Drift Tengoku — October 2013

The final was decided over two runs with the drivers switching positions. Hayashi had already faced repeated rematches on the way there and may have lost focus; on his first chase run he could not close in. On the second run, the angle became too large at the one-two corner and he ended up half-spinning. Hirashima stayed close and consistent, earning his first victory.

Solo-run final Many drivers could not put it together in the two judged runs! The previous day's qualifying had produced a string of 99-point scores, and even the seeded drivers were sharp in the first practice of the morning, so a high-level solo final was expected. But perhaps because the format changed to two judged runs this year, many drivers held back. Speeds were generally lower and lines often tighter, leaving the contest around the same mid-80-point range as qualifying. Still, the seeded drivers in the title fight pulled their runs together even with only two attempts, and on the first run they threw the car in dramatically—

SERIES

D1 STREET LEGAL

Setonaikai

D1 Street Legal Series

With only Setonaikai and Nikko left in the 2013 season, the championship was wide open. At the third round at Ebisu, both points leader Kitaoka and second-place Hayashi were knocked out in the solo runs. Everyone was watching to see who would break away at the Setonaikai round.

Akira Hirashima

Round 4

WINNER

Yuki Inaoka

Daisuke Nakamura

Keiro Waki

Kazuki Hayashi

Kyogo Kitayama

Junji Yamamoto

Shingo Hatanaka

Takuma Kuroi

Masahiro Sugata

Akira Hirashima

Miki Yabuuchi

Masanori Kobashi

Masaki Kasahara

Masamochi Nagano

Andrew Gray

Yusuke Kitaoka

MEISTER

Round 4

WINNER Akira Hirashima

TKL & REMS with D-MAX

‘It was a home event here in Shikoku, so I was aiming to win,’ Hirashima said. He had practiced hard, and his success rate was high from practice day; the judges were impressed. In tandem against Kitaoka, he made his closest run of the day, earning a 6.5-point advantage and advancing to victory.

Moved up to second place!

ISSIN-K

Dates: Saturday, August 17 and Sunday, August 18 Venue: Setonaikai Entrants: 59

Weather: sunny

Judges: Hisashi Kamimoto / Manabu Fujinaka Commentary: Ken Nomura Announcer: Manabu Suzuki Attendance: 721

Norio Racing

STREET LEGAL ¥100,000

2013 SERIES

Kazuki Hayashi

HIS Model Shingen /

He struggled to get through the hairpin before the final corner and lost ground there during tandem runs. He made it to the final, but repeated rematches in the top eight and semifinals drained his focus, and his first win remained out of reach.

Photos: Mitsuru Kotake / Seiichiro Saito / D1 Corporation

Yusuke Kitaoka

Super Autobacs Tokorozawa with Ebisu Circuit

—and secured the win. Takuma Kuroi, who had topped qualifying, followed in second; Kazuki Hayashi, fourth in the standings, placed third. Second-ranked Masanori Kobashi finished fourth, and third-ranked Akira Hirashima took fifth, showing the depth of the field.

Yusuke Kitaoka scored well on the solo run, with his distance in front of the judges also just right.

Super AUTOBACS

STREET LEGAL

To build toward the title, he revised his setup and found that ‘I can keep up just fine without going full throttle!’ He won the solo run and made a successful first step toward taking control, but Hirashima narrowly beat him in the top eight. He kept the points lead, though Hirashima closed to within two points.

Drift Tengoku — October 2013

About this issue

Page 170 — English draft translation