At the Sepang Merdeka Endurance Race (also known as the "Sepang 12 Hours"), held at Malaysia's Sepang Circuit from August 30th (Friday) to September 1st (Sunday), the Clearwater Racing Team (Singapore) was victorious after completing 323 laps in their Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, equipped with Yokohama tires. The winning car was driven by Mok Weng Sun (Singapore), Craig Baird (Australia), and Hiroshi Hamaguchi (Japan). Their victory makes this the third win in a row at the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race for users of Yokohama tires, with the 2011 and 2012 12-hour races won by the Petronas Syntium Team.??

The race, which takes place on Malaysia's Independence Day, known as "Merdeka", is becoming Sepang's main summer event, with many entrants coming from GT Asia, Super Taikyu (endurance), the Thailand Super Series, Macau, Hong Kong, etc. Despite being at the end of summer, the temperature still regularly sits above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) this time of year in Sepang, bringing with it a high chance of rain, and meaning a tough event for not only the tires, but the cars and drivers as well.??

At the official qualifying session held on the 30th (Friday), a brace of veteran teams occupied the top spots. They included Petronas' (favorites to win) two Mercedes SLSs, which monopolized the front row, with the #007 Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT3, #3 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, and Clearwater Racing's #7 Ferrari 458 following and all gearing up to do battle with the Nismo Athlete Global Team's Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3, which had come from Japan and was making its first-ever appearance in the event. The race began at midnight on the 31st (Saturday), avoiding the daytime heat. At the outset, with the #007 Aston Martin leading the race and the two Petronas Mercedes chasing, it could be said that it was an expected development. Richard Lyons (UK), who won the 2005 SUPER GT Sepang Round, seemed as though he would continue to lead the race in the #007 Aston Martin, but he soon fell down the leaderboard. The #35 Nissan GT-R, upon whom Japan's hopes rested, made a pit stop after an hour had passed, their machine taken off to the garage for repairs. Next, the two Petronas Mercedes SLSs experienced mechanical trouble one after the other, leaving the battle lines surprisingly early. After that, the #3 Ferrari 458, #23 Lamborghini LP560-4, and the #7 Ferrari 458 were locked in a three-way battle. The #3 Ferrari 458, driven by former F1 driver Mika Salo, held the lead as the night race continued, but after dawn arrived, the #7 Ferrari 458, which had by then pulled ahead, built a commanding lead, and crossed the finish line in the 12th hour of the race in first place. The #35 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3, which recorded excellent lap times following repairs to the car after dramas early on, kept its pit stop times down thanks to the speedy, SUPER GT-honed pit work, recovering to 6th place after having fallen as low as 30th. The new team of three young chargers, composed of two drivers from the Nissan GT Academy, a program in which video game champions are given driver training in order to turn them into real racers, and Katsumasa Chiyo, a Japanese driver active in SUPER GT, went beyond expectations. Wolfgang Reip (Belgium), who also drives the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the FIA GT Series, and Mark Shulzhitskiy (Russia) both agreed, "We are familiar with the GT-R, but in our first experience with Yokohama tires, we were frankly surprised by the grip. The front grip of the new tires in particular is unbelievable."

Japan's Hiroshi Hamaguchi, who drove Clearwater Racing's GT3-class Ferrari 458 Italia for a dominating overall victory, beating the previous record of 321 laps set by the Petronas Team, took a glorious win participating in this race for the first time. "This was my first endurance race so I wasn't sure how the nighttime stint would turn out - but the team prepared a nighttime test for me so I was able to familiarize myself well before the race. The car's fuel economy was good and I was able to drive trouble-free. During the night we went out with soft tires but the grip was still good after 40 minutes of racing so you could say they held up really well. I only wish I could have done a time attack during qualifying with the QF tires on the car (laughs). Taking the center step of the podium is like a dream," he commented excitedly.

"It was a long race with lots of ups and downs but another Yokohama user won this year and we are deeply honored to have achieved three victories in a row. We've been steadfastly supporting motorsports users in the Asian region, assisting customers who chose Yokohama for race series like GT Asia, the Macau Grand Prix, and the Bangsaen Grand Prix. As a result of those activities, many users were able to participate in the Sepang 12 Hour Endurance Race. The result of this is three wins in a row so I'm just extremely happy."