The final round of the Global MX-5 Cup Japan (GMCJ) was held on September 24th at Fuji Speedway where Soichiro Yoshida grabbed his second victory of the season and Tetsuya Yamano took away the title. With 11 cars competing in the Global Class, where the entrants are aiming to compete on the world stage, and 2 competing in the Emblem Class, unique to Japan, a total of thirteen MX-5s battled it out in this final race of the season. The Global Class champion that was decided in this round, earned the right to compete in the world shootout to be held in the US later this year.

The circuit was met with an overcast sky and low air temperature that made for perfect racing conditions. The official 30-minute qualifying session was held from 8:50 on this course that has the longest straight of any course in the world, at 1.5km. With a number of competitors watching the timing of their rivals due to the fact that they could aim for good lap times through utilizing the slip streams of other cars on the straight, only three cars went out onto the track right from the start of the session. These were #84 Yasutaka Hinoi and the two “Be a Racing Driver” media entries. Even after #88 Hiroyuki Murakami left the pits and eight other competitors followed, their runs were a bit sluggish and the groups were only really laying down lap times around 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Waiting until the time was ripe #7 Tetsuya Yamano, ranked 4th in the championship, headed out onto the course with 6 minutes remaining. Within this group, the car that most seriously implemented an attack lap was Hinoi, who marked down a 2 minute 03 seconds. When the traffic became congested, most of the cars were not able to record significantly fast times and so with a little under 12 minutes remaining they gradually began to return to the pits and Yamano joined them. However, a serious battle developed when there was about 7 minutes remaining. First, point leader, #5 Daisuke Imamura moved into that top spot but from then on the leader board display changed numerous times. Second ranked, #740 Soichiro Yoshida looked like he would grab pole with a 2 minutes, 02.936 seconds but Yamano went on to beat this with a 2 minutes, 02.804 seconds. He went on to mark down a 2 minutes, 02.687 second time to secure pole position and some bonus points. Imamura continued to carry out his attack right until the end of the session. He marked down a 2 minute 02.744 seconds but was unable to push any further. In the mean time, Murakami has recorded a 2 minute, 02.383 second time to secure 3rd place on the grid. There was only 0.087 seconds difference between pole and 2nd and a mere 0.064 seconds between 2nd and 3rd making it a very close competition. They were followed by Yoshida in 4th, Hinoi in 5th, and Kota Sasaki in 5th and #36 Soichiro Yoshida in 6th. As a result, the points calculation saw Yoshida dropped out of the championship battle. Even if Imamura won the race, if Yamano finished 4th or higher he would take the championship, putting him in a very favourable position. After Yamano completed qualifying, he stated, “At this course getting into the slipstream of other cars really offers a big advantage and for the first time I was able to really take advantage of that to record my best lap.”

The final, which began from a rolling start a little earlier than planned at 1:02pm, would see the first car to pass the control line after the clock had reached 45 minutes being named the winner. A fierce battle developed that made the 45 minutes feel like a very short period of time. Starting from 6th on the grid, Sasaki immediately leapt into 3rd place. With pole sitter, Yamano and Imamura battling it out in front of him, Sasaki waited for an opportunity to open up and then, on the straight of lap 4, he managed to make his way in front of Imamura. Hot on the heels of Sasaki was Murakami, who also made it passed Imamura, but previous to this there had been an accident at 13-corner. A contact had damaged Imamura’s rear left wheel and so Imamura pitted in the next lap. He was prepared to retire from the race but the emergency repairs and encouragement from his crew saw him return to the course again. On the other hand, Sasaki, who had performed so well early in the race, stopped near the exit of pit road after 5 laps and was forced to retire with transmission trouble. With this, Yoshida, who had dropped down to 7th in the opening lap, rapidly jumped up to 3rd. After overtaking Murakami on lap 7, he pulled in behind Yamano and a fierce battle unfolded that saw the two exchanging the lead position with almost every lap. When they would reach the home straight, the car that was running behind would take advantage of their rival’s slipstream to pull out in front, but then in the next lap the overtaken vehicle would do the same thing and this occurred numerous times. Murakami also remained hot on the heels of the top 2 and this intense fight occasionally saw all three cars running side by side on the straight. On top of that, Hinoi, who began from 5th on the grid, gradually began to close in on this top group. With 15 minutes remaining, he got Murakami into his sights and managed to make it passed. The two-way fight for the top spot was separated by a hair’s breadth. After continuing the battle right until the final moments, Yoshida made it out in front at lap 21 and, after 22 laps, the 45 minute mark was surpassed and he passed the checkered flag in the lead. Following behind was Yamano, Hinoi and Murakami. In 5th place was #19 Akiya Yoshimoto, who again from 8th place on the grid. CAR Top’s #56 Akihiko Nakaya, who competed as part of the media frame, finished in 6th place.

Emblem Class victory was taken by media entry, Levolant’s #57 Yuta Shimoe / Mitsuru Hagiwara, followed behind by #33 Hitoshi Kato / Kazuo Fujita. The other media entry, #55 CAR GRAPHIC’s Hideo Otani took 9th in the Global Class. As a result, Yoshino Tetsuya shone as Japan’s first Global MX-5 Cup champion. He has earned the right to participate in the global shootout, where top drivers from around the world will gather, to be held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California, USA, on October 12th to 15th.

Race winning, Yoshida went on to say, “Team Principal, Satoshi Ikezawa told me to go out and win with my own skills, but I briefly fell down to 7th and panicked for a 7th. I’m glad I didn’t give up at that point.” Season champion Yamano went on to relate, “I finished 2nd today but I achieved my overall goal. It’s rare to experience this type of equal race, where the top spot is exchanged over and over. I hope that share with everyone the joy of coming out on top of such a tough competition. After grabbing his first podium finish with a 3rd place, Hinoi related, “Right at the last minute I slipped the clutch and couldn’t gain enough speed to jump further in front. However, everyone in the Hiroshima Mazda team has grabbed a reward for their efforts throughout the year.” Emblem Class winner, Hagiwara, said, “I spun out right before I final pit and caused trouble to my teammate. To be able to come away with the win in spite of that was very lucky. I would like to thank all those who gave us support, especially Mazda.”