Kyojo Cup: Shimono caps off dominant weekend with a win in the final
- MARCO ALBERTINI
- May 11
- 2 min read
In the second race of the all-female Kyojo Cup opener, Dr. Dry with Impul's Rio Shimono led from lights to flag ahead of Miki Onaga and Kokoro Sato - taking her second win of the season in dominant fashion as she now heads to the second round with a solid points lead.
In what has undoubtedly been a dominant weekend from the Osaka-born driver, Rio Shimono closed off the opening round of the 2025 Kyojo Cup season with another dominant win at Fuji.
With race two's grid being based on race one's results, Shimono started on pole and held the lead at the start as Kokoro Sato got a great launch from fourth and began attacking Mako Hirakawa for third.
However, Sato soon had to switch focus and was forced to defend from Ayumu Nagai, who unsuccessfully attempted to get fourth on the second lap at Turn 1. As Nagai began to lose ground, Sato catched up to Hirakawa again and began attacking her for third in the opening sector.
Sato's first proper move came a lap later as she tried going around the outside of Hirakawa at the same corner, but to no avail as the Rookie Racing driver closed the door on exit. On lap five, Sato finally got past Hirakawa by holding the outside at TGR Corner and completing the overtake in Turn 2 as the Rookie Racing driver had to lift off.
On the same lap, Aimi Saito overtook both Hana Burton and Riona Tomishita to get up to eighth. At the same time, Hirakawa lost more ground and was forced to defend from Ayumu Nagai, which enabled the former to stay ahead during the rest of lap eight.
However, on the main straight heading into lap nine, Nagai overtook Hirakawa, but the Dojo Racing driver missed her braking point and went off at Turn 1, giving back fourth to Hirakawa and falling to seventh. Nagai lost a further position on the following lap as she was overtaken around the outside of the Dunlop chicane by Aimi Saito.
As the checkered flag waved at the end of the 12th lap, Rio Shimono took her second win of the season, followed by Miki Onaga and Kokoro Sato, who rounded out the podium. Hirakawa held on to fourth ahead of Kilei Kanemoto, as Rami Sasaki finished sixth, Aimi Saito finished eighth, Hana Burton finished ninth and Itsumo Shiraishi rounded out the top 10 as Sitarvee Limnantharak was given a 5-second penalty.
The Thai driver fell from 10th to 13th, behind Riona Tomishita and Miku Ikejima, but ahead of Marie Iwaoka and KCMG's last-minute stand-in Reina Amaya. Yuika Hosokawa finished 16th, ahead of Kelsey Pinkowski, Ryu Yamamoto, Emily Zhao and Maaya Orido.
Shimono currently leads the standings on 33 points, nine ahead of Miki Onaga and 17 from Kokoro Sato. Mako Hirakawa sits fourth in points, just two behind Sato, ahead of Kilei Kanemoto, Rami Sasaki, Ayumu Nagai and Hana Burton all scored the same amount of points, seven, throughout the weekend. The top 10 in the standings is rounded out by Aimi Saito, currently on 4 points, and Itsumo Shiraishi, with a lone point scored in race two.
