In 2016, the JOY TAI gathered 90 cars, which is the entry limit. On July 2 (Sat), a special sports driving session was held in the morning, followed by a pre-qualifying briefing in front of the control tower in the early afternoon. This year, the official qualifying started at 13:10 with Group A of Driver A (Class-1, 2, 3, 4, FIT1.5).

The weather was overcast and gloomy, typical of the rainy season, from the morning, and during the special sports driving session, there were occasional light showers. However, by the time the pre-qualifying briefing began, it had brightened up and the conditions became humid.

The A Driver A Group session had a red flag interruption early on, but towards the end of the session, Masao Wakabayashi in the #84 SEV ADVAN Elise marked a time of 2 minutes 16.142 seconds to take the top spot. Second place went to Yoshio Tsunoda in the #188 KRac weds WM Levin with a time of 2 minutes 19.782 seconds, followed by Masatoshi Shiooka in the #19 Shiooka SP Akre AS Yanagimoto Levin with a time of 2 minutes 21.910 seconds.

In the following session for A Driver Group B (Class-5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), Yudai Matsumoto in the #531 Blaze ADVAN Impreza took the top spot with a time of 2 minutes 13.394 seconds. In second place, Yuya Nakajima in the #118 Drs.with Garage Pierce marked a Class 7 course record of 2 minutes 13.707 seconds, followed by Yusaku Shibata in the #1 Dijon Wako's ED Nils with a time of 2 minutes 13.944 seconds.

In the B Driver A Group session, Takashi Sato in the #84 SEV ADVAN Elise took the top spot with a time of 2 minutes 19.547 seconds, followed by Shigeyuki Morikawa in the #19 Shiooka SP ACRE AS Levin with a time of 2 minutes 20.572 seconds, and Tadashi Nami in the #188 KRac weds WM Levin with a time of 2 minutes 20.643 seconds, making it three drivers from the same team as in the A Driver A Group occupying the top three spots.

Then, as the qualifying session for Group B of Driver B begins, Takashi Matsui, who won from pole position last year with the #9 FSNS Potenza SPMWMFK, sets a time of 2 minutes 12.131 seconds and takes the top spot, but stops his machine at 130R during his second lap attack. After that, there was a red flag interruption, but the session ended without a restart. In the session for Group B of Driver A, Hitoshi Goto also stopped after the 90-degree corner, finishing in 23rd place, so he was unable to secure pole position this year.

While last year's winner was in the rearview, Keita Hirai in the #531 Blaze ADVAN Impreza marked a time of 2 minutes 12.172 seconds, placing him in second. In the combined times of A and B drivers, he secured the top position and earned pole position.
"I'm glad to show our speed as the only Class 10. We've been progressing smoothly without any troubles since the public practice, so I know our fuel efficiency isn't great, but I want to ride the good momentum in the final," said Hirai. This marks the team's first pole position in 8 years.

In second place is [#18 Asano Automobile Prelude], followed by [#1 Dijon Wako's ED Nils] in third place, and [#9 FSNS Potenza SPMWMFK] is in fourth place.

After the official qualifying, free practice for drivers C, D, and E was conducted, and each team worked hard on their setups for the final. A briefing for the final was held on the home straight, where the starting method and important points were reconfirmed.

The weather forecast for Sunday is cloudy. At 10 AM, 90 machines will split into 2 groups and aim for the finish line 7 hours ahead with a rolling start. What kind of performance will the teams that ranked high in the official qualifying show!? You can't win just with speed in JOY TAI. What kind of conclusion awaits us this year!? Let's all enjoy JOY TAI together in 2016!