The JAF GP Fuji Sprint Cup which had been inaugurated last year returned to Fuji Speedway again, as the season closing extra event held on 11-13 November. While the usual championship rounds of the Super GT series were run as semi-endurance races in which two drivers share each car with mandatory driver change, the JAF GP event consisted of two 100km sprint races for each driver of teams, as its name 'Sprint Cup' suggested. In short, each driver of a driving pair had his own qualifying run and race in this special event format. The free practice and qualifying sessions were scheduled on Friday, although the track activities of the day were hit by the pouring rain.

For the qualifying session of the GT500 Race 1, Tatsuya Kataoka was at the wheel of WedsSport ADVAN SC430 and Bjorn Wirdheim in ADVAN Kondo GT-R. In the early minutes of the session, the rain eased off for a while. And Wirdheim made the most of this window to register 1'49"302 in his first timed lap, thanks to the good warming-up characteristics of ADVAN wet tires, and led the early part of the session. Then he improved his own time to 1'47"750 by maximum effort on the next lap, which eventually placed him on the third grid for the race.

Kataoka had reported very good feeling on the dry tires in the testing at Motegi before this event, so the hopes for WedsSport ADVAN SC430 were high. However, he had difficulty to find a clean qualifying lap due to traffic and, then, the track conditions became worse. As a result, he could only put a modest 1'49"371 which was the 11th fastest.

After the session, the rain got heavier and the qualifying for Race 2 had to be postponed to early morning on Saturday. The deferred session began at five past eight in the morning. Hironobu Yasuda driving ADVAN Kondo GT-R wandered between different tire sets for the changing track conditions and remained in seventh or eighth for most of the session. But he completed his final qualifying attempt in 1'43"259 and it was good enough to secure the third grid for the race.

Seiji Ara in WedsSport ADVAN SC430 also performed well under the difficult conditions. Similar to what Yasuda did, Ara finely registered 1'43"852 in his final timed lap and claimed the fifth grid which was the best grid position of the season for the car.

After Race 1 of the GT300 class, the formation lap of GT500 class' first race began at a quarter past three, with the air temperature at 16 degrees Celsius and the surfaces at 18. Expectations were high for Wirdheim at the wheel of ADVAN Kondo GT-R because he was starting the race from the second row. However, he made a bad getaway and lost a few positions before the field reached to the first corner. But the Swede steered his car away from the multi car accident which happened between Turn 1 and 2 by driving through the innermost part of the track and he found himself running in fourth, fighting for the position with Motul Autech GT-R, when he completed the first lap. So the damage of his bad start was limited to the minimum.

During the battle with the Motul GT-R, however, Wirdheim made another mistake when he braked hard to enter Turn 1 on Lap 4, as locking up of his right-hand front wheel resulted in a big flat spot on the tire. This ultimately led to the complete destruction of the damaged tire on the straightaway when he was on Lap 6 and he had to end the race on the spot prematurely.

In contrast, Kataoka's WedsSport ADVAN SC430 made a pretty good start and completed the first lap in eighth, before moving up to seventh on Lap 7. Then he overtook Keihin HSV-010 to gain one more position and kept a very good pace which was comparable to that of the leading cars. His strong drive led to another overtake against Eneos Sustina SC430 on the penultimate lap and now he was running in fifth.

Unfortunately, he had to give away the fifth place finish to Zent Cermo SC430, which made a successful move at the last corner of final lap, and settled for sixth by just a hundredth. Nevertheless, Kataoka's spectacular race performance satisfied himself, as he said "It was the most solid race I've done this year."

In the midst of the excitement stirred up by the ADVAN equipped car's GT300 victory, Race 2 of the GT500 class, the final race of the event, got underway at five minutes before a half past three on Sunday.

For this race, Yasuda in ADVAN Kondo GT-R sat on the third grid, while Ara in WedsSport ADVAN SC430 on the fifth, which suggested some good race results for both of them. But, surprisingly, Yasuda's car stalled at the start.

To avoid the stalled car just in front of him, Ara steered his car to the center of the track but he was hit by Zent Cermo SC430 from behind then and his car went almost sideways. While making another contact with Calsonic Impul GT-R on the inside, Ara was lucky enough to continue. But he was tailgated by Motul Autech GT-R this time at Turn 1, which resulted in spinning at the spot. Because of this, he had to rejoin the race as the tail ender.

On the other hand, ADVAN Kondo GT-R, which completed the first lap in 13th, was also hit by ARTA HSV-010 on Lap 2. This sent him dead last and the Kondo's GT-R became a replacement of the fellow ADVAN equipped car, WedsSport ADVAN SC430, for the bottom end of the field. Despite being involved in such unfortunate incidents in the early stage, the two drivers never gave up the race. With not a few cars damaged in those accidents or penalized for causing them, Yasuda and Ara continued to drive with patience and, eventually, the former finished the race in ninth after overtaking the latter on Lap 19.

The expectations were high after the good qualifying performance, but the opportunities for better race results in Race 2 were dasched by unfortunate accidents in the end.

　[Result : 6th in the Race 1]
"We had found out the right direction to go in the car set up in the testing before this event. So I knew the car would be better on the dry surfaces and headed for this weekend with high hopes.
"The standing start which I did for the first time in a year was easier than anticipated and I managed to gain a few positions in the early stage of the race. My race pace was good and the performance of the ADVAN tires were also good and consistent. In terms of both car set up and tire performance, the car was at its best form ever in this season today.
"It was regrettable that the starting position wasn't good, as the race result would have been much better if I started the race from the other end of the grids. But I still had a very good feeling about the car in this event, which was a nice way to finish the season."

　[Result : 9th in the Race 2]
"My engine just stalled at the start... To be precise, as the engine suddenly stopped, I disengaged the clutch and tried to restart but then it just came back again.
"So I was able to leave the grid a little late but, at the straight end of Lap 2, the car number eight crashed into my car. I don't really understand why that accident could happen but my race effectively ended there anyway.
"While my car had some minor damages from the accident, my pace during the rest of the race was consistent and I think the ADVAN tires performed well throughout."

"We provided two types of compound, soft and medium, for the GT500 cars.
"This event consisted of two 100km sprint races but the distance was only a little shorter than that of a stint in usual championship rounds, as the many of the regular season races were 250km this year. So we didn't need any special consideration for the tires. But we supplied the tires with slightly softer compounds than we usually use for a Fuji round because it should be quite cold in this area in November.
"Looking back to the season, we sometimes struggled against other tire manufactures in the GT500 class. We will continue steady development process during the winter to be in better shape at the start of the next season."