On September 3rd, the annual Media Roadster 4-Hour Endurance Race took place at Tsukuba circuit. Although the weather was cloudy from the morning with occasional rain caused by typhoon No. 18, the track surface remained almost completely dry. The Mazda Jinba-Ittai team entered the race with a variety of drivers including two marque executives, the General Manager of the Design Division and the Program Manager of the Sports Car Division, as well as an instructor from the Mazda Driving School.

Senior Managing Executive Officer Mr. Thomas A. Pixton has previous motorsport experience. Two of the other drivers included Mr. Masahiro Sato, who works as a driving instructor, while Executive Officer Mr. Kiyoshi Fujiwara has never entered any races, and this was his first time to drive at Tsukuba. In the practice session held prior to qualifying, each driver ran a total of five laps. All the drivers displayed some nervousness just before heading out on track, but everybody ran well and safely, none of them spinning or going off track. It's no wonder really as they've all had special training at the Mine proving ground in Yamaguchi prefecture in preparation for this event.

In qualifying, held from 10:30am, only one driver was allowed to conduct the time attack. On this occasion the attacker was the General Manager of the Design Division, Mr. Ikuo Maeda, a man with a lot of motorsport experience and who was contesting the Media Roadster 4-hour Endurance Race for the fifth time at Tsukuba. Mr. Maeda set times throughout the 15-minute session. Although rain had fallen before the session began and the track was wet briefly, the rain let up just before qualifying began and the track surface soon dried out. The team ended up 20th in qualifying. Mr. Maeda commented afterwards: “I didn't go as well in the corners as I'd imagined I would. My target time was a 1'11, but my best time was only a 1'12.3. It was difficult to nail the braking point going into the first hairpin corner, and in the last corner also I wasn't fast enough. I'd give myself 30 points for my driving today. However, I'll be aiming to beat my best time in the race.”