Rio Shimono

 

Rio Shimono is a Japanese driver who won her class in the Japanese TCR championship in 2020.

She made her major debut in the 2020 Japanese TCR series, although this was delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. 

The 19-year-old drove a Honda Civic run by Drago Corse when the championship restarted and won the Bronze class outright. She was second in the main Saturday series championship with one race win at Suzuka. She was fourth in the Sunday series that ran alongside it, with third places at Twin Ring Motegi and Suzuka.

During 2020 she became friendly with her fellow Drago Corse driver Tatiana Calderon, who was racing for the team in Super Formula. 

In 2021, she was third in the Kyojo Cup, an all-female one-make sportscar championship in Japan. Drago Corse ran her car. She entered the Kyojo Cup, which has a short season, again in 2022.

Rio previously raced in the Super FJ Series in Japan, an entry-level championship based at the Okuyama circuit. She scored two wins during the 2019 season, which was her first as a racing driver.

In 2022, she returned to single-seaters, entering the F4 Japan championship with Zap Speed team. Her season started badly with a lowly 34th place at Fuji, but she improved dramatically to 16th place in the second Fuji race. At the next rounds at Suzuka, she was 22nd and 34th, falling in the middle of the three Zap Speed cars. She did four more races, entering the top twenty once more at Suzuka with an 18th place.

Her second F4 Japan season gave her a 19th place. She was seventh in the first round at Fuji, but could not match that performance for the rest of the year. Normally, she was in the lower half of the top 20.

She improved slightly in 2024, driving for the Dr Dry team she had joined in the second half of 2013. She picked up two top-ten finishes at Motegi and Suzuka, the best of these being a ninth at Motegi. She was also third in the Kyojo Cup.

In 2025, she won her first Kyojo Cup, which was now running as a single-seater championship. She won eight of the ten races and was never off the podium. Dr Dry were supporting her for a combined Kyojo/Japanese F4 season, but she was not able to repeat her Kyojo syccess in mixed competition. Her best finish was a 15th place at Autopolis and she was 28th in the championship. 

As well as FIA F4, she also entered some rounds of the F110 Cup, which uses an F4-spec car built by Japanese manufacturer Dome. She was second and third at Motegi, after doing double duty for Dr Dry in the Minute Endurance Championship. 

Her long-term ambition is the World Touring Car Championship.

(Image copyright Japan TCR)

Miki Onaga

Miki Onaga races a VITA sportscar in Japan, in both the all-female Kyojo Cup and in the mixed Inter Proto series for which that car is eligible. 

Born in 1997, she comes from Okinawa province, the most southerly island of Japan.

She is one of the Kyojo Cup’s leading drivers, finishing second in the 2019 championship having joined for the second round. On the pace from the start, she won straight away. This was the start of a championship battle with Hinako Muramatsu, which lasted until the final round. Muramatsu won. 

The same year, she used her Vita prototype for the Suzuka Race of Asia, competing in the Vita one-make race. This is the mixed counterpart of the Kyojo Cup.

She entered the Kyojo Cup again in 2020 and was second overall, as well as competing in the Super Taikyu Championship in a Toyota GT86, driving for a Toyota-supported junior team. The Kobe Toyopet Motorsports car made its debut in October at the 3 Hours of Okuyama, where the three-driver team was fourth in class.

She returned to Super Taikyu in 2021, racing a Toyota Yaris, as well as finishing second in the Kyojo Cup again. The Yaris was a GR model run by the Kobe Toyopet team again. Early in the season, Miki and her two team-mates won their class at Motegi, the first of three class victories.

The Kyojo Cup title went back her way in 2022 with three out of four race wins. The fourth resulted in a penalty, otherwise she would have won that too.

In 2023 she was announced as a driver in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86/BRZ one-make cup, but no results seem to be forthcoming. Returning to the Kyojo Cup at the end of the summer season, she was second again, with one win.

She raced in the TGR championship in America in 2024, driving a GR86 for Hattori Racing as part of a rotating squad of Japanese guest drivers. Her best finish was 19th, at Barber Motorsports Park. Back home in Japan, she was runner-up in the Kyojo Cup.

The Kyojo Cup became a single-seater championship in 2025 and Miki was still a part of it, winning once at Fuji and finishing second overall. She was somewhat less successful in Japanese F4, which uses a different car. Her best finish was thirteenth, again at Fuji, and she was 26th overall.

Her senior career began in 2019, but she was both active and successful in karting for two years before that, competing in the All Japan Regional Championship and the Dunlop Next Cup. She was the first driver chosen for the Exgel Race Car First Challenge, a programme for karters transitioning to cars. It used the Vita prototype, giving her an advantage for her Suzuka debut.

(Image copyright Exgel Motorsport)

Anna Inotsume

 

Anna Inotsume is a Japanese driver who races touring cars and GTs. She is the 2023 Japanese TCR champion.

She began her career in 2015 as part of a women’s motorsport initiative run by Mazda in Japan. She did some racing in an electric car that year. Her involvement continued through 2016 and incorporated her major on-track debut. She represented the women’s team in December’s Mazda Party Race, qualifying on pole and finishing fourth. 

She was selected to race in the 2018 Super Taikyu series in a Mazda Roadster as part of an all-female team picked from the scheme. “Love Drive Racing” was run by Keiko Ihara and Anna, along with Marie Iwaoka, ran the whole season, including a 24-hour race at Fuji. Their best result was sixth in class at Suzuka. Her first steps into Super Taikyu were the final rounds of the 2017 series, with the same team. She shared the car with Marie Iwaoka at Fuji and Okayama. They were eleventh and thirteenth in class. 

At the end of 2018, she made her debut in the Asian Le Mans Series, joining the all-female R24 team for the Fuji race alongside Marie Iwaoka and Stephane Kox. This team was also run by former Le Mans racer Keiko Ihara. They were seventh in the LMP3 class. 

Anna tried out for the 2020 W Series in September 2019 but was not selected, admitting later that she found the F3 car hard to drive due to her lack of single-seater experience. Her first single-seater races were later in the year in the club-level JAF F4 series. On her third race, she scored her first podium finish. Back in a tin-top, she was invited to take part in the Japanese round of the Asian Mini Challenge.

Mazdas had not been forgotten: having represented West Japan in the Mazda Party Race series in 2018, she joined the Mazda Fan Endurance Japan Tour and won. 

Her 2020 activities included a run in the three-round Kyojo Cup, a single-make sportscar series for women drivers. She was third overall, winning the last race of the season. She also participated in the mixed Vita series, which uses the same car. 

She also returned to Super Taikyu after a year away, competing in a Mazda Roadster run by students from Nihon Automobile College. Hiroko Komatsu joined her in the five-driver team for the Fuji 24 Hours. Later in the season, she joined the Natural Tuning/Cusco team in their Roadster for the third Super Taikyu race. She earned her first class podium, a second place at Autopolis, during the fifth round. 

Shortly before that, she tested an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR car, with a view to participating in the series in future. 

In 2021 she did make her TCR debut, but in a Honda Civic run by Dome Racing. She scored one second place in the Saturday Series at Suzuka and finished eleventh in both the Saturday and Sunday championships.

She continued for Dome in the TCR championship in 2022 and scored her first win at Fuji, swiftly followed by a second win at Suzuka. This followed a run of seven podium finishes, plus two pole positions, netting her second in the championship. This improved to a championship win in 2023, with five wins and two additional podiums for the Dome team. Her car was a Honda Civic.

In September, she made a guest appearance in Formula Regional Japan, finishing fifth and fourth at Fuji. This led to a full season in 2024. She was sixth in the championship, with one podium finish: a second place at Fuji. 

Back in tin-tops, she travelled to the USA for some guest races in the Toyota GR Cup North America, part of a rotating group of Japanese drivers. She entered the Virginia rounds, finishing 21st both times. 

She stayed in Japan for 2025, running in both Formula Regional and Super Taikyu. Her results were consistent, if not spectacular in FR Japan. She was fifth twice, at Okoyama and Sugo, and was sixth in the championship again.

Her Super Taikyu season covered five of the seven rounds, driving an Audi R8 LMS for the same Hitotsuyama team that ran her in FR Japan. She and her team-mates were fifth in the ST-X class, with one second place at Autopolis.

(Image copyright Anna Inotsume)

Rina Ito

Rina Ito is a Japanese driver who has competed in both racing and rallying, in Japan and also in the rest of Asia. 

In common with other drivers including Keiko Ihara, Rina’s first introduction to motorsport was as a scantily-clad grid girl, in 2006, when she was 20. She continued in this role, on and off, until 2017. It was only a couple of years before she got behind the wheel herself and she was karting by 2008.

Her senior rallying career came first and she has been active in Japanese and Asia-Pacific rallying since 2010, usually driving a Mazda 2 Demio to begin with. She took part in the Rally of Hokkaido in 2011, and is listed as an entrant for the 2012 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, although the results are proving elusive. 

She had a decent season in Japanese rallying in 2013, with a best finish of 24th, in the Osaka University Tango Peninsula Tango Rally. In 2013, she equalled this result, in the Hokkaido Rally, still in the Mazda. That year, she competed overseas in the New Zealand Rally, in a Honda Civic, but had an off on the final stage. 

She continued to rally in 2015, mostly in Japan, but with one run in the Rally of Whangerei, in New Zealand, which she did not finish. Her best finish was 27th, in the Fukushima Rally. In 2016, she entered the Shinshiro Rally, in a Toyota Aqua. She was 42nd overall. She drove another Toyota, a Vitz, in 2017, and earned her first top-twenty finish: 20th in the Kumakogen Rally. Another season in the Vitz followed and she had a best finish of 27th in the Hokkaido Rally. 

The 2018 rally season finished in much the same way, although she did take a step forward in 2019, contesting the Japanese championship and progressing well in the JN-6 class. Her best result overall was probably her 24th place in the Shinshiro Rally; she beat 20 other drivers and was also second in class.

Her circuit racing career took a little longer to get going and it was 2012 before she got a significant ride. That year, she took part in two Super Endurance races at Okoyama and Suzuka. She raced a Toyota GT86 in 2013, in the Fuji Champion Cup and also a one-make series for that model of car. 

It was not long before Rina was competing internationally. She travelled to Korea in 2015 for the Korea Speed Festival, driving a Hyundai Veloster Turbo. She did three races, with a best finish of sixth. Back home, she took part in one-make championships for the Mini and the Toyota GT86. 2016 was her first year in the Professional class, having already raced in the Celebrity class. It was also her first involvement with Team Bride, for which she would later race in the Super Taikyu series.

2017 featured a lot of single-sex racing. She competed on-track in Japan's all-female Kyojo Cup and the Thai-based Toyota Vios Lady Cup. She won the Lady Cup title in 2017. A second season in the Kyojo Cup, which uses small sports prototypes, gave her a seventh place in 2018.

She seems concentrated on rallying in 2019, still using a Toyota Vitz. She was second overall in the JN-6 class of the Japanese championship after three runner-up places. Her best overall finish was 23rd in the Sammy Yokote Rally. She did at least some rounds of the Kyojo Cup too.

The shortened 2020 season included another run in the Kyojo Cup, finishing fourth. 2021 was also a short season, with one run in a Yaris in the MCSC Highland Masters Rally. She was seventh in the Kyojo Cup. 

There still wasn't much rallying on the horizon in 2022; she drove a Mazda 2 Demio in the Rally of Hokkaido and finished 34th. On-track, she was tenth in the Kyojo Cup, with a best finish of sixth at Fuji in the last round of the series. She also used her Vita Kyojo car in a mixed Vita two-hour enduro at Fuji, finishing 27th. In another mixed team, she raced a Suzuki Swift in the Sepang 1000km at the end of the season, finishing thirteenth and first female driver.

She was eighth in the 2023 Kyojo Cup, finishing fifth in the first round. She also raced a BMW Mini in Japan. Changing direction, she returned to rallying in 2024, driving a Mazda2 Demio. Her best finish was twelfth in the Hatoguruma Rally Gravel. 

Another season in the Demio followed in 2025. She was good on gravel again, finishing fifth in the Hatagaruma event. 

(Image copyright Rina Ito)

Miki Koyama

Mihime “Miki“ Koyama races in Formula 4 in Japan. She was also the 2017 champion in the women-only Kyojo Cup.

Miki was 18 when she first started racing cars, although she raced karts both at home in Japan and abroad from the age of five, between 2003 and 2013. 2015 was her debut season in Formula 4, following a driver training programme. She entered the last four races of the year. Her best finishes were at Motegi, but were only two 26th places.

In 2016, she was set to race full-time in Formula 4, driving for the miNami aoYama Project, but this did not happen, and she only made five appearances from 14 rounds. Her best result was an eleventh place, at Okayama. One of her team-mates was Ayaka Imahashi, another young female driver.

She did a full season of Formula 4 in 2017 but struggled. Her best finish was 18th, at Autopolis. She was unplaced in the championship. Mid-season, she contested the two rounds of the inaugural Kyojo Cup at Fuji, driving a VITA-01 sports prototype. She won both races and was crowned the champion when the third round was abandoned due to a typhoon.

This was not her first experience of sportscar racing; she took part in some rounds of the 2016 Interproto Series, earning one third place. This is a one-make sportscar series like the Kyojo Cup that uses the “Kuruma”, a spec car.

In 2017, she did more one-make racing in the Honda N-One Owners Cup, which uses the N-One supercompact. Miki participated in five races and won two. Staying with Honda, she made a guest appearance in the FIT Challenge Cup, another one-make series.

For Miki, 2018 was split again between Formula 4, the Kyojo Cup and guest spots in Japanese sportscar series. This year, she did her first 24-hour race in June. She was third in the Super Taikyu 24 Hours at Fuji, as part of a six-driver team in a Toyota GT86.

In Formula 4, she drove for the Field Motorsports team and was 15th overall. It was her best season to date and included three top-ten finishes: a seventh and two ninths at Fuji. The series had big entries of more than 20 cars per race.

She won three rounds of the Kyojo Cup and retained her title in 2018, despite having a disaster in the last round and only finishing eighth.

Miki jumped ship from one all-female championship to another in 2019, moving to Europe to contest the inaugural W Series. She was praised by observers for her overtaking abilities, but she could not quite get onto the podium, finishing fourth once at Misano. She was seventh overall.

It was a busy year for Miki domestically too. She entered most of the Japanese F4 championship, earning three top-ten finishes, and also raced F3 cars in the Asian Championship. She was fourteenth overall after a part-season of six races at Chang and Suzuka, with a best finish of seventh at Suzuka.

W Series was cancelled in 2020 due to coronavirus. Miki started the year with three races in the F3 Asian Championship at Sepang and finished tenth twice and ninth once. In May, she drove for Zap Speed in the Formula Regional Japanese Championship, which uses the same car as W Series. She was fifth and seventh at Fuji.

Her second W Series season was a let-down after her early promise in 2019. She was fifth in the first race at the Red Bull Ring, but languished just outside the top ten for most of the rest of the season. She was fourteenth in the championship and was not invited back in 2022.

Before getting into her W car, she made a guest appearance at the first Super Formula Lights series meeting of the year, held at Fuji. She was seventh twice and eighth once, driving for B-Max Engineering.

Miki managed to prove her detractors at W Series wrong in 2022. She entered the Formula Regional Japan series for the Super License team and soon became the dominant driver in the championship. Her winning streak began at the second meeting at Okayama and she won seven of the 17 races, finishing either second or third in the others. She won the championship by a large margin.

In a change of direction, most of 2023 was spent preparing for and competing in the Super GT championship in Japan, the first female driver to do so for more than a decade. She was signed as a third driver by the Anest Iwata Racing team, driving a Lexus RC F GT3, which runs in the GT300 class. Her co-drivers were Igor Fraga and Yuga Furutani. Her first race gave her a 19th place in class, but she improved to eleventh by the end of the year. At the end of the season, she also made a guest appearance in the F4 race at Macau, but she could only finish one of her races in eleventh.

Her second Super GT season was limited to three races, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3 for the R'Qs Motorsports team. Her team-mate was Masaki Jyonai. Their best finish was a 21st place at Fuji. Miki also drove in the Super Taikyu series for six rounds, back in a Lexus. She was part of a multi-driver team. They won one race at Suzuka and were fourth in their class championship.

She had a different team and team-mates for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, sharing the car with Hon Chio Leong for Iron Lynx and the Theodore team. From eight races, they scored seven podiums, including seconds at Sepang, Inje and Fuji. Miki won the Pro class. 

Although she tested a Super Formula car at the end of 2024, she returned to Super GT in 2025, this time for a full season with apr Motorsport. Her car was a Lexus LC 500h GT. She did six out of the eight races, as the first Fuji round was a sprint, and the car retired at Sugo before her stint. She and regular team-mate were 28th in the championship, not helped by a disqualification from one of the Autopolis races. Their best overall finish was twelfth, at Sepang.

Miki was retained by the team for 2026.

(Image from https://ameblo.jp/mk-gold1/entry-12312181855.html)

The Kyojo Cup

The Kyojo Cup is a one-make series for female drivers in Japan. It uses a small sports prototype built in Japan by West Racing Cars, called the VITA-01.

The series was launched in 2017 at Fuji Motor Speedway. It was contested over three rounds, all held at Fuji. The 2017 season was shortened to two rounds due to a typhoon disrupting the final one. For 2018, it was extended to four rounds.

The name “Kyojo” translates as “competition girl”, and suggests grid girls rather than female drivers. It is also very similar to a word meaning “madwoman”.

The first Kyojo Cup featured only Japanese drivers and was won by Miki Koyama. She usually competed in the Japanese Formula 4 championship and had done so since 2015.

Beitske Visser became the first overseas driver to race in the Cup when she entered the first round of the 2018 series. She was second overall, behind Miki Koyama. Miki won the 2018 Cup too, ahead of Mako Hirakawa, despite only finishing eighth in the final round.

Miki Koyama was busy in the W Series in 2019, so a new champion was crowned. Hinako Muramatsu won from Miki Onaga, despite only winning the final round.

The series had some new drivers joining from other championships in 2020, due to the lack of racing elsewhere. Formula 3 driver Ai Miura was the 2020 champion, ahead of Miki Onaga and sportscar racer Anna Inotsume. Ai Miura won two of the three races, with Miki Onaga winning the other one in the three-round championship. Ai Miura also entered the mixed championship and was fourth in the "Gentlemen's" class.

The 2021 champion was Shion Tsujimoto, a former karter supported by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission in 2016. Miki Onaga reclaimed her crown in 2022.

Erstwhile single-seater racer Ai Miura was 2023's winner, from Miki Onaga. Miki Onaga was narrowly beaten to the 2024 title by Aimi Saito.

The Vita sportscars were retired in favour of F4-type single-seaters for the 2025 championship. Rio Shimono dominated the ten-race season, winning eight times. Second-placed Miki Onaga and third-placed Aimi Sato secured one win each.

Drivers have tended to have some motorsport background; Rina Ito campaigns a Toyota Vitz in Japanese rallies, Miku Ikejima has competed against Miki Koyama in F4 and Yuri Hayashi entered the Japanese Porsche Supercup in 2016.

Yuri Hayashi, like several other Kyojo Cup entrants, has been involved in previous women’s motorsport initiatives in Japan. She was part of a Mazda female driver selection in 2015 and raced in the Super Taikyu Cup with the chosen team. Rina Ito has taken part in the Toyota Vios Lady Cup.

Several are from motorsport families and have more famous brothers and husbands who race. 2018 debutant Makiko Hirakawa is the younger sister of 2017 Super GT champion Ryo Hirakawa. Yuka Hosokawa, who deputised for Rina Ito in the second race of 2017, is married to Shinya Hosokawa, another driver.

The championship is unusual in that it offers a generous prize fund: 30,000 yen (about £1200) for race winners, plus smaller awards for podium finishers.

(Image from www.as-web.jp)
(Thanks to Tobietta Rhyman for help with Japanese translation)