
K-TAI, which celebrated its 15th anniversary, welcomed the 15th commemorative event. On August 30th (Sun), a 7-hour endurance enjoy class was held with 95 karts participating. It showed an exciting atmosphere worthy of being the final of the 4 major endurance races at Twin Ring Motegi in 2015.
In the morning, it was raining heavily, but by the time the briefing started, it had mostly stopped and the road was drying up. By the time the race started, the rain had stopped and the road was in a wet patch state. The two groups split up and entered the rolling lap, and at the scheduled time of 9:30, they started towards the goal 7 hours ahead. The first to come out on top at the second corner was the pole position holder, #38 TeamKRS-DAI&MKS. This was followed by #7 TOUSOU・RS, #4 K.R.R, #75 RF.AOYAMA酒パワーズ, #22 NRT-BIREL, #196 Team IMA・OMSC, and #53 538-Racing. As they continued to change positions as a group, #22 NRT-BIREL returned to the top on the opening lap. #38 TeamKRS-DAI&MKS, #7 TOUSOU・RS, #75 RF.AOYAMA酒パワーズ, and #10 OREGA RACINGA@玄 followed. After that, #4 K.R.R took the lead and pulled away. Although a light drizzle had started at the start, the track was mostly dry. However, after 1 hour and 26 minutes, the rain intensified and more carts went off the track, so the safety car was deployed. Many teams took this opportunity to pit. The pit became chaotic with refueling, tire changes, and other adjustments.
After that, #29 Leve RT Thursday Meeting took the lead, and #72 Onigiri Racing followed, creating a one-on-one battle.
However, after 5 hours, the top position was rapidly changing between #29 Leve RT Thursday Meeting, #72 Onigiri Racing, #4 K.R.R, and #2 Hayakoba Racing during pit stops.
At the point where there is 1 hour left, [#4 K.R.R] completed 106 laps and entered the 107th lap, leading the race. [#72 Onigiri Racing] and [#2 Hayakoba Racing] were chasing after in the same lap. Shortly after, [#4 K.R.R] entered the pit for the 8th time and [#72 Onigiri Racing] took the lead, but then [#72 Onigiri Racing] also entered the pit and [#2 Hayakoba Racing] rose to the top. Then, with 37 minutes remaining, [#2 Hayakoba Racing] made their final pit stop. With 34 minutes remaining, [#29 Leve RT Thursday Club] had risen to the top with 114 laps. [#4 K.R.R] followed in 2nd place, trailing by 55.573 seconds, and [#72 Onigiri Racing], who had finished their pit work, returned to the track in 4th place.
And with 30 minutes remaining, the #37 TeamKRS-DAI&MKS, who was in 3rd place, and the #4 K.R.R, who was in 2nd place, both entered the pit. This allowed the #29 Leve RT Thursday Club, who was leading the race, to pit in with 22 minutes remaining. This allowed the #2 Hayakoba Racing to take the lead with less than 20 minutes remaining, and they entered the 119th lap. The #72 Onigiri Racing followed closely behind with a gap of 8.6 seconds, but the lap times of the #2 Hayakoba Racing were faster, and the gap continued to widen.
In wet conditions, 【#2 Hayakoba Racing】 was the first to complete 125 laps with a good average and received the checkered flag.
"I think it was good that we were able to enter the pit at the right time when the safety car came in, and everyone was able to run with a good average without being confused by the faster teams," said Yasushi Mashima, driver of 【#2 Hayakoba Racing】. The engine had just been overhauled and they were still breaking it in on Friday, so the setup of the car was not perfect, but they showed the most stable performance in wet conditions at the final event.
[#72 Onigiri Racing] finished with a 58.002 second difference, [#29 Leve RT Thursday Club] with a 1 minute 28.164 second difference, [#4 K.R.R] with a 2 minute 08.469 second difference, and [#38 TeamKRS-DAI&MKS] with a 2 minute 52.545 second difference, all completing 125 laps just like [#2 Hayako Racing], resulting in 5 teams receiving the award for most laps completed in 2015.
The MVP award will be given to the team that enjoyed the kart to the fullest with the motto "Let's have fun with kart together" among the final event finishing teams, and the selected team is [#17 3% CLUB @ GEN] who enjoyed the kart from the public practice. A sports kart engine was presented from r-kart.