As the 2009 Super GT series has passed the half way point, the sixth round "International Pokka GT Summer Special" was held at Suzuka Circuit.

The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon employed the so-called Knock out System, which is now familiar in Formula One for the first time this season. After registering the tenth fastest time of the GT500 class in the preceding official practice session, HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R improved its best time in the practice by more than one second in the first section of qualifying, Session 1. Although the team managed to better the time further in Session 2, the car was eventually to sit on the tenth grid for the race.

On the other hand, in the GT300 class, Daishin ADVAN Ferrari (Takayuki Aoki/Tomonobu Fujii/Koji Aoyama) took a second consecutive pole position. They were followed by Jim Gainer ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka/Katsuyuki Hiranaka) and UP Start Taisan Porsche (Haruki Kurosawa/Tsubasa Abe/Katsuhiko Tsutsui), which made the top three domination by ADVAN equipped cars.

As the time to start the race approached, clouds began to cover the Sunday's sky. When all cars sat on their grids, even a brief rain shower came but it didn't last long, so the race started on the totally dry surfaces.

Starting from the tenth grid, Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira in HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R made a splendid getaway and managed to overtake two opponents during the opening lap. He kept a very good pace in the early stage of the race and put their best lap time of the day on Lap 6 (1'58"977), before changing to Seiji Ara on Lap 34, then back to de Oliveira again on Lap 61.

HIS ADVAN Kondo GT-R temporarily led the race because of the pit stop sequence of the contenders but was hit by a mechanical problem when nearly three-quarters of the race distance was completed. Due to this, they lost a lot of ground and had to settle for finishing in eleventh, even though the car regained the pace once the problem was cleared.

In the GT300 class, the ADVAN shoed cars led throughout the race. When they reached the halfway point of this 700km event, Daishin ADVAN Ferrari and Jim gainer ADVAN F430 were running in first and second and they seemed to be in contention for the victory at that time.

When the overall race leader completed Lap 85, the Safety Car was called in and many cars, including these two, used it for their final pit stops. However, this Safety Car period worked ideally for Apple K-one Shiden which already has made its final stop on Lap 77 but remained on the same lap with the class race leader. Therefore, after the two Ferraris went for their pits, the Shiden could automatically move up and restarted the race as the leader, when the Safety Car came in to the pit road.

Another ADVAN equipped car, S Road MOLA Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Masataka Yanagida), also utilized the opportunity to emerge to the second position. The contention for the class win between the new top two and a Garaiya in third now drew much attention in the closing stage.

Their battle seesawed, as they had to give way to the faster GT500 cars and to lap the slower GT300 cars at the same time, but the race was decided on the penultimate lap. At the chicane, Apple K-one Shiden then driven by Kato stuck behind a GT500 car which was so slow on corners because it was running on cold tires just after its pit stop. This caused considerable time loss for Kato.

Yanagida on S Road MOLA Z didn't miss the opportunity and passed the Kato's Shiden in a blink of an eye. On the other hand, Kato lost precious momentum for the next straightaway and allowed the pursuing Garaiya to overtake him at the end of pit straight. Now the finish was just one lap ahead and the order of top three remained unchanged.

Hoshino and Yanagida pair of S Road MOLA Z scored the delightful first win of the season. Frustrating Kato and his partner, Yoshimoto, however, moved up to second in the championship and their hard chase in the remaining three rounds can be expected for their maiden and long-cherished series title.

　[Result : Winner in the GT300 class]
"Three stops were mandatory in this race but we couldn't decide which was the best way for us between four stints and three stints.
"So we were making the decision on it after watching the situation during the first stint in which Yanagida drove. He went very, very well and tires looked to last for a longer stint, so we decided to go for three stints.
"The Safety Car period might be unlucky for other cars but it was certainly a gift for us and we could restart the race in third.
"After that, I just had to pray that Yanagida would make it.
"I was really depressed yesterday because we had to settle for the 14th in the qualifying session but I tried to rouse myself not to give up. I think such attitude brought us a good result at last, so I am very happy."