Round five was held at the Lusail International Circuit, Qatar, as the last round of the 2025 Formula Regional Middle East Championship, 26-28 February.

Taito Kato started his weekend strongly by going second fastest in the opening Official Test session, showing promise for the final race of the series, held mid-week as part of the warm-up act to this weekend's FIA World Endurance Championship at the same venue.

The weekend was punctuated by races both during the day and at dark, taking advantage of Lusail's iconic floodlights to race at night, when conditions can change significantly.

Starting the opening race from seventh on the grid, he ran as high as sixth at the midway point in the competitive field. After an early safety car bunched the field, the grid scrabbled for track position and Kato lost out to both Bedrin and Nakamura to slip to 8th, but rallied to regain seventh with three laps remaining. In doing so, he secured honours as Rookie class winner.

Reversing the top ten to form the race two grid, Kato consequently started from fourth but suffered in the opening laps to fall to 8th by the second lap. Regrouping, he mounted a comeback, aided by some of the frontrunners falling from contention, to climb as high as fourth. Embroiled in a three-way fight for position, Kato ultimately crossed the line sixth for his highest overall race result from round five.

He then started the final race of the championship from 11th on the grid. Experiencing another tough opening lap, Kato found himself in 14th by the end of lap one, slipping another position to 15th on the second lap and to 16th by lap five. Mounting another comeback, he steadily managed to climb his way back to 12th overall to round out his maiden season of the Formula Regional Middle East Championship.