Miyata Steps Into CarGuy MKS Seat for SUPER GT Motegi Finale

Photo: SUPER GT

CarGuy MKS Racing has made its reasoning clear for calling up Ritomo Miyata for the SUPER GT finale at Motegi this weekend. The team says it needed a replacement of the same calibre as Zak O'Sullivan, who won't be there, if it wants the best possible shot at the GT300 title.

Where the points stand

Now in its second season, the squad sits second in the GT300 teams' standings going into a title-deciding double-header. O'Sullivan is also second in the drivers' standings, a solo effort that leaves him 17 points adrift of the Kondo Racing Nissan pairing of Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura. That's the gap the team has to close.

O'Sullivan is skipping Motegi to prepare for his Formula E commitments, which opened a seat in the No. 7 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. Miyata, the 2023 GT500 champion, will share the car with Kiyoshi Umegaki. Umegaki begins the weekend 20 points behind, and the two races on Saturday and Sunday are where that deficit has to be erased.

Why Miyata, and why not Ito

On paper, the easier option would have been Reimei Ito. He's already signed as a third driver, stood in for Umegaki at the Okayama season opener, and has taken stints in the two three-hour races at Fuji and Autopolis this year. Team director Misato Haga said the squad would normally have gone that route, but O'Sullivan's role as team leader changed the calculation.

"Normally we would have used Reimei, but because Zak has acted as a team leader, we felt we needed a like-for-like substitute, a 'platinum' driver on a similar level to Zak, in order to be able to fight for the championship," Haga said.

Miyata's recent GT record is thin. He has spent the last two years racing exclusively in FIA Formula 2, and it's been a long time since he last drove in SUPER GT. Haga wasn't worried about that. Team boss Takeshi Kimura had raced with Miyata at the 2023 Fuji round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and that existing connection made the call straightforward. "There are many international drivers we could have chosen, but because Kimura-san has raced with Ritomo in the WEC before, we had that connection, so we asked him," Haga said.

There's a reasonable case that a driver switching from open-wheel single-seaters into a GT3 Ferrari with a new car and limited running needs time to settle. Haga's view is that Miyata's professional background will help him adapt quickly, and she's confident he will. For a team on the cusp of a title, that's a calculated bet rather than a sure thing, and this weekend will show how much the rust matters.

The final race twist

Haga pointed to a wrinkle that will shape the weekend. The success weight will be removed for the final race, which means the competitive order can shift between Saturday and Sunday. Her team's focus is less on chasing the leaders than on finishing ahead of the rivals it's directly battling for the title. In a tight field, that's a sensible way to think about it. With the points gap from second place downward so narrow, Haga believes almost any team could end up on top.

Next season's line-up question

The Motegi decision is only part of the story. CarGuy MKS will need two new drivers for next year, since O'Sullivan is heading to Formula E and Toyota junior Umegaki is also expected to leave the series for European single-seater racing. That puts two of the team's top seats on the market at once, and the squad's approach to filling them will be worth watching.

Haga said the team wants a line-up that "surprises people," and she wouldn't commit to keeping its Toyota-linked driver pipeline intact. "Up to now we've mostly used Toyota-linked drivers, and there's a possibility it might be the case next year, but there are also other candidates and nothing is decided yet," she said.

That's a deliberately open door. Teams that have built a reputation for unconventional pairings often end up with the most interesting grids, and CarGuy MKS clearly sees its driver selection as part of its identity. Haga's stated priority is simple: "Our priority is to sign drivers we believe can win." If Motegi goes their way, that philosophy will look even stronger heading into 2025, and the team's next signings will tell us whether the Toyota link remains central or becomes one option among several.