The 4th JAF Grand Prix Super GT & Super Formula Fuji Sprint Cup 2013 was held at Fuji Speedway. There were no mandatory pit stops during the two 22lap - roughly 100km - sprint races, so the drivers were allowed to make an all-out attack in each race, without giving regard strategies. The race weekend was favored by good weather and it was the perfect conditions for a race meeting.

With no official practice session being scheduled, it started with the qualifying sessions for each race. In the QF session for GT300 Race 1, which was the first on-track action for the Super GT teams on Saturday, Alex Buncombe in Nismo Athlete GT-R GT3 clocked the fastest time at the time in the middle of the session and further improved it to 1'37”502 which broke the course record of the class. Buncombe remained at the top of the time sheet for a while but his hope for the pole position was denied by Daiki Sasaki in S Road NDDP GT-R when the Japanese set 1'37”147 in the last minutes of the session. So Sasaki sat on the pole position and Buncombe ended the session in third, as he was beaten by another opponent. Still it was a great achievement for the Briton because this was the very first time for him to race at Fuji Speedway!

In the QF for GT300 Race 2, Kazuki Hoshino in S Road NDDP GT-R registered 1'36”984 only on his second lap. Although this time was good enough to stay at the top until the end of the session, he even cut it down to 1'36”736, which meant he was 0.4 seconds faster than the driver in second, on his last attempt and secured the pole position. Buncombe's teammate, Lucas Ordonez, also set the third fastest time but it was deleted from the official result because he was penalized for driving beyond the track limit on that particular lap. However, he still got the fifth grid by his second best time.

At the start of Race 1, Sasaki's pole sitting S Road NDDP GT-R made a bad getaway and dropped down to sixth. And his mishap gave Buncombe the position of early leader. Buncombe's pace in the first laps was impressive. He built a 0.8 second gap with the driver in second by the end of Lap 1 and add a second one lap later. The gap was steadily growing but, unfortunately, Buncombe's Nismo Athlete GT-R GT3 was hit by a problem with his left rear wheel on Lap 17 and he was forced to come into the pit.

This handed the lead position to Sasaki. After a mistake at the start, he regained a position from sixth on the second lap and one more on the next. Then he caught up ARTA CR-Z GT which was running in third on Lap 9 and, two laps later, overtook it at Turn 1 to move up to third. Now he looked unstoppable and Gainer Dixcel SLS in second became his next target. On Lap 16, Sasaki passed the AMG Mercedes and, on the next lap, Buncombe gave way to him by heading to the pit entry.

Once Sasaki took over the lead, no one was ever able to threaten his position and S Road NDDP GT-R scored its maiden victory. Among other leading Yokohama shoed cars, Katsumasa Chiyo in Dijon Racing IS GT-R finished in fourth after starting the race from the eight grid and Haruki Kurosawa in Leon SLS followed in fifth. Kurosawa also gained four positions during the race from the ninth grid start.

Race 2 began with the pole sitter's bad luck once again. S Road NDDP GT-R with Hoshino at the wheel had something wrong with the car's clutch and it started to creep before the red signals went off. Although he was leading the field when they reached Turn 1, it was obvious that Hoshino would be penalized for the jump start. On Lap 3, when he had extended his lead to 2.3 seconds, he was given a drive through penalty, which he served on the next lap.

On the other hand, Hiroki Kato in Eva RT Test-01 Apple MP4-12C had a great start and jumped up to third from the seventh grid. Then Hoshino's fall handed him second place and Kato was closing the gap with the new race leader, ARTA CR-Z GT.

On Lap 7, Kato used the slip streaming on the pit straight and managed to snatch the lead position from the Honda. Ordonez in Nismo Athlete GT-R GT3 followed his path and moved up to second on the next lap but he was forced to come in the pit on Lap 14 because his car had heavy vibrations due to a loose wheel. This brought Kato a nearly 3 second cushion at the time.

While Gainer Dixcel SLS was rapidly closing in on him from behind during the final laps, the checkered flag fell just before Kato was caught up by the pursuer. When he got out of Eva RT Test-01 Apple MP4-12C's cockpit, many saw tears standing in his eyes. He had had a tough season and hadn't had a single championship point in the regular rounds this year.

Nobuteru Taniguchi in GSR Hatsune Miku BMW moved up to third on Lap 19 and remained in the position until the finish. Hoshino in S Road NDDP GT-R did everything he could to recover but only came up to seventh at the end of the day. By combined points from the two races, however, the Hoshino/Sasaki pair was awarded second place overall and the Kato/Takahashi pair in the Eva backed McLaren followed in third.

　[Result : Winner in the Race 1]
“I am so happy to win the race today. We haven't had good results in the regular season but now we could finally give back to our supporters. We were fast right from the qualifying session and were able to demonstrate the speed of our GT-R which is well suited to the characteristics of Fuji Speedway.
“We often lost ground in the race during the regular season. On the contrary, I made that bad start today but I managed to recover and we were really strong in the race today. My pace was good throughout the race, so I could make many overtaking. I think this was the proof that the GT-R is a strong race car.
“If I had made a good start, I would have pulled away easily. But, even after losing the positions at the start, I had faith in myself and never gave up. I just kept pushing and some good luck also helped me.”

　[Result : Winner in the Race 2]
“Because I watched Race 1 carefully and got some information from Mr.Takahashi, I set up the car to be fast on the straightaway. But my tires were going off in the closing stage of the race... Hiranaka had been strong throughout the season, so I got very nervous when he was coming close from behind. I was relieved when I saw the checkered flag, still holding him behind me.
“Today, I was at the right place at the right time and I was also favored by some good luck. Probably, all these factors came together and made this win possible. Our regular season had been very stressful and frustrating, as we had ended the races out of points all the way through the season. So, with this result, I would like to say a big thank you to the people at McLaren, Mooncraft and, of course, Mr.Takahashi. The factors of this win were that firstly I gained some positions at the start and that then I moved up quickly and built a certain gap with the others.
“This has been really tough season for us. But the team has done a great job and there was a surprising victory like this at the end. Having said that, I wouldn't say all's well that ends well...”