Having had a three week break after the final round of the regular season at Motegi, JAF Grand Prix Super GT & Super Formula Fuji Sprint Cup 2013 was held on 23-24 November. The event at Fuji Speedway has already become a popular fixture in November and was favored by good weather.

The Super GT series regular rounds were run as single 200-300km races, with a few long distance races as exceptions, and at least one pit stop for driver change, and refueling and tire change if needed, was mandatory for all participants. However, in this special round, there were two 'sprint races,' with respective qualifying sessions, for each of the team's two drivers. The overall standings were decided by the combined results from the two drivers and the overall top three finishers were awarded the prize money ? 3 million yen for first, 1.5 million for second and 1 million for third, which added even more motivation for the drivers.

The qualifying sessions were run on Saturday. Unlike the regular rounds, the drivers weren't mandated to start the race with the tires they had used in the qualifying session in this event. In the QF session for Race 1, Andre Couto drove WedsSport ADVAN SC430 and was classified in 13th. Hironobu Yasuda at the wheel of D'station ADVAN GT-R ended the session in tenth. Then, in the QF for Race 2, Seiji Ara took the wheel of the WedsSport car, while Michael Krumm was in the GT-R. As the surface temperature stayed in single digits, the drivers had to be very careful about the tire temperatures. In such circumstances, both Krumm and Ara struggled a little and finished the session in 12th and 13th respectively.

At 3:38 p.m. on Saturday, Race 1 for the GT500 class got underway with the standing start which could only be seen in this special round. But, because he wasn't able to warm up his tires enough before the start, Yasuda in D'station ADVAN GT-R lost a lot of ground during the first lap and completed the lap at the bottom of the field. In contrast, Couto in WedsSport ADVAN SC430 made a good start and was running in ninth at the end of the opening lap.

On Lap 2, Yasuda moved up to 14th, while Couto overtook Eneos Sustina SC430 when they were exiting the Hair pin curve. Then the Macau resident continued a defiant drive and passed Motul Autech GT-R on Lap 4 to put himself up to seventh.

As the tires of D'station ADVAN GT-R got all warmed up, Yasuda gained one more position on Lap 4. The two Yokohama shoed cars started to clock their fastest times in a 1'33” bracket, which was very comparable with the leading cars, after a few laps from the start. By picking up the pace, Yasuda passed two cars in one action on Lap 9 and came up to tenth.

Five laps later, Eneos Sustina SC430 went off the track and the car was forced to come in the pit on the next lap. This gave Yasuda ninth at the end of Lap 18 but he lost it to Denso Kobelco SC430 on Lap 19, as a result of the fights in the close pack around him. Similarly, Couto was hit back by Motul Autech GT-R and lost seventh to it. So now WedsSport ADVAN SC430 and D'station ADVAN GT-R were running in eighth and tenth respectively.

But Couto's strong pace earned two positions on Lap 21 and he finished the 22 lap race in sixth, while Yasuda received the checkered flag in tenth.

Race 2 for the GT500 class was held on Sunday afternoon. For this race, Ara drove WedsSport ADVAN SC430 and Krumm was in D'station ADVAN GT-R. Their start weren't the bad ones but, in the crowded pack immediately after the start, they lost some positions, so Krumm was in 13th and Ara in 15th and the last of the field at the end of Lap 1.

However, they started to come back, just as Couto and Yasuda had done on Saturday. Firstly, Ara moved up to 14th on Lap 2 and then Krumm gained a position on the next lap. After that, the two Yokohama shoed cars caught up KeePer Tom's SC430 and they were in a close three way battle within a second for a while. But, as not a few opponents began to struggle from the middle stage of the race for picking up marbles on the track, D'station ADVAN GT-R was in tenth and WedsSport ADVAN SC430 in 12th on Lap 14.

On the next lap, Ara managed to overtake Reito Mola GT-R and came up to 11th, just behind D'station ADVAN GT-R. Then they rapidly closed the gap with Motul Autech GT-R and passed it on Lap 18. This put the two Yokohama shoed cars in the top ten, as Krumm was now in ninth and was followed by Ara in tenth.

For the final few laps, Krumm and Ara hotly fought for ninth but the Japanese made a successful move on the German's GT-R just before the 13th corner on the penultimate lap. Thus, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 finished the race in ninth, followed by D'station ADVAN GT-R in tenth. As it had been in Race 1 on Saturday, the two Yokohama equipped cars ended the race in the top ten, helped by the consistent performance of the Yokohama Tire's products.

　[Result : 9th in the Race 2]
“From the qualifying session through to the end of the race, I never felt we had a big disadvantage to the leading cars but, as a matter of fact, we weren't able to fight for the top three prize money in this race. To be honest, it's a little disappointing. But we have done everything we could throughout the weekend, including some tweaks to get a better results in the race.

“I wish I could race for the fifth or sixth place at least. But, looking at the positive side, I was able to keep quite a consistent pace until the closing phase of the race, which was good. Had we taken a different car set up with which we could go faster on straightaways, I might have more opportunities to overtake. But I was comfortable with the car in the corners, thanks to the today's set up. At the end of the race, I had car no.18 just in front of me. So I thought, if I had had ten more laps, the result might have been different...”

　[Result : 10th in the Race 1]
“In the qualifying session, my best lap time with the softer tires was below our expectations. I was the sixth fastest in the qualifying in this event last year but, obviously, the things turned out differently this year.

“As for my race, I had a small misunderstanding with the team and, as a result, I had one lap less than others had before taking the grid, so my tires weren't warm enough when I started the race. Because of this, I struggled a little bit and dropped to the dead bottom. But, once the tires warmed up properly, they performed very well, so I was able to charge and managed to finish the race in the top ten. Only if I had started with the tires that were warm enough, I would have ended the race in a better position. But the conditions of tires weren't ideal in the final few laps because I had to push hard to recover. Nevertheless, my best lap time during the race was the fastest among the GT-R drivers and I would say it wasn't a race to forget, as I overtook as many as five cars and finished in tenth.”

“For this JAF Grand Prix races, we provided the tires that should have better warming up characteristics because low temperatures were expected in this season of the year. As the weather has been good throughout the weekend and we had two races under similar conditions, it was a very good opportunity to evaluate the tires.

“As for the GT500 class, we must admit the poor qualifying results affected the race very much. But, not to say that we were as fast as the leading cars were, our race pace was comparable with the cars in the upper-middle field. In this respect, we felt that we had acceptable results and that the direction of development so far in this season was right.

“As for the GT300 class, both two races were won by our customers. The same tires were used for the two days and there was no problem at all. We are satisfied with the tires' consistent performance.

“Now all racing activities of the season have ended. Looking back the season in view of our theme for the next year, we still have a lot of work to do on the GT300 tires' qualifying performance. But, in terms of the total performance, the improvement we had made for the second half of the season was proven to be in the right direction.

“The GT500 class will have the totally new technical regulations next year. So the tire sizes will be different, but we think the basic requirement for the tires remains the same. Therefore, we will keep the basic direction of development as it has been and will try to take it to a higher level.”