no choice but to come into the pit again, on Lap 43, to replace the tires with fresh ones.

In contrast, Krumm's pace was comparable with the leading cars and he was strong enough to fight for fifth. On Lap 57, the German managed to overtake Weider Modulo HSV-010 and once got up to fifth but lost the position to the Honda's counterattack seven laps later. Refusing to give up the fifth place, Krumm was pushing hard until the finish but, after all, D'station ADVAN GT-R received the checkered flag in sixth just 0.5 seconds behind the Weider backed Honda. WedsSports ADVAN SC430 ended the race in 13th due to the extra pit stop.

In the GT300 class, Daiki Sasaki made a good start with the pole sitting S Road NDDP GT-R and Yasuoka in Exe Aston Martin came up to second during the opening lap. Tatsuya Kataoka in GSR Hatsune Miku BMW also skillfully gained a few positions during the first laps and found himself in fifth on Lap 3, followed by another Yokohama equipped car, Iwasaki OGT Racing GT-R, with Yuki Iwasaki at the wheel.

As Exe Aston Martin was faster in race pace, the gap with S Road NDDP GT-R was steadily reduced. On Lap 6, Yasuoka overtook Sasaki and started to pull away immediately. Behind them, Kataoka earned one more place two laps later and then Iwasaki moved up to fifth on Lap 10. This meant the Yokohama shoed cars were sweeping majority in the leading positions now.

GSR Hatsune Miku BMW was the first to make a pit stop, on Lap 26, for driver change among the leaders. S Road NDDP GT-R followed its path on the next lap but the team's refueling work took a little bit longer than usual. So Hoshino, now at the wheel of the GT-R, only rejoined the race behind Taniguchi who was handed the BMW from Kataoka. Hoshino made every effort to regain the lead position but, unfortunately, S Road NDDP GT-R suddenly stopped at the final corner on its 37th lap due to an electric system problem and had to retire.

Exe Aston Martin was leading the race with a huge margin that Yasuoka had built during his stint. On top of this, the team replaced only the left front tire to minimize the pit stop time, so Masaki Kano, the driver of the Aston Martin's second stint, was still leading when the car resumed racing. However, Taniguchi's pace was incredibly fast and the gap between them quickly shrunk. On Lap 45, at Turn1, the BMW driver overtook Kano and became the new race leader.

Okinawa-Imp SLS also moved up to fourth when everyone had served mandatory driver change. After changing from Hironori Takeuchi to Takeshi Tsuchiya very early on Lap 22, the latter steadily improved the car's position and, finally, passed Hankook Porsche on Lap 50 to come up to third. Now the Yokohama shoed cars were running in 1-2-3.

Taniguchi in GSR Hatsune Miku BMW drove with a comfortable margin for the rest of the race and claimed their second consecutive victory after the win in the last Fuji round. Together with the drivers of Exe Aston Martin and Okinawa-Imp SLS, Taniguchi and Kataoka proudly wore the Yokohama branded caps on the podium. Iwasaki OGT GT-R finished the race in sixth.

After this Autopolis round, the point gap between the championship leader, Mugen CR-Z GT, and GSR Hatsune Miku BMW was reduced to just eight points. Okinawa-Imp SLS also kept their title hopes alive.

　[Result : Winner in the GT300 class]
“We were qualified only in eighth but Kataoka did a good job and moved up to third in the first half of the race. It made me feel I had to do my best, too. The team's job at the pit stop was quick and I pushed very hard on my out lap, so I was able to catch the Aston Martin which was leading at that point in time, just as I had hoped for. After that, I was still able to increase the gap with the Aston Martin because the tires were good, the team did a great job and the drivers didn't make any mistakes.
“After winning the race at Fuji, I had dreamt a hat trick by winning in Autopolis and Motegi, even though I knew the chance was very slim. But we won a difficult race here, so nothing is impossible. As we are second in the championship standings now, I really want to win the next race and the championship title as well.”

　[Result : Winner in the GT300 class]
“We had an unusual time table this time and, as a result, we didn't have an opportunity to evaluate which tires would be best for the qualifying beforehand. So the qualifying session was difficult but our race pace was very consistent and it helped us very much. I tried to follow the leaders as closely as possible and made the pit stop earlier than others, which was our plan. I think the timing of our pit stop was an important factor for this result.
“We had a big gap in the championship points when we came here and I had thought winning the title would be almost impossible. But now we are only eight points behind the championship leader, so I will set my sights to the title. It depends on our rivals' results in the next race but I believe if we will be able to perform at our best, the result will come.”

“Due to the bad weather on Saturday, we had to follow an irregular time table which had the qualifying session and the race on the same day, Sunday. It must have been difficult for everyone because there was almost no rubber put on the track before the qualifying and not enough time to prepare for the race.
“As for D'station ADVAN GT-R, the tires that the car started with didn't suit to the conditions very well, so Yasuda's stint had to be cut short. But I think the other tire manufacturers had a similar problem especially in the early stage of the race. The team made the right decision to stop earlier and, by choosing the tires with harder compound than those Yasuda had used, Krumm drove his stint superbly in very consistent pace, which led to the sixth place at the end of the day.
“WedsSport ADVAN SC430 stayed on the track longer by Couto's tireless drive in the first half of the race and changed to Ara when the car was running in third. The team also chose the harder tires but they wore out much quicker than expected, so, unfortunately, he had to come back to the pit for another set of tires.
“In the GT300 class, we achieved a podium sweep for the second consecutive race. Needless to say, GSR Hatsune Miku BMW's back-to-back victory was a great achievement but Exe Aston Martin's second place finish was also remarkable. Another good news was that the BMW crew kept their title hopes alive for the final round of the series.
“Because of the irregular time table, all competitors were forced to race without having enough preparation work on the car set up. And the drivers had to drive under such conditions that were out of the working temperature range of the tires we provided, so the teams had to make many difficult decisions. But, if you consider those unusual conditions, it was safe to say that our tires performed pretty well in both GT300 and GT500 classes. Especially for the GT500, we felt the new things about tire construction and others that we introduced for the second half of the season seemed to have good effects. But, of course, we still have a lot of work to do and we will make every effort for the final round of the season at Motegi.”