Kyojo Cup: An Alternative Approach to Promoting Women in Motorsport and What F1 Academy Could Learn from It
Much has already been said and written about female racers, with opinions on women’s series varying widely among drivers, experts, and fans. For instance, Germany’s Sophia Flörsch has criticised both W Series, the predecessor to F1 Academy, and F1 Academy itself as a step backward, arguing that gender separation hinders competitiveness. She believes that to evolve as a racer, one must compete against the best, and since men are generally considered to represent the highest level of competition, she prefers to race against them – an argument grounded in logic.
The most pressing issue with F1A is the lack of tangible sponsorship and support for its drivers after they leave the championship, which remains a key obstacle preventing them from moving up the Formula ladder to categories such as F3, not to mention F1. Moreover, the challenge of ensuring a highly competitive grid persists.
What could be done about it?
Japan’s Kyojo Cup may offer a couple of answers to this question.
In our spotlight is an all-female Formula racing championship held annually in Japan since 2017, which became a pioneer in its own right (W Series was launched only two years later). The Japanese series was founded by Masanori Sekiya, the country’s first winner of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995, who has demonstrated how women's motorsport can be effectively integrated into a country’s motorsport ecosystem – and even that of an entire region.
Originally conceived as a support championship for Sekiya’s Inter Proto Series, Kyojo Cup evolved into a standalone phenomenon over the years in a country with a deep passion for motorsport.
The championship has proven to be an innovative testing ground: having initially been run on unconventional VITA-01 cars with formula-style chassis and plastic bodywork, the series switched to F4-type cars with hybrid PUs provided by the Hong Kong-based manufacturer KC Motorgroup. Kyojo Cup competitors have been testing technologies that could later be adopted by other junior motorsport series.
Moreover, Kyojo Cup is naturally integrated into Japan’s auto racing market for several reasons. First, the championship has never portrayed itself as a step toward the country’s top Super Formula Championship; on the contrary, Kyojo Cup serves as a pathway for the development of successful female racing careers within motorsport as a whole. No Super Formula team (Japan’s top formula championship and one of the world’s fastest racing championships) has been required to sign female drivers to its academy or lend its branding to a Kyojo Cup entry.
Second – and perhaps most importantly – Kyojo Cup racers are consistently present at major Japanese automotive and motorsport events such as Tokyo Auto Salon, Osaka Auto Messe, and numerous motorsport festivals. Japan is known for its vibrant and distinctive motorsport culture, and local fans are naturally exposed to Kyojo Cup without the need for Super Formula to actively promote the national women’s series. With such visibility, the commercial appeal increases significantly, as sponsors gain a clearer understanding of the drivers and series they would be investing in. This remains one of F1A’s biggest weaknesses – many F1 fans are still unfamiliar with the championship unless they actively seek out information about it.
Kyojo Cup’s entry list for 2026 consists of 20 full-time racers, including 14 Japanese drivers, one from Thailand, one from China, two from the United States, and two from Australia – a respectable field for a relatively modest national championship. The series has increasingly attracted attention from abroad and produced several remarkable stories. For example, Kelsey Pinkowski, a U.S. student of global management, made her professional racing debut in American F4 only two years ago, while Australia’s Paige Raddatz debuted in F4 in India last year. Hana Burton, competing under a U.S. licence, is one of the most popular female racers in Japan, having amassed nearly 600,000 Instagram followers. She is currently running her fourth Kyojo Cup season and has taken part in the Fuji 24 Hours and many other Japanese races. She is also currently the front-runner in Chinese GT. Among other Kyojo Cup participants is Australia’s Joanne Ciconte, who raced in F1A last year and is currently second in Kyojo Cup. The championship’s reigning winner is Rio Shimono, while Riona Tomishita, runner-up in the ST-2 class of the Super Taikyu endurance championship, is also on the grid, having competed against Toyota’s male drivers throughout the season.
Of course, not every aspect of Kyojo Cup could be applied to other championships due to national peculiarities, but the series has managed to ensure high visibility, tangible sponsorship opportunities, and effective integration into the wider motorsport community for its participants, allowing them to continue competing for as long as they choose. Creating a separate grid is not enough if it exists in a bubble, and that is the primary lesson F1 Academy could learn from Japan.