Funahashi Edges Kato in MAX Lights Thriller as Three Other Classes Crown Winners at Motegi

Funahashi took the MAX Lights final, holding off Kato in a race interrupted and restarted before the scheduled 15 laps were completed. Shin Sugawara finished third for HRT, 1.379 seconds behind the winner, and set the fastest lap of 43.008 on Lap 10.

In Senior MAX, Taiga Tezuka took victory for Zi-ViVreRT. Mizuki Motohashi finished second, with Yuto Kato completing the podium in third.

Hiroaki Watatani led MAX Masters, winning the 15-lap final while also setting the fastest lap of 40.238 on the final lap. Noboru Watanabe finished second, while Daisuke Hori took third.

Jurai Matsui secured the FS-125 / X30 victory, finishing 5.164 seconds ahead of Kazuhito Iida. Matsui's teammate Takahiro Kikuchi completed the podium, while Kokichi Okamoto, who had featured among the qualifying leaders, finished eighth.

The round also featured Junior MAX drivers Itto Shibazaki, Kaito Lloyd and Rihito Ito. In the YAMAHA SS final, Yamato Nagai took the win ahead of Teruaki Hashiguchi and Sho Yoshino, completing a varied day of racing across Motegi’s karting classes.