The sixth round of the SUPER GT series, the 36th Suzuka 1000km was held at Suzuka Circuit. This race has been a very popular fixture in midsummer.
　
The Suzuka 1000km is renowned as a long distance battle in the violent heat of late August. But ADVAN tires have always held a big advantage in very hot conditions, which was proved by the maiden win of WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (car no.24) in the fourth round held at Sepang, Malaysia. Naturally, some good results were expected again for this race.
　
However, car no.24 had to carry a heavy penalty weight due to that win. On the other hand, car no.25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 was helped by enlarging the diameter of air restrictors to the "+2" level and a better performance could be expected, even though the car was still an updated version of the 2006 model.
　
Car no.25 performed well in Friday's practice sessions and stayed in the upper ranks on the timing monitor all day. In the qualifying sessions on Saturday, the car took the provisional fifth in the morning session and then proceeded to the Super Lap session. As a result of a great performance that matched its own fastest lap time at that time, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 took the third grid and started the race in the second row.
　
In the GT300 class, the ADVAN equipped cars were fast as well. Car no.2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden, which was second in the GT300 championship, took the come-from-behind pole position in the Super Lap session, after it marked the fourth fastest time in the morning qualifying session. Other ADVAN users, including car no.62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R, car no.13 ENDLESS ADVAN Senzai-kakumei Z, car no.26 Yunkel Power Taisan Porsche and car no.7 RE AMEMIYA ADVAN RX-7, also sat on the upper starting grids for the race.
　
On Sunday, the cloudy skies in the early morning cleared up when the competitors finished the warm up session and the temperatures rose quickly. And just before the start of the race, the atmospheric temperature reached 34℃ and the surface temperature was as high as 53 ℃.
　
The 1000km race was started in this excessive heat. Car no.25 kept the third position on the opening lap and ran consistently among the leading group. After moving up to second on Lap 17, the car led the race in the closing phase of the first stint because the car's planned pit stop on Lap 34 was somewhat later than that of the other leading competitors.
　
After the driver change from Takeshi Tsuchiya to Manabu Orido, the car kept on racing in the top echelon making its strong presence felt. The race was quite eventful from the early stage and many accidents happened everywhere on the track regardless of the class. As a result, there was a lot of debris from the damaged cars, which caused the really difficult surface conditions. Unfortunately, ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 ran over some debris and the car was seriously damaged. Although it could come back to the pit under its own power, the damage was well beyond repair and the team had no choice but to retire.
　
In the GT300 class, Privee KENZO Asset Shiden gave a commanding performance and overwhelmed its rivals. Hiroki Kato and Hiroki Yoshimoto, who joined the team as the third driver for this event, drove alternately for the major part of the race and built a substantial lead. But in the closing stage of the race, when Yoshimoto was driving his second stint of the day, it started to rain and he went on with slick tires on a wet surface for several laps. As the rain became heavier, the team decided to bring him in earlier than originally planned and changed from Yoshimoto to the owner-driver, Kazuho Takahashi.
　
Of course, Takahashi went out with rain tires. With heavy rain beating the windscreen of the cars and water spray from the cars ahead, the visibility was poor for all drivers, particularly in the western part of the track. But Takahashi's consistent driving shone in such difficult conditions, which was reassuring for the teammates and crews.
　
Afterwards, the rain became lighter and the racing line on the track started to dry. Although some teams changed to slick tires to make the most of the situation, in Shiden's pit garage, Kato consulted with the team's engineer to determine the right timing of changeover, looking closely at the changing surface conditions.
　
Then Takahashi came in the pit with ten laps to go. The tires were changed to slicks and Kato sat behind the wheel for the final stint. Although the lead position didn't changed during the pit stop, the finishing driver Kato wouldn't ease off and finally took the checkered flag as the class winner for the first time this season. Starting from the pole position, the team achieved a perfect win together with the fastest lap time in the race.

　 [the winner of the GT300 class]
"We had taken the pole positions several times this season and got on the podium too, and finally achieved a win today.
"As we had a shower in the closing part of the race, we had to change the tires from slicks to rain, and then back to slicks again. But all three drivers didn't make a big mistake under the difficult conditions and we could choose right tires for the changing track surface.
"However, one of the most important factors behind this win was the ADVAN slick tires which helped us very much. It just suited the car, or hit the spot, I should say.
"The tires will be our biggest weapon in the remaining three races for sure.
"We must carry the maximum weight handicap and we expect that the coming races will be tough because of the weight. But we will try to do our best and gain as many points as possible in every race, keeping our eyes on the championship title."