The Macau Grand Prix has been the final event of Formula Three (F3) races since it began to be run in the current format in 1983. The F3 is an international formula adopted by many countries and areas under common technical regulations around the world. Therefore, though almost every domestic series is run with controlled tires, each competitor can also race in the other series only by changing the tires.

ADVAN has supplied the controlled tires for this classic event in Macau since 1983 and marked its 25th anniversary last year. Even though they are single specification controlled tires, ADVAN has improved them almost every year. For this year's event, some major modifications were made to the tires, using environmental-friendly materials, to reduce degradation of grip and graining on tread surfaces.

As this is the first year of the new model chassis which has been introduced every three years, according to the rules, and the new cars have less downforce than last year's cars, no one was able to break the course record set three years ago. But many drivers still put in lap times very close to the record, which proves the progress in tire performance.

The pair from Tom's team of Japan, the reigning Japanese F3 champion Carlo van Dam and his teammate, Keisuke Kunimoto, took first and second position respectively in the qualifying session, after displaying their superior speed in the preceding practice sessions.

But they had very different outcomes in the qualifying race on Saturday. While the pole sitter, van Dam, made too much wheel spin at the start and lost ground, Kunimoto's getaway was almost perfect and he immediately took the lead.

The Japanese driver ran down the straightaway and went through Lisboa, the entrance to the mountain section, followed by Edoardo Mortara in second. Predictably enough, a multi-car accident occurred at Lisboa in the pursuing pack, as has happened in almost every race here, and caused the intervention of the safety car. Carlo van Dam was one of the victims of the accidents and had to retire before completing the opening lap.V
Mortara, who started from the third grid, gradually narrowed the gap with Kunimoto and caught the leader's tail in the mountain section of Lap 6. On the ocean side straightaway on the following lap, the Italian used slipstreaming to overtake the early leader before they reached Lisboa.

After losing out to Mortara, Kunimoto was on the verge of being caught by the following pack but he continued to push hard and managed to secure second place when the checkered flag fell.

The final race on Sunday afternoon saw a repeat duel between the top two finishers of the previous race. Kunimoto made a better getaway from the second grid but the pole sitter, Mortara, displayed his slipstreaming skill again. As a result, they went through the Mandarin Bend side-by-side while approaching Lisboa and it was the Italian driver who took the lead when they exited the corner.

Once again, however, because of the pile up at Lisboa on the opening lap, the safety car came in, so the surviving competitors completed the lap in single file led by the race leader, Mortara.

The race resumed on Lap 3. At the restart, Kunimoto gained the upper hand over the Italian. The Japanese ace used slipstreaming and overtook his main rival on the Mandarin Bend to take the lead at the entry of Lisboa.

Meanwhile, Mortara made a mistake when he was approaching the same corner and was passed by two rivals, Daniel Campos-Hull and Jaime Alguersuari. But his speed advantage was obvious, so he was able to move up to second again by the end of Lap 6.

At that point, Kunimoto had a two and a half second gap ahead of Mortara but the gap was eliminated because of another safety car period from Lap 7 and 9. However, Tom's driver showed his restarting skill from the safety car run again and pulled away from the followers to build a nearly two second gap in the lap after the race resumed.

Although Mortara tried hard to get back to the top slot, Kunimoto held him off and took the checkered flag. He became the second Japanese winner of the Macau Grand Prix (following Takuma Sato) and this was his first attempt to do so. Tom's team achieved their second consecutive win here and demonstrated the quality of the Japanese F3 championship to the whole world again.

"I'm so happy to win here. Of course, my goal was to win if I raced at all, but I have to say the result is somewhat better than I anticipated, to be honest.
"This is the first time I came to Macau but I watched videos for several hours and many, many times I conducted simulations in my mind about the safety car periods and the restarts. Thanks to that preparation, I was able to make good restarts for these two days, which led me to keep my momentum.
"I lost the gap to Mortara because of the second safety car period but I didn't lose my concentration, telling myself that I would be able to pull away again at the restart. I managed to keep my concentration throughout the race but at the same time, I enjoyed it very much.
"I felt a surge of pleasure when I saw the checkered flag. And I was deeply moved by the national anthem while on the podium."

"ADVAN supplies controlled tires for the German national F3 series but they are different from the tires for the Macau Grand Prix. The tires for Macau, which we have supplied since 1983, has been specially tuned for this race and continuously improved to suit this unique race track, using the latest data.
"The main theme for this year was being environmental friendly but at the same time, we also made some modifications on the performance side to reduce degradation of grip and graining on tread surfaces. So to speak, they are the grand sum of the latest technologies which we have developed in many categories throughout the 2008 season.
"The competitiveness of teams has risen year after year and the battles between them have intensified as a result. So we have to answer it with improved tires. Even though we have no rival manufacturer here to compete with, we work hard to supply the tire that satisfies all drivers.
"We always feel fulfilled when the event ends successfully, not only for the drivers and teams, but for the people involved in the organization and everybody is smiling after the race."