The fifth round of the Super GT series was held at Sports Land Sugo. For this race, car no.24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (which got its long-awaited maiden win at Sepang) had to carry a 50kg weight handicap. Meanwhile, the technical redress for car no.25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 was reduced from the second level to the first, as a result of finishing fifth at Sepang.
　
In the qualifying sessions, ADVAN equipped cars performed well in the GT300 class. Car no.2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden was consistently quick in the practice sessions on Friday and took the come-from-behind pole position in the super lap qualifying session, despite being ranked second in the first session. Other ADVAN users, such as car no.13 ENDLESS ADVAN Senzai-kakumei Z and car no.62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R, also took higher positions on the grid and a torrid battle like the GT500 class was expected for the race.
　
From the practice on Friday through the free practice in Sunday morning, including two qualifying sessions on Saturday, all the sessions were run with dry conditions. But the race started on a wet surface, because it started to rain just before the competitors took their cars to the grid.
　
However, the weather forecast said that the rain would stop soon, so the teams debated their tire choices. Eventually, most of them opted for the intermediate (wet tire with shallower grooves), but a few teams took a gamble and started with slick tires.
　
The race started under the lead of Safety Car, and after six laps, Safety Car made an exit from the track. At that point, the surface was still fully wet and the gamble on the slicks lost out.
　
In the meantime, car no.25 in the GT500 class stayed on the track with intermediate tires. As the track conditions gradually improved, after the driver change from Takeshi Tsuchiya for their second stint, Manabu Orido lapped with the slick tires displaying some close battles and gradually moved up positions.
　
Car no.24 was delayed due to a penalty stop, but for the second half of the race, Seiji Ara took over from the starting driver, Joao Paulo De Oliveira, and played catch-up to make up the delay in the early stage.
　
At the end of the day, car no.25 and car no.24 finished in eighth and tenth respectively, despite starting from lower grids, and proved the consistent performance of ADVAN tires in the race distance.
　
On the other hand, in the GT300 class, the pole sitter Privee KENZO Asset Shiden led the first half of the race. But after the midpoint it became rough-and-tumble with several cars alternately taking the top slot. However, car no.19 Weds Sport Celica, which started from the eighth grid, outshone the rivals. Because of the accident in the early stage, the car was running around tenth when Yuuhi Sekiguchi took over from veteran Akira Iida, but the young F3 driver, Sekiguchi, pushed hard and marked the fastest lap of the GT300 class (1'24"604) on Lap 44, soon after their driver change.
　
He gradually moved up the ranks and after taking second on Lap 62, continued to push hard and pursue the leader. Finally, it became a tail-to-nose battle between the top two and on Lap 72, Sekiguchi managed to pass the leader from the inside on the final corner. Once taking the top slot, he didn't take unnecessary risks just to ensure his first ever win in the Super GT.

　 [the winner of the GT300 class]
"One of our aims this season has been to achieve a good result here at SUGO. As I thought we had to get on the podium at least, even if we weren't winning, I feel somewhat relieved now, to be honest.
"The conditions just after the start were very, very difficult and I struggled just to stay on the track. But I continued to drive with patience, telling myself that the surface would dry up soon.
"The timing of our pit stop was really good, because the situation and the conditions just fell in with my anticipation. It was the best timing for Sekiguchi to rejoin the race with slick tires.
"We were on pins and needles when he came out of the pit, but we tried to calm him down with instructions through the radio. Afterwards, he rode out the difficult time to become the star of the day with a consistent drive."