14th K-TAI, 7-hour Endurance Enjoy Class will be held on September 7th (Sun)! Although it was raining in the morning, the rain weakened by the time the grid started lining up, and there was a relaxed atmosphere with no tension as teams checked their machines and took commemorative photos. 94 karts were divided into 2 groups and entered the rolling lap, finally welcoming the start.

The team that returned in first place on the opening lap was [#129 Yomiuri Automobile University]. They quickly pulled away from second place and were already in a dominant position. [#69 E.R.O Racing S], [#35 Keep Light K3 Racing], [#39 U1-WORKS], [#81 Kamin Team Bear], and [#15 RA Racing B@GEN] formed a group behind second place. As the rain intensified, each car slowed down, but [#196 Team IMA OMSC] showed outstanding speed and quickly rose to the top. They then pulled away from the rest of the pack and seemed to be in a dominant position. However, as the sky brightened and the rain stopped, the track gradually dried up. There were still some wet patches, causing some cars to spin out.

Around 50 minutes after the start, [#196 Team IMA・OMSC] enters the pit and [#59 Espresso] rises to the top. Starting from 67th on the grid in the second group, [#59 Espresso] shows outstanding speed in rainy conditions and steadily moves up in position. Even after taking the lead, their momentum does not stop and they quickly establish a dominant position. [#196 Team IMA・OMSC] also sets the fastest lap and was chasing [#59 Espresso], but after 2 hours, they were barely on the same lap. From behind, [#39 U1-WORKS] was approaching.

At the point when there was only 1 hour left, [#59 Espresso] had completed 116 laps and had a 2 lap lead over second place [#196 Team IMA・OMSC]. [#39 U1-WORKS] and [#32 Rosso@GEN] followed behind. The leading [#59 Espresso] had to pace down while maintaining a sufficient margin due to fuel consumption concerns. The team staff watched with bated breath, but after 7 hours and 2 minutes, they crossed the finish line. They completed 136 laps and became the happy top finisher. "The rain setup was working well and it was easy to ride, which allowed us to increase our pace from the beginning. Even after the conditions became dry, we were able to run at a good pace by using the slipstream of other cars. However, it was a close call in terms of fuel consumption, so it was nerve-wracking in the end," said [#59 Espresso] driver Yuya Yamashita. It seems that there were some tough moments even in their overwhelming victory.

In second place, 【#32 Rosso@GEN】 made a comeback in the final stages of the race and continued for 133 laps, while 【#39 U1-WORKS】 also finished in the same lap. The two teams were awarded second place for the most laps completed.

[#196 Team IMA・OMSC] finished with a delay in the last hour and completed 132 laps. [#129 Yomiuri Automobile University] which led the race in the early stages, ran out of gas and pushed the car to the finish line. They also completed 132 laps. [#75 RF・AOYAMA Sake Powers] and last year's champion [#2 Hayakoba Racing] also completed 132 laps, making them the third team to receive the award for the most laps completed.

And the MVP award, which includes a Subaru KX21 engine, was awarded to [#76 RF・AOYAMA・KRT], who despite having a large number of members, showed excellent teamwork and ran at the top. Although they did not win the lap count award, they followed the rules and showed good manners, and were awarded the prize.

This year, not only speed but also many people enjoyed the road course of Twin Ring Motegi with karts. Teams that were satisfied with their K-TAI, teams that were disappointed with their K-TAI, and teams that simply enjoyed K-TAI, each team must have created memories of K-TAI in 2014. See you next year at K-TAI!