The 2022 JOY TAI will be held on May 7th (Sat) and 8th (Sun)! Many people were hoping for clear skies during this pleasant season of fresh greenery, but on Saturday, the day of the official qualifying and Motegi JOY TAI Challenge, it rained until the morning, creating wet conditions. Although there were occasional showers throughout the day, the temperature was comfortable under the cloudy sky.

19 cars entered the 2nd year of the Motegi JOY TAI Challenge. The official qualifying session, which lasted 20 minutes from 8:00, was contested by A drivers. Due to rain until just before the start of qualifying, the conditions were wet. #241 Lotus Club 86kai Kyoudou's Takahiro Suzuki led the session from start to finish. He secured pole position with a time of 2 minutes 28.846 seconds. In 2nd place was #312 Saitama Automobile University MS86's Haruhiko Matsumoto with a time of 2 minutes 33.175 seconds, giving him a lead of over 4 seconds. In 3rd place was #986 Toyota Motor Corporation NextGen's Masato Wakabayashi with a time of 2 minutes 35.802 seconds, making the top 3 all 86 cars.

The official qualifying for JOY TAI was contested with the combined times of A drivers and B drivers as usual. 【#1 NILZZ Racing】 driving the Class10 Audi RS3LMS took control of both sessions. A driver Keiichi Inoue marked a time of 2 minutes 06 seconds 510, updating the course record. B driver Kunihiro Iwatsuki also recorded 2 minutes 08 seconds 623. In total, it was an overwhelming time of 4 minutes 15 seconds 133, leaving the second place more than 13 seconds behind.

"The qualifying went very smoothly and the car was in good condition, so I was able to secure pole position according to our strategy. This time, I entered the first corner in the lead and had my picture taken, which is not an exaggeration to say that I participated in order to be featured on the cover of next year's official program. That's why I chose a fast car. It's a turbo, so the fuel efficiency is honestly tough, so I'll have to run while reading the air around me," said Kei Tomioka, driver of #1 NILZZ Racing, who secured pole position.

In second place, #83 Martensite WM Integra, the top of Class 6, recorded 4 minutes and 28.145 seconds, followed by #55 Toyota Auto Parts GR Yaris, the top of Class 8, with 4 minutes and 30.632 seconds, #82 Pumanz R☆Rai☆DC5 in fourth place with 4 minutes and 31.260 seconds, and #84 SEV・ADVAN・2-11 in fifth place with 4 minutes and 31.319 seconds.

The Motegi JOY TAI Challenge started at almost the scheduled time of 13:59:58 with a beautiful rolling start. First, the pole position [#241 Lotus Club 86kai Kyoudou] was the first to enter the first corner, followed by [#312 Saitama Automobile University MS86], [#986 Toyota Automobile Department NextGen], [#182 AutoKuril☆NB], [#482 MIEKO86 Inafoto], [#2 Summit & Midland 86] in qualifying order. [#241 Lotus Club 86kai Kyoudou] took the lead from the opening lap and increased the pace aggressively. [#986 Toyota Automobile Department NextGen] moved up to second place, followed by [#2 Summit & Midland 86] in third, [#482 MIEKO86 Inafoto] in fourth, and [#601 Saitama Subaru Falcon BRZ] in fifth. [#182 AutoKuril☆NB] followed in sixth place. [#312 Saitama Automobile University MS86] pitted on the first lap and executed an early driver change strategy.

Many teams enter the pit for refueling around the 1.5 hour mark, causing a lot of changes in rankings. At this point, the team in the lead was #312 Saitama Automobile University MS86, having completed 36 laps. Following closely behind, with a gap of about 45 seconds, was #46 CTM Supply Roadster, followed by #182 AutoKuril☆NB and #628 Inafoto & Team Lovitz, both one lap behind.

And as the remaining time decreases, even the teams with good fuel efficiency start to struggle. Furthermore, at around 13 minutes remaining, the 3rd place team [#241 Lotus Club 86kai Kyoudou] had to make an emergency pit stop due to mechanical trouble. They were leading the race in the beginning and had set the fastest lap, breaking the course record towards the end...

The #2 Summit & Midland 86, which ran at the top, checked the difference with the following cars while paying attention to fuel efficiency. It ran 68 laps and received the checkered flag, winning the JOY TAI Challenge 3 hours and the 86/BRZ class at the same time.

"Thanks to everyone on the team, I was able to drive with peace of mind. The fuel consumption was also spot on, and the warning light came on during the cool-down lap (laughs). If there was one more lap, I might have stopped," said driver Shunya Ito of [#2 Summit & Midland 86] as he received the checkered flag.

In 2nd place overall, #312 Saitama Automobile University MS86 followed with a difference of 21.434 seconds, and in 3rd place overall, #182 AutoKuril☆NB, the top of the ALL Ohers class, is included. The Roadster class winner was #16 Joushin Logistics Roadster in 4th place overall, the Vitz class winner was #628 Inafoto & Team Ravitz in 9th place overall, and the Yaris class winner was #510 GR Tsukuba Dragon Yaris in 11th place overall.