
Following Saturday, July 22 (Sun) also saw cloudy skies at Twin Ring Motegi. The temperature only rose to about 25 degrees, creating comfortable conditions. In the Enjoy 7-Hour Endurance, 101 vehicles lined up on the grid, and the commentator along with the Motegi Angel introduced each team from the back of the grid. The moment of the start is drawing closer by the second.
Then, the two groups split and started the rolling lap, taking off as scheduled at 9:30. The good start was made by #89 FASTLUX@GEN, who drew the pole position, and #3 Rosso@GEN from the second grid, who pulled ahead at the start and entered the first corner. Following them, leading was #78 Team SYOTA, who won the MVP of the previous day's Challenge 5-Hour Endurance, followed by #137 Sugiyama Racing & STAS, #20 ADVAN S.C Dream, #55 Tokyo Motorsports College A, and #555 TEAM Aman@GEN, with the rest bunched up behind the two front runners.
Returning to the home straight in the lead for the opening lap was #78 Team SYOTA. Following them were #20 ADVAN S.C Dream, #3 Rosso@GEN, #137 Sugiyama Racing & STAS, #55 Tokyo Motorsports College A, and #89 FASTLUX@GEN. After that, #20 ADVAN S.C Dream took the lead, pulling away from the pack and earning the 15th Lap Award given to the team that passes the 15th lap in first place.
Behind them, there was a team fiercely making a comeback. It was #39 Espresso, which started from the 95th grid. The starting driver, Seiji Koide, set the best time of 2 minutes 43.536 seconds on the 5th lap. They steadily improved their position and by the time two hours had passed, they had risen to 3rd place, one lap behind the leader. Then, after four hours had elapsed, they finally surged to the top and further extended their lead. However, with one hour remaining, #37 Team KRS-DAI & MKS was closing in, and the gap to the leading #39 Espresso was just over 17 seconds. Furthermore, after 118 laps, the gap narrowed to 14.033 seconds, and it seemed #37 Team KRS-DAI & MKS had momentum. Seeing this, #39 Espresso increased their pace. Although they did not have much fuel margin, it was a tough decision. Subsequently, #37 Team KRS-DAI & MKS made their seventh pit stop. This eased the pressure on #39 Espresso, who maintained their lead and took the checkered flag. They recorded 137 laps and won the most laps award.
"It was the result of everyone on the team working together. Starting from the 95th grid position was quite tough, but we discussed and decided to gradually improve our position. There were some minor troubles, but we ran steadily without any accidents, and it was also significant that all six members executed the pit work flawlessly. However, fuel efficiency was tough, especially during the last two and a half hours when we had to drive while considering fuel consumption," said Seiji Hata of #39 Espresso.
In 2nd place, #55 Tokyo Motorsports College A marked 136 laps. #2 Hayakoba Racing, #37 Team KRS-DAI & MKS, and #62 Keep Light Racing also recorded 136 laps, winning the 2nd place in the Excellent Lap Count Award. #38 Team KRS-DAI & MKS and #77 Team SACHIKO completed 135 laps and received the 3rd place in the Excellent Lap Count Award.
The MVP award went to #57 Katz Racing R and #58 Katz Racing G, who enjoyed K-TAI across three generations from ages 20 to 61, flawlessly handled the reception, and worked hard to promote K-TAI on their blog. They were thrilled to receive the Subaru engine as a prize, saying, "Next year, we might come out with three cars!"
This year as well, the pit reports by the Mobility Resort Motegi Angels and team PR announcements from the announcer's booth, unique to the four major endurance races at Mobility Resort Motegi, were very well received. People of all ages and genders, various car enthusiasts, enjoyed the final event together. Before the finale ceremony, one bottle of non-alcoholic champagne was distributed to each team, and a champagne fight broke out all at once!
Afterwards, various awards were presented, and finally the MVP was announced. The 12th K-TAI came to its finale amid great joy.