The 2012 Super GT championship reached the regular season's final race, after seeing many dramatic fights since the season opener in March. The eighth and last round was held at Twin Ring Motegi where we have seen a number of legendary final battles in the past seasons, as the circuit has been given the final slot in the calendar for years. The 4,801m race track is known to be hard on tires and cars' brakes and overtaking is really difficult throughout each lap.

With the air/track surface temperatures at around 20/30 degrees Celsius, the weather on Saturday was moderate for this season of the year. But, as soon as the knockout format qualifying session for the GT500 class began, D'station ADVAN GT-R was hit by a problem with the car's transmission system which prevented Hironobu Yasuda's proper qualifying lap. As a result, the car dropped out at the end of Q1 and had to start the race from the back end of the grids. On the other hand, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 made its way into Q3 without a hitch by the efforts of Seiji Ara in Q1 and Andre Couto in Q2. Then Ara at the wheel of the car in Q3 clocked 1'42"159 to secure the sixth grid on the third row.

As for the GT300 class, Naoki Yokomizo in Endless Taisan 911 was the fastest in Q1 with 1'49"549. After his partner, Kyosuke Mineo, easily cut through Q2 with the fifth fastest time, Yokomizo further improved his best lap time to 1'49"090 in Q3 and it looked like enough to secure the polo position. But, in the final minutes of the session, Hankook Porsche managed to better Yokomizo's time, so the Endless car had to settle for the second position.

Among other Yokohama equipped cars, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and MonePa Lamborghini GT3 took third and fourth grids respectively. But Hiroki Yoshimoto/Kazuki Hoshino pair's triple a Vantage GT3, which was in second in the championship point standings, failed to join the qualifying session due to a malfunction of an engine ancillary and was forced to sit on the bottom end of the grids.

On Sunday, the rain started to fall soon after the warm up session in the morning had ended. It got cold and the air/surface temperatures dropped to 15/18 degrees Celsius. The race began at two o'clock p.m. with the Safety Car Start procedures and proper racing got underway after two laps of Safety Car period.

Speaking about the medium compound wet tires he used in the warm up session, Couto said before the start, "The grip wasn't good enough. So we decided to start with the softer wet tires. I hope it will work." With him at the wheel, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 began the race from the sixth grid but soon fell down to ninth in the early stage because his tires took a long time to properly warm up. However, once the temperature of tires had reached the working range, he gradually regained the lost positions by exploiting the true performance of ADVAN tires. He got back to sixth on Lap 6 and further moved up to fifth on the next lap and to fourth one lap later.

D'station ADVAN GT-R, on the other hand, chose the medium compound and started the race with Bjorn Wirdheim in the driving seat. But starting from the last grid meant suffering from a huge water spray thrown up by the cars in front, so he settled for keeping his position for a while.

WedsSport ADVAN SC430 overtook Motul Autech GT-R at Turn 1 on Lap 11. Now running in third, the rapidly advancing Macau resident began to put pressure on S Road Reito Mola GT-R in second but the car and driver that had already secured second consecutive title crown in the last round proved to be difficult to capture. Meanwhile, the race reached its middle stage and the leading cars including WedsSport ADVAN SC430 continued intense fights on the track, while some of the opponents began to make their earlier than scheduled pit stops due to difficult tire situations after Lap 20.

After struggling in the early stage, D'station ADVAN GT-R gradually gained positions and was running in sixth when Wirdheim came in the pit for a driver change on Lap 28, soon after the race reached its halfway point. The team put the softer wet tires on the car which was now handed to Yasuda.

As the race leading S Road car came in the pit earlier, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 once moved up to second and made the pit stop on Lap 34. For Ara's stint, the team chose the same soft compound wet tires. While some of the opponents didn't replaced their tires at the pit stops and the WedsSport car could do the same in the light of tire wear, the team made a choice that Team Manager Masataka Bandoh called it as "the tire change as an aggressive tactics," considering the chance of more rain in the second half. Consequently, Ara went out on the track with cold fresh tires and fell back to fifth because his opponents' tires had already been warmed up but the Japanese just went on, hoping for heavier rain to come.

However, the weather didn't favor WedsSport ADVAN SC430. Although the amount of rain increased in the closing stage, the car couldn't make the most of its fresher tires until then to close the gap with the leaders. Eventually, WedsSport ADVAN SC430 finished the race in fifth and missed to conclude the season on the podium that had been well within the its reach.

Yasuda in D'station ADVAN GT-R continued persistent drive and was in tenth, the last of point scoring positions, with two laps to go. But the car was passed by Calsonic Impul GT-R on Lap 52 of the 53 lap race and had to settle for finishing in 11th.

The GT300 class race attracted even more attention because the championship fight was yet to be decided. When the proper racing began after the Safety Car start, Endless Taisan 911 with Yokomizo at the wheel remained in second but followed closely to the race leading Hankook Porsche. With Kohji Yamanishi in JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and Takayuki Aoki in MonePa Lamborghini GT3 behind him, Yokomizo pursued the leader and made a successful move on it to earn the lead position on Lap 8. Then he never eased his pace and started to build a gap.

Behind the leaders, Hoshino in triple a Vantage GT3 was in hot pursuit and quickly moved up to eighth by Lap 9. His momentum didn't stop there and he was in third when he came in the pit to change to Yoshimoto. At that time, the car had already been ahead of the struggling Hankook Porsche, so the chance to grab the title crown for Hoshino/Yoshimoto pair was still there. However, their hope suddenly disappeared soon after that, as the car was given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, although it was still running in sixth after serving the penalty.

The race leading Endless Taisan 911 made the pit stop on Lap 33. Yokomizo handed the car to Mineo but the team didn't replace the tires. While the pursuing two Lamborghinis had already changed their drivers, now Hideki Yamauchi in the JLOC car and Manabu Orido in the MonePa counterpart, without tire change at the stops too, Mineo was still ahead of them when he resumed racing. Later in the closing stage of the race, Yamauchi closed the gap with the leader, which caused tension to rise. But the Porsche driver never lost his cool and kept leading the race until the checkered flag fell.

For Mineo, this was his first ever win in the Super GT series and the team, which had been in third in the point standings before the race, made a come-from-behind victory in the championship fight. His sweetest smile impressed everyone when he got on the highest place of the podium along with Yokomizo and Team Manager Yasutsune Chiba.

JLOC Lamborghini GT3 finished in second and concluded their season that was full of troubles with a good result. MonePa Lamborghini took the third place, after the intense battle between Orido and Nobuteru Taniguchi in GSR Hatsune Miku BMW, which was one of the highlights of the race. Recovering the lost ground due to the penalty, triple a Vantage GT3 beat S Road NDDP GT-R with five laps to go, which reminded the fight between them in the previous round at Autopolis, and finished the race in fifth.

　[Result : 5th. in the GT500 class]
"Andre (Couto) did a great job in the first stint once again and we actually had a good race, aiming at a place on the podium. I think we should be happy that we were able to fight for the podium in this race that every car off-loaded the handicap weight. We predicted more rain was coming in the second half and decided to replace the tires with fresh ones at the stop. But the things went the other way and I had a bit hard time on the less wet track.
"We were debutant in this class last year and we got on the podium once but all in all we couldn't have good result steadily. Our result depended very much on luck or unusual situation and I didn't feel we earned them by our true ability. But in the second half of this season, we have consistently been able to fight with the best teams. We were fast enough to race for the podium even in this race that there was no weight handicaps and I think this was the proof of our true ability for sure.
"It's not always easy to get a step ahead. But I know Yokohama has been making every effort and the tires have certainly been improved in terms of the sheer performance, especially in the second half of the season. We still have a lot of things to do but I'm sure now the ADVAN tires are becoming our strong weapon to race at the front."

　[Result : 11th. in the GT500 class]
"Unfortunately, we had a problem with a drive shaft in the qualifying session... So we started the race from the bottom of the grids but we could switch our mind because it became the wet race. In the first stint, Bjorn (Wirdheim)'s pace with the harder tires were consistent but he said the grip level was low. So we chose the softer ones for my stint and I could feel the grip but now the traction wasn't good enough because of 'moving' of tires. I have to admit it was a bit frustrating weekend.
"The results weren't very good this season and we had a lot of trouble and problems. We got on the podium once, which was good because we had no podium finish last year, but it's far from satisfying. As for the tires, there were many good findings and, for example, we could overcome a few weak points at certain circuits. I believe there is a room for some more improved effort from us."

　[Result : Winner in the GT300 class]
"It was an easy drive for me because Yokomizo had built a big margin before our driver change. While a Lamborghini came close to me in the closing stage because I was badly blocked by a back marker, then I switched the way to drive to make the most of Porsche's strong traction and stayed cool. I was really concentrated on driving throughout my stint, which led to my first ever victory in this series. I felt a certain amount of pressure but I wasn't getting too nervous."

"We had prepared the tires for this Motegi round, based on the data collected in the group testing here. But the race became a difficult one because it had been dry until the qualifying session and then it rained on the race day.
"WedsSport ADVAN SC430 used the wet tires with new construction that we introduced for the first time and the car performed well in the race. The drivers reported the understeer tendency from the middle of corner to the exit was very much improved.
"For this race, we introduced the new construction only for front tires. So we can expect even better performance when we put it in rear tires as well. But they took a bit too long to be properly warmed up, as we did experience at Autopolis, so that have to be improved in the future development works.
"We narrowly missed the GT300 pole position but Endless Taisan 911 had a very good race and secured the championship title. It is fair to say we had quite a good result, as the two Lamborghinis got on the podium along with the Endless car.
"If triple a Vantage GT3 hadn't had a problem in the qualifying session, we could have made a 1-2 in the championship. That was the only disappointment for us.
"We had a large number of users in the GT300 class. So we feel we must try to totally dominate the top slots of the championship standings after next year."