
On August 11 (Sun), Twin Ring Motegi was also hit by a scorching heat from the morning. During the opening ceremony, the Motegi Angels, KOCHIRA, and CHIRARA declared the opening, and afterwards, a briefing was held on the pit road in front of the control tower.
This year, on the grid, announcer Saeba Tomu and the Motegi Angels will introduce each team from the back of the grid, and we will finally enter the rolling lap. A total of 104 cars participated in this year's Enjoy Class 7-Hour Endurance Final Event. Only #78 PRD Racing4 Shirai Team started from the pit, while the other 103 cars began the final event with a rolling start divided into two groups.
Into the first corner, #71 Team SYOTA from the 5th grid position entered first, followed by #30 SuperChipsEnjoy, #25 Robot Racing Asahiruban, and #3 Rosso@GEN.
On the opening lap, [#71 Team SYOTA] pulled away from the rest and entered the second lap in the lead. In 2nd place was [#3 Rosso@GEN], with [#30 SuperChipsEnjoy] marking its tail. With a slight gap, from 4th place onward there was a fierce battle. On the second lap, [#86 Team HKR 2013] broke away from the pack to rise to 3rd place, and the positions changed rapidly in the early stages.
At the 2-hour mark, last year's most laps award winner #39 Espresso had completed 39 laps and was in the lead, followed by #71 Team SYOTA, #75 RF.AOYAMA Sake Powers, #38 TeamKRS-DAI & MKS, and #2 Hayakobare Racing, with 14 teams on the same lap as the leader. However, at the 4-hour mark, #75 RF.AOYAMA Sake Powers took the lead with 79 laps, while 5 teams, including #2 Hayakobare Racing, #39 Espresso, #77 Team SACHIKO, and #71 Team SYOTA, were on the same lap as the leader, narrowing down the top contenders.
At that time, clouds began to spread and the sunlight gradually started to fade. Then, pitch-black thunderclouds approached from the western sky. Because there was a possibility of a thunderstorm, the live announcer issued a warning, and mercilessly, the rain began to fall. At 5 hours and 35 minutes elapsed, the safety car was deployed, but as the rain intensified and the thunder approached the vicinity of Twin Ring Mobility Resort Motegi, the event was suspended with a red flag shortly after 5 hours and 41 minutes to ensure the safety of the participants. Preparations were made to resume while waiting for the weather to improve, but since the road conditions were not expected to recover, it was unfortunately decided to end the final event.
Since the safety car was deployed on the 108th lap, the final event was decided based on the standings at the end of the 107th lap.
The first to complete 107 laps was 【#2 Hayakobare Racing】. "We were able to stay with the top group from the beginning, and the fuel consumption went as planned. We were also monitoring the rain cloud radar, and since there have been times in the past when the race ended due to thunderstorms, we tried to stretch it out as much as possible while we still had fuel," said Yasushi Majima, the team representative and B rider.
The team's prediction was spot on, and they splendidly won the Most Laps Award.
Additionally, four teams—[#38 TeamKRS-DAI & MKS], [#4 K.R.R], [#75 RF.AOYAMA Sake Powers], and [#39 Espresso]—also completed 107 laps, making a total of five teams honored with the Most Laps Award in the 2013 Enjoy Class 7-Hour Endurance.
The six teams that completed 106 laps and won the Excellent Lap Count Award are [#71 Team SYOTA], [#35 Keep Light K3 Racing], [#37 TeamKRS-DAI & MKS], [#88 Team Douraku no Kai @ SILK], [#773 Bridgestone Women's Kart Club], and [#99 Team P.R.U]. The Excellent Lap Count Award was given to [#43 BOOFOOSETSU], [#77 Team SACHIKO], [#29 RA Racing @ GEN], [#33 K5 Evolution @ GEN], and [#76 RF・AOYAMA・KRT], who completed 105 laps.
The MVP includes two teams from Hokkaido, who participated in two public practice sessions despite being a large group, truly embodying the spirit of "Let's all enjoy karting together" and thoroughly enjoying K-TAI from the preparation stage. The selected teams are 【#100 New Chitose Motorland Team A】 and 【#60 New Chitose Motorland Unit 2 SP】.