Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #11 Ritomo Miyata

Toyota WEC junior Ritomo Miyata launched his career globally by winning both the Super Formula and Super GT titles in an accomplished campaign, becoming by far the youngest of the five drivers to have achieved the feat, at the age of 24. 

In his third season driving for TOM’S in Super Formula, Miyata added to his one-lap speed, impressive long-run pace, and an amazing ability to get overtaking moves done when needed, with his consistency over the season allowing him to beat Liam Lawson to the title. 

In Super GT, he and Sho Tsuboi assembled one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory, with his charge to victory at Autopolis only confirming his star potential. 

The racing obsession that makes Miyata so good

Over the course of three seasons for TOM’S in Super Formula, Ritomo Miyata has taken huge strides. From 10th overall in his 2021 rookie season, he improved to fourth last year, and at the third time of asking claimed the championship, a rate of progression rarely seen with Japanese drivers. 

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Miyata dominated in Japan this year

Overseeing Miyata over that period has been race engineer Masaki Saeda, who feels that the 24-year-old scoring his first win at Suzuka from 12th on the grid represented a turning point. 

“It feels like he really grew a lot this year,” says Saeda. “When he won the third round at Suzuka, he had to make a lot of overtakes and I think that grabbing that result really boosted his confidence a lot. I think he matured a lot by getting that first win. 

“It’s our third year of working together and he has always been making steps forward. Ritomo has made a lot of progress with tyre management and overtaking, so everything has gone in the right direction, including those things.” 

"He’s basically obsessed with racing and is an exceptionally hard worker. He has steadily accumulated this knowledge and finally this year it translated into results" Masaki Saeda

For Saeda, Miyata’s title was his fourth as an engineer, following successes with Kazuki Nakajima (2012 and 2014) and Nick Cassidy (2019). It also continued the recent trend of TOM’S winning in the first year of a new rules cycle. 

Asked to compare Miyata to his predecessors, Saeda opines: “Kazuki was of course fast, and because he was coming back to Japan after racing in F1 it felt like we had to win with him. Nick came to us [from Kondo Racing] with a lot of speed and experience, but Ritomo needed some time to adjust and improve because he was with us from his first season.  

“He is using the simulator a lot even at home, and he’s thinking about what he should do as a driver. He’s basically obsessed with racing and is an exceptionally hard worker. He has steadily accumulated this knowledge and finally this year it translated into results.” 

Those are traits that will serve Miyata well as he gets up to speed on unfamiliar tracks in an unfamiliar car and tyre in Formula 2 next year. 

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Miyata (left) will move to F2 in 2024 with Carlin alongside a European Le Mans Series programme