The "Mote Endurance" race, which began in 1998, celebrated its 19th edition in 2016. This year, 148 cars entered, surpassing last year's 130. One major change was the requirement for headlights and taillights, as the 4-hour race on Saturday ended at 7pm. The event was held on the first weekend of August, and on August 6th (Sat), the participants were met with intense heat from the morning.

The official qualifying started at 8:30 a.m. with the session of the first Rider in Group A. Koichi Matsuda of 【#10 Team Penske】 first posted a time of 2 minutes 18.940 seconds, taking the top spot on the leaderboard. At that time, Daichi Kato of 【#29 Nikukyuu R & Yumomi-chan】, who marked 2 minutes 20.643 seconds and ranked fourth, broke the Course Record in the ST-Ninja class. In the following session for the first Rider of Group B, Masaaki Sasaki of 【#53 MOTORACING & KYOEI】 set a time of 2 minutes 15.244 seconds, breaking the Course Record in the WT class. Etsuo Hizawa of 【#21 NR Project & Gamuchodai】, who ranked 11th, surpassed Kato’s time with 2 minutes 20.430 seconds, rewriting the ST-Ninja class Course Record. Then, in the first Rider session of Group C, Takashi Moriyama broke the AS2 class Course Record with 2 minutes 23.380 seconds, resulting in a rush of records among the first Rider slots. Meanwhile, some teams had no times recorded due to accidents involving Riders who were considered strong contenders.

Since the grid is determined by the combined time with the second rider in the "Mote tai," the second rider's time is also important. The fastest time here was 2 minutes 16.123 seconds, set by Gaku Fujii of 【#1 YSS Racing Bulldock Tagos】, who was also last year's winner. His teammate Tatsuya Koitabashi marked 2 minutes 16.007 seconds, ranking second among the first riders, and their combined time of 4 minutes 32.130 seconds earned them pole position for the second consecutive year.
"Until the Sports Driving Reservation on Friday, we hadn’t set any lap times at all, so getting pole position was unexpected. Using the map from the Mote Tai race really paid off. For the 7-hour endurance final, there are faster teams than last year, so I will focus on fuel-efficient driving," said Tatsuya Koitabashi.

【#53 MOTORACING & KYOEI】 marked the second fastest time, followed by 【#63 DOG FIGHT RACING】 in third, and the only bike to qualify in the Brave class, 【#12 CLUB1.2FK Kusitanikawaguchi store】 in fourth. In fifth is 【#10 Team Penske】, followed by 【#13 MOTORACING & KYOEI】 in sixth, 【#75 D;REX】 in seventh, 【#56 HAPPY MONDAY】 in eighth, 【#98 NMC Verity】 in ninth, and 【#36 Motorcycle Japan】 in tenth.

Then, the 4-hour endurance race with the first-ever night session in Mote tai history started at 3pm with 70 teams that failed to pass the qualifying. The holeshot was taken by #9 PUTO Densetsu, but the rider who returned first after the opening lap was Hiromichi Kunikawa of #25 BF&RASH. As an active international license Rider, his speed was truly impressive. #9 PUTO Densetsu was running in second place, but behind them, Asahi Komuro of #147 team Kizo*Eiwa & moto1/4, also an active international license Rider, was closing in. Although they exchanged positions several times, Komuro was faster. After #9 PUTO Densetsu made their first pit stop, #25 BF&RASH and #147 team Kizo*Eiwa & moto1/4 held first and second place. These two teams were running a strategy to fully utilize their international license Riders. Meanwhile, #66 Riding Sports & KISS maintained consistent speed and was leading after 3 hours had passed. The last stint was handled by Karen Ogura, who returned to the course still in the lead. At this point, victory was almost in their grasp... However, with 30 minutes remaining, they received a penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag and dropped in position. This allowed #79 Shonan FRP & RacingGarageSTR to take the lead, but there was a Rider making a furious charge from behind. It was Kunikawa of #25 BF&RASH. "I didn’t know if the fuel would last until the end, but I was only thinking about winning," Kunikawa said after the finish. With 5 minutes left, he overtook #79 Shonan FRP & RacingGarageSTR to take the lead and went on to receive the checkered flag, winning the 4-hour endurance race.