The curtain of the Super GT series which attracts the largest number of spectators of any Japanese based race series was raised at Suzuka Circuit.
　
ADVAN supplies its tires for two cars in GT 500 class: car no.24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z and car no.25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430.
The former has competed in the series since last year, and the latter has switched from Toyota Supra to Lexus SC430. In the GT 300 class, almost seventy percent of the competitors use ADVAN tires as they did last year.
　
Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Seiji Ara form the driving team for WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z, and Manabu Orido and Takeshi Tsuchiya for ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430, the latter keeps the same combination from last season.
As both of their cars are updated versions of the 2006 models, some people have predicted that they could face an uphill battle against the latest 2007 models from other teams.
　
WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z sat on the thirteenth grid and ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 on the sixteenth for the race that many motor sport fans have long awaited. Immediately after the start, however, a multi car accident occurred at the first corner.
KONDO racing's Z lost significant time on the spot, as it was blocked by a spinning GT500 class car, and although it did rejoin the race and started to make up for the delay, the car had mechanical trouble soon after, which led to its premature retirement.
　
Meanwhile, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 kept at a steady run during the race. Thanks to a consistent effort by Tsuchiya and Orido, they moved up the order and eventually finished in ninth, getting two valuable points in the season opener.
　
In the GT300 class, car no.13 ENDLESS ADVAN Senzai-Kakumei Z showed its pace from the qualifying session.
While the veteran, Masami Kageyama, showed a good performance, his partner and the rising star, Tomonobu Fujii, also made an impressive drive to hold off the challenge from rivals and completed their fine pole-to-win.
　
The contention for second place was won by car no.2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden.
After the driver change from Hiroki Kato, Kazuho Takahashi, the owner-driver of the car, answered the team's expectations with a superb drive.
With the help of ADVAN tires which feature a quicker build up of heat, he could overtake the forerunner soon after the driver change and took the checkered flag retaining the same position.
This meant the 1-2 finish was accomplished by ADVAN users in the GT300 class in which multiple tire suppliers in Japan and from abroad compete.

"We were on the top of the time sheet in all the sessions from the start of official practice.
To be honest, however, it wasn't an easy win.
　
One of the reasons for this was our mistake in choosing the right tires.
　
Nevertheless, we managed to set up the car correctly before the qualifying session, then took the pole and won the race.
Given all this, we are very pleased with this result."