JOY TAI, which gathered 90 cars that reached the entry limit in 2016 as well. On July 2nd (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 afternoon. The official qualifying started at 1:10 PM with A Driver Group A (Class-1, 2, 3, 4, FIT1.5).

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

Session for Group A drivers started with an early red flag interruption, but towards the end of the session, #84 SEV･ADVAN･Elise driver Morio Wakabayashi marked a top time of 2:16.142. In second place was #188 KRac weds WM Levin driver Yoshio Kakuta with a time of 2:19.782, followed by #19 Shiooka SP Acre AS Yanamoto Levin driver Masatoshi Shiooka with a time of 2:21.910.

In the following session for A Driver B Group (Class-5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), Class 10's #531 Blaze ADVAN Impreza's player Yuudai Matsumoto took the top spot with a time of 2:13.394. In second place, Class 7's #118 Drs.with Garage Pias player Yuya Nakajima set a new course record of 2:13.707, followed by #1 DIJON Wako's ED Nils player Yuusaku Shibata with a time of 2:13.944 in third place.

In the session for Group A drivers, #84 SEV･ADVAN･Elise's Takashi Sato took the top spot with a time of 2:19.547, followed by #19 Shiooka SP Acre AS Levin's Shigenori Morikawa in second with a time of 2:20.572, and #188 KRac Weds WM Levin's Tadashi Nimimi in third with a time of 2:20.643. All three drivers are from the same team as the A drivers in Group A.

And when the qualifying session for the B driver B group begins, last year's winner from pole position, #9 FSNS Potenza SPMWMFK's driver, Takeshi Matsui, sets the top time of 2 minutes 12.131 seconds, but stops the car at the 130R on the second lap. After that, there was a red flag interruption, but the session ended without a restart. In the A driver B group session, Hishito Goto stopped at the 90 degree corner and finished in 23rd place, so he was unable to secure pole position this year.

With last year's winner in the rearview mirror, #531 Blaze Advan Impreza's Keita Hirai marked a time of 2 minutes 12.172 seconds to take second place. In the combined times of A and B drivers, he was the fastest and secured pole position.
"It was great to be able to show our speed as the only Class 10 car. We've had a smooth run without any troubles since the public practice, so I know the fuel consumption won't be good in the final, but I want to keep riding this good momentum," said Hirai. It was the team's first pole position in 8 years.

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

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

Sunday's weather forecast is cloudy. At 10am, 90 machines will be divided into two groups and aim for the goal 7 hours ahead with a rolling start. What kind of race will the teams who placed high in the official qualifying show? Joy Tai, where speed alone won't win. What kind of outcome awaits us this year? Let's all enjoy Joy Tai in 2016!