The fifth and final round of the 2026 Kyojo Cup Season took place at the close of October and the start of November at the Fuji Speedway in Japan. With a Championship on the line and six drivers in contention for it coming into the weekend, there was all to play for and one wrong move or piece of bad luck was guaranteed to have painful consequences for those involved. That definitely played a part over the course of the weekend, as did consistency and outright domination - all of which led to the crowning of a Champion.
You Can Call It A Comeback
After a costly penultimate round last time out that saw her fail to finish the final race, Aimi Saito needed this final race weekend of the year to be a good one. In the end, it wasn’t just good - it was pretty darn perfect. In qualifying, she took Pole Position and collected three points for the accolade. From there on out, Saito proved to be untouchable. A dominant victory in the Sprint Race was followed by another win in the Final Race on Sunday, accumulating the maximum number of points available, thirty-three, for the weekend.
Having been six points away from the top of the standings coming into the weekend, Saito sealed the Kyojo Cup 2026 Championship for herself with a thirteen point lead over second place by close of play on Sunday. It was a remarkable comeback after a difficult penultimate round and proved to the Japanese driver that it sure isn’t over until it’s over. Her Championship win is her second in the series, having won overall back in 2024 too. Having competed in the series every year since 2020, it looks likely that Saito will return next year too but don’t be surprised if other teams in series in Japan and elsewhere consider her for a place in their ranks.
The Brutality of Motorsport Writ Large
A handful of points away from claiming the Championship after the last round, Joanne Ciconte has been the definition of consistency all year long. Despite not having won a race this year, she’s been able to keep the pressure firmly on all of the drivers around her and kept reminding them that if any of them made a single mistake, she would be there to capitalize on it. It’s what makes what happened in the final round of the Championship that bit more gut-wrenching.
The Australian began the weekend with a tough qualifying session that meant she would start Saturday’s Sprint Race from seventh on the grid. Then early on in that first race of the weekend, disaster struck. A coming together on track between Ciconte and Shimono saw the latter retire from the race and the former plunge to the rear of the field. Just like that, Ciconte’s chances of a Championship win were beginning to fade. But not to be deterred by the circumstances that she found herself in, Joanne was able to not only bridge the sizable gap back to the rear of the field but steadily move up the order to ultimately finish in fourteenth place. While she didn’t get any points for this, her determination and skill behind the wheel were once again on full display.
The bad news didn’t end there though. The stewards deemed her responsible for the collision with Shimono and demoted her to the rear of the field for the start of the Final Race. All of her hard work from the Sprint became undone and without a miracle at the front of the field, it looked like her Championship hopes were over. That indeed proved sadly to be the case as, despite another herculean effort that saw Ciconte go from twenty-first to eleventh, it wasn’t enough to salvage her Championship.
The results page will say she finished the season in fifth place overall, thirty-two points back from Saito. But Joanne Ciconte’s story this year is one that cannot be told simply through numbers on a page alone. A remarkable young driver with a heck of a season of racing behind her, made even more impressive by the fact that it’s her rookie season - this final round just proves how fickle and brutal motorsport can be.
Championship Hopefuls Fall Short
Kokoro Sato, Riona Tomishita and Miki Onaga were all also firmly in contention for the Championship coming into this final round. But none had an answer for the dominant form of Aimi Saito. Sato and Onage backed up their excellent performances from the penultimate round of the season to finish on the podium in both races this time out. Sato claimed two second places while Onaga claimed two third places. Tomishita proved to be never far behind them, taking fourth place for herself in both races held across the weekend. One point separated Sato and Tomishita in the end overall, with Onaga eleven points back, just seven ahead of Ciconte. All three have spent multiple seasons in the series and, like Saito, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see them all return again next year for another bite of the apple.
Final Stand Out Performances
Outside of the top four, only two drivers scored points in both races - Ai Miura and Sara Matsui. Sixth and fifth for the former and seventh and sixth for the latter secured them firmly in the top ten in the Championship overall.
Hana Burton had her best result of the season in Saturday’s Sprint Race by finishing in fifth place, beating her previous highest finish of seventh back at the second round of the season.
Kanemoto and Hirakawa ended their seasons on a high with their second and final point scoring results of the year which came for both in the Final Race on Sunday. Marie Iwaoka also saved the best until last. Her tenth place finish in the Final Race gave the Japanese driver a solitary point - her first, and last, of the season.
Fellow Japanese driver Maaya Orido made her 2026 Kyojo Cup debut at this final round of the Championship. Even though she didn’t score any points, her sixteenth and twelfth place finishes were enough to put her above four of the full-time drivers of the season overall in the final Championship standings.
Final Thought
The final round of the 2026 Kyojo Cup Season saw domination, heartbreak, consistency and left us still with a few questions to answer. Four of the full-time drivers didn’t score points this year but did show marked improvement as the season progressed. Will they come back next year and if so, what might each of them be capable of then? Of the regular faces that feature in the series, how many of them will also come back next year and will any of them be able to take the title for themselves? Who else might we see join them that haven’t competed in the series before? Will the presence of Australian drivers such as Ciconte and Raddatz encourage more from their home country to follow in their footsteps? Only time will tell. One thing is certain though - Aimi Saito is this year’s Kyojo Cup Champion and given her performance in this final weekend alone, she’s a more than deserving Champion.