In the 23rd Media 4 Hours Endurance Race held at Tsukuba Circuit on September 7 (Sat.), the Mazda Jinba Ittai Team (Mazda Motor Co., Senior Corporate Officer Kiyoshi Fujiwara, Senior Corporate Officer Masahiro Moro, Design Chief Ikuo Maeda, Product Department Roadster Program Chief Engineer Nobuhiro Yamamoto, Mazda Driving School Masahiro Sato) started from 21st in qualifying, finishing 13th.

This is the second time that this team has appeared at the long-running Media 4 Hours Endurance Race, having also competed last year. However, last year they had a bitter experience when they ran out gas on the final lap and were left stopped on the track. Team Director and Chief Driver Yamamoto thought up a driving training regime alongside his normal heavy workload, compiling advice from experts and active racing drivers, and instructed his team members on this "fast and fuel-efficient driving method." Some team members did intensive training with a racing simulator. This stems from the extremely diligent mindset reflecting the attitude of this company whose motto is “Zoom Zoom.”

In the official qualifying session, their ace Matsuda was the attacking driver whose aim it was to improve on their personal best in last year's race and improve their position on the starting grid. However, perhaps due to an excess of tension, he failed to match the previous year's time. Their position on the starting grid was 10 positions lower than the previous year. Despite this, starting driver Yamamoto suddenly made a bold charge, leaving behind nearly 10 cars after roughly 30 minutes from the start. After that, the Safety Car came out for six laps, easing the fuel-economy restrictions, so all of the teams raised their pace, and an aggressive competition unfolded. The Jinba Ittai Team did not shrink from the battle, going in the order of Moro to Fujiwara to Sato, with no contact or accidents, and they had a comfortable margin of remaining fuel in the final stage of the race, so Motoyama gave the order to increase the pace. Maeda put up lap times comparable to the top team, surprising onlookers. When they finally reached the checkered flag after four hours, they were in 13th place. They had completed 179 laps, one more than last year. The team, having achieved their goal of completing the race, ended with shouting in unison their motto “Be a Driver”, and sharing their excitement.