To encourage the advancement of women’s motorsport in Japan, Inter Proto Motor Sports organised the first-ever Kyojo Cup in 2017. Eight years later, the all-female Kyojo Cup will embark on a new path by switching to a hybrid F4-spec chassis. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the 2025 Kyojo Cup season.

By Maiya Intan

Since its first season in 2017, the Kyojo Cup, which holds all of its rounds at Fuji Speedway, has spotlit women racing in Japan. For the past eight years, the Kyojo Cup has used the VITA-01 sports car for all competitors.

Last year marked the first time that the Kyojo Cup acted as a support series for Super Formula, Japan’s premier single-seater series.

On the heels of this partnership, Inter Proto Motor Sports revealed on 20 July 2024 that the series would switch to using a hybrid formula car from 2025 onwards. 

With the rise of F1 Academy, an F4-spec single-seater series for female drivers, it was time for Japan to give its female drivers another opportunity in today’s developing motorsport industry.

Starting from the 2025 season, the Kyojo Cup will use the KCMG-01 chassis manufactured by KC Motorgroup. This car was previously used in the 2019 FIA Motorsport Games at Vallelunga and the 2022 Motorsport Games at Le Castellet. It will be loaned to the participants of the Kyojo Cup for the entire season.

Those familiar with Japanese single-seaters may notice that the car differs from the MCS4-24 by Toray Carbon Magic used in Japanese F4.

The Kyojo Cup’s popularity has grown since its conception, and it has received 20 entries in recent years. With these new changes, the series will showcase women’s motorsport in a new way.

The calendar

Kyojo Cup events are normally organised four times a year but were held six times in 2024. The 2025 season will see five race weekends held, each with two races. The events will all happen at Fuji Speedway, one of Japan’s most famous tracks and one used in all other Japanese single-seater series. The second and fourth rounds support Super Formula’s rounds at Fuji.

• Round 1: Fuji Speedway (May 10–11)
• Round 2: Fuji Speedway (July 19–20)
• Round 3: Fuji Speedway (August 16–17)
• Round 4: Fuji Speedway (October 11–12)
• Round 5: Fuji Speedway (November 8–9)

The format

Each round of the Kyojo Cup will happen over three days and will consist of three free practice sessions throughout the race weekend, a qualifying session, a sprint race, and a final race. 

All 30-minute free practice sessions will happen on Friday. A 20-minute qualifying session is scheduled for Saturday. The qualifying results will determine the order of the grid for the races. Also on Saturday is a 10-lap sprint race. The final race will be on Sunday, lasting for 30 minutes or 12 laps, whichever the drivers reach first.

In qualifying, the driver who takes pole position receives three points, second two points, and third one point.

In the sprint race, only the first eight racers to cross the line will receive points. 10 points is given to first place, eight points for second, six points for third, and one fewer point all the way down to eighth place. This mirrors the points system currently used in F2 sprint races and formerly used in F1 from 2003 to 2009.

The points system for the final race differs from that of F1 and other FIA series and instead matches Super Formula’s. Instead of 25 points, 20 points are awarded for first, 15 points for second, 11 points for third, eight points for fourth, six points for fifth, and one fewer point downwards until 10th place. Drivers lower than 10th place will not receive points. 

Where to watch

Every Kyojo Cup event will be livestreamed on the Inter Proto Series x Kyojo Cup Channel on YouTube and broadcast on Japanese television channel J Sports. The final race will also be broadcast on Super Formula’s SFgo app.

Teams and drivers

Rookie Racing

A well-known name in the Japanese racing scene, Rookie Racing return to the Kyojo Cup for its 2025 season. The team have also participated in other racing series, such as Super Formula and Super GT.

Rookie Racing will field Mako Hirakawa (#4), the younger sister of Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar driver and Haas F1 reserve Ryō Hirakawa. The 28-year-old has also chosen to stay with the same team that brought her to fourth place overall and two podiums in the 2024 Kyojo Cup standings. 

TOM’S

Having won the teams’ championship in the 2024 season of Super Formula Lights, TOM’S will join the Kyojo Cup for the 2025 season. The Toyota-affiliated team may have never competed in the Kyojo Cup before, but their line-up features several recognisable names.

The previous season’s winner, Aimi Saito (#1), has left Aiwin for Team M in the 2025 season. The Japanese driver has competed in the Kyojo Cup since 2020, taking second and third place overall on two occasions each before becoming the champion of the 2024 season with four wins from six races.

Saito will be joined by  Japanese-American driver Hana Burton (#37), who has also gained a reputation for motorsport content creation. Burton finished ninth in the Kyojo Cup last year. In 2022, she won the Rookie of the Year award in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris Cup.

Impul with Dr. Dry Racing

Dr. Dry Racing are a staple of Japanese F4, but they have also competed in the Kyojo Cup since 2024. The team fared well in the previous season, with their sole driver accumulating 75 points at the end of the season. They are paired with Super Formula and Super GT outfit Team Impul, who have a longstanding association with Toyota.

The driver who raced last year with Dr. Dry is Rio Shimono (#86), who placed third overall in the 2021 and 2024 seasons of the Kyojo Cup and who continues her partnership with the team. The 24-year-old from Osaka has raced in formula cars for three seasons in Japanese F4, having run 22 races with Zap Speed and 20 with Dr. Dry. She took only three points finishes in that series but scored four podiums and three poles in the Kyojo Cup last season.

Team KCMG

New to the series are Team KCMG, who currently compete in Super Formula and have previously raced in the World Endurance Championship. The Hong Kong–based corporation is also known as KC Motorgroup, the company that produces the car raced in the series. 

Okinawa-born Miki Onaga (#7) is a returning driver who was the 2022 champion of the Kyojo Cup. She raced in the 2024 season of the Kyojo Cup with the RSS outfit, placing second overall with two wins and two podiums but falling out of the title fight after failing to score in the final round.

Joining Onaga is Rami Sasaki (#8), who had also competed in the Kyojo Cup before. The Tokyo-based 20-year-old scored 23 points with LHG Racing during the 2024 season. Her interest in sports began with volleyball, but after picking up karting, she focused on both volleyball and racing.

New to the series is American driver Kelsey Pinkowski (#9), who started racing in 2021. The 21-year-old also competes in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship, in which she sits 13th. She was the 2025 winner of the Gorsline Scholarship for up-and-coming female drivers in North America. Outside of racing, she studies global business management at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Joining Pinkowski is Flame Airikkala (#10)  from Finland, though she will not compete in the first round. She placed 17th overall in the 2023 season of the Fiesta Junior Championship and had tested GB4 machinery over the following winter before entering one round of Formula Nordic last year. She has also followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, Pentti Airikkala, by participating in rallying. 

Airikkala’s replacement for the first round will be Reina Amaya (#10), who competed in the Kyojo Cup in 2023. Amaya, born in 1993, has raced in single-seaters for years but only began testing F4 machinery late last year.

Cerumo Inging

Cerumo Inging are another new entry to the Kyojo Cup. The team, a joint entity formed from the Cerumo and Inging squads, currently compete together in Super Formula and separately in Super GT. The team’s line-up is made up of two racers familiar with the series as well as a new entry.

Returning to the series is Riona Tomishita (#39), who had competed in the previous season of the Kyojo Cup and placed fifth overall with two podiums. The Chiba-based driver also took first place in the second Kyojo Cup Exhibition Race in November 2024. In the 2023 season, she had taken pole position on her debut but was unable to finish the race.

Another returnee is Kokoro Sato (#38), Tomishita’s new teammate. She was part of ELEV Racing OS in the 2024 season but failed to score any points. In 2020, the 17-year-old was also a race winner in the FP-Jr class of the JAF Junior Kart Championship.

New to the Kyojo Cup is Sitarvee Limnantharak (#59), also known as Minnie, from Thailand. The 20-year-old was the top female racer in the X30 Mini category of the 2018 IAME International Final. Her father, Thai racer Kriangkrai Limnantharak, had also raced at Fuji Speedway three times in the early 1990s while competing in the Japanese Touring Car Championship. 

Re-Kobe

Re-Kobe, formerly known as Team M, will be returning to series. The Japanese team had previously ran two drivers who won the championship two years in a row since 2023. For this season, they will be returning to the grid with a driver who competed with them last season.

Itsumo Shiraishi (#17) from Hyogo prefecture will be back in the Kyojo Cup this season after finishing 11th last season. The 18-year-old was formerly a member of the Honda Racing School in Suzuka. She finished second in the Senior Max class of the 2023 Rotax Max Festival at the Festika Circuit Mizunami. 

Fujisan Shizuoka Racing

Fujisan Shizuoka Racing, formerly known as CSA Racing and based in Shizuoka prefecture, are a new name in the series. The team will be bringing back a driver who has raced in the Kyojo Cup before.

For this season, they will work with Yuika Hosokawa (#12), one of the drivers who competed in the first season of the Kyojo Cup in 2017. The 32-year-old mother of three last raced in the series in 2022, scoring two points. Prior to taking up racing, she had aimed to compete in the Olympics as a swimmer. 

Fukuda Racing

Fukuda Racing are another team returning to the Kyojo Cup for the 2025 season. The Japanese team will return with Tokyo’s Marie Iwaoka (#33), who had finished 12th in the championship last year with the team, earning eight points in total. In 2015, the 32-year-old began her racing career through the Mazda Women in Motorsport Project. Afterwards, she raced in the TGR GT86/BRZ Cup, and since 2024 she has competed in Super Taikyu’s ST-5 class with Murakami Motors. 

Mihara Racing

Mihara Racing will also be back on the grid this season. Founded in 2023, the team have been competing in the Kyojo Cup for two years now. They will continue to run the same driver from the previous season.

Osaka-born Kilei Kanemoto (#32) finished 10th in the 2024 season. The 24-year-old began competing in the Kyojo Cup in 2021 after receiving an offer from the series’ organiser at the time. 

Buzz Racing

Buzz Racing, who participate in Japanese F4, will also join the Kyojo Cup grid this season with a driver new to the grid.

That driver is Zhao Yun Qing (#57), also known as Emily Zhao. The Chinese driver previously competed in the Senior Max category of the Rotax Max Challenge Series in Japan. She also raced in the OK-N category of the WSK Final Cup, finishing 36th.

Dojo Racing

Little is known about Dojo Racing, who field Ayumu Nagai (#46) for 2025. The racer from Suzuka finished sixth overall in the 2024 championship, with 45 points, and finished in the top 10 in the three seasons before that. She started her career in motorsport by racing motorcycles but later switched to rally racing in 2019.

TGM Grand Prix

TGM Grand Prix may be new to the Kyojo Cup, but they are not unfamiliar to single-seater racing. The team have competed in Super Formula for three years now and most recently placed ninth in the teams’ championship for the 2024 season. They will be running two drivers who have raced in the Kyojo Cup before.

The first in their line-up is Miku Ikejima (#53), who did not score points last year. She found more success in previous years, however, taking fourth in her debut race in 2017 and finishing third overall in 2018. Within single-seaters, the racer from Saitama prefecture previously competed in the first four races of Japanese F4 in 2017. She also works in TGM’s public relations office.

Joining Ikejima is her new teammate, Maaya Orido (#55), who was also unable to score points in the 2024 season. Her best finish was ninth in the fifth race of the season. She had previously raced with Max Orido Team, run by her father, Manabu Orido, the Super GT GT300 class champion in 1997 and 2009. She also competed in the TGR Yaris Cup in 2021.

Autolook Racing

Autolook Racing, based in Ibaraki Prefecture will compete in the Kyojo Cup for the first time. The team also run a garage across from Tsukuba Circuit. They will have one driver in their line-up for this season.

After finishing seventh in 2024, Ryu Yamamoto (#87) will remain on the grid. She had been racing in the Kyojo Cup since 2017. Prior to her racing career, she worked as a lawyer. In 2018, she became the champion of the RSC 2.0 category of the FRCC Roadster Cup, a support series to the Asian Le Mans Series, after winning three out of four races.

Editor’s note, 9 May 2025, 16:50 CEST: This article was updated after publication to include additional information about several drivers.

Header photo courtesy of @matthewhiro6186 via Instagram