Miyata went into the double-header at the Honda-owned Japanese Grand Prix venue as Toyota’s only genuine title contender, with Lawson and Nojiri eight and 10 points back respectively.
Second behind Nojiri in a crash-shortened opening race of the weekend on Saturday meant Miyata’s lead was cut to just 4.5 points over the reigning champion after qualifying for Sunday’s decider.
After qualifying fourth, TOM’S man Miyata crucially passed Nojiri for third off the line and held the place to finish in the same positions behind Kakunoshin Ota and Lawson to guarantee himself the crown, a first for Toyota since 2019.
Looking back on the events of Sunday, Miyata said he feared Mugen could even deploy team orders in a bid to ensure the team’s third consecutive drivers’ title, and was not expecting the final showdown to go his way.
“For the past month or so, I’ve been restless and not sleeping well,” said the 24-year-old. “I was nervous. The main thing I was worried about was qualifying.
“Also, I haven’t been strong at starts, so [after qualifying] I was just thinking about how to get through the opening lap without dropping any positions. There’s a video that I watch when I am stressed, and after watching it I thought, ‘It’s better not to think at all’.
“I really didn’t think I would become champion. I thought it would be impossible. This time [in qualifying] it was a Honda 1-2-3, and I thought Team Mugen would use team orders. They are such a strong team, and fighting them alone felt almost hopeless.
“Before the last race, I told the team, ‘We are the only ones who can win the title of the Toyota engine users, we’ve led Toyota’s championship charge, and even though it would be great to win it, if we lose, we shouldn’t think about what went wrong’.
“Instead, I told them, ‘Let’s finish the season with a race that allows us to think we did everything we could.’ All we had to do was our best.”
Source: Autosport