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D1GP Irwindale The drivers were to accelerate as hard as possible down the back straight, initiate the drift early and stay high and close to the upper wall on the banking. This clipping point would leave the car at high speed and high drift angle heading straight towards a solid concrete wall underneath the judging stand. The driver should then skim as close to the concrete wall as possible so they could take a wide line into a tightening left hand hairpin, and then an even tighter right hander, both with clipping points… So, Qualification The US drivers really have come on a long way since I last attended a US D1GP event, I think some of this has to do with some very serious backing from sponsors like Falcon tyres, as the level of equipment and team management was easily up to that of the pro Japanese teams. Some of the names that stood out were ex Volvo test driver Samuel Hubinet in the Mopar Dodge Viper, who has been a part of professional drifting in the US since it’s conception, Peak Performance Driver Robbie Nishida, and Vaugh Gitton JR in the supercharged Ford Mustang, who was the first American to win a D1GP event at Irwindale in December of last year. Unfortunately for the US guys, the Japanese were driving this now familiar track with incredible accuracy. Some of them purposefully grazing the wall on the last corner in each of their 3 qualification runs. This meant that Sam and Vaughn were the only 2 US drivers to qualify to the top 16. First up to the line were Tanaka in the team orange GDB Subaru and Tsuyoshi in the Bee-R R32/4, surprisingly after seeing him graze the wall in qualification Tsuyoshi doesn’t seem to have the consistency in the battle and Tanaka goes through. Yoshioka in the light green 180sx hits Sakuma's lovely silver S15, so Sakuma goes through. Nomura in the brand new Blitz R34 v Yoshioka Toshiki in the Blue 2 door Corolla: In my eyes Yoshioka clearly took the win against Nomura, but the US crowd wanted to see the crowd favourite Nomura run again so after chanting ‘one more time’ the drift king decides to make them go again. Controversially Ken Nomura goes through to the top 8. Kazama in the green Kei Office S15 which is one of the best prepared cars on the scene, is drawn against Koroi Atsushi the RB26 powered S13 which had run incredibly throughout the mornings practice and qualification. Unfortunately for Kuroi there is only so much you can do when going up against the best in the world, and Kazama goes through. Tesuya Hibino in the AE86 that seems to have had half an S13 welded to the chassis to swap to multilink rear suspension v Ueno in the stunning Soarer, Hibino is doing really well and takes a 7/3 in the first battle, but Ueno at the hairpin in the second battle and Ueno goes through. In an unfortunate fall of the cards the 2 US drivers Gitton Jr and Sam Hubinette had been drawn together, meaning we were on for a fantastic battle as only one could go through. In the first battle Gitton leads and Sam is all over the heavy Mustang like a rash, taking a 7/3 advantage. Sam leads in the 2nd battle and in a desperate attempt to regain some ground Gitton lunges the Mustang on the inside line of the last hairpin, hitting Sam and ripping his own side skirt off . The judges decide that the commitment from the two drivers is worthy of a one more time battle, so they go again and this time Sam pulls a massive lead giving him a 7/3 advantage and a position in the top 8. Kowabata in the Trust S15, who had been on form all weekend drew Fukuda in the yellow 180sx. Fukuda goes for some big angle but is to wide at the hairpin and Kowabata ducks in and takes the win. Kumakubo in the other Team Orange Subaru verses Imamura in his new ride, the ORC RB26 powered Z33 which he unfortunately had been struggling with, finding the difference between this heavy Z33 and last years ride the Apexi FD3S Rx7 just to much to get used to.. Kumakubo takes a 6/4 advantage in the 1st battle and leaves Immamura for dust in the 2nd going through into the top 8 Top 8 Tanaka v Sukuba’s: Sukuma has tried to repair his car after Yoshioka hit him in the top 16 but obviously has suffered suspension damage as the car looks extremely unstable. Tanaka goes through Ueno v Sam: Samual bides his time and spots an opening. As Ueno drifts the Soarer wide at the final hairpin, he gets the nose of the viper in and takes the win. Kowabata v Kumakubo. Kowabata eats one of the clipping cones, but Kumakubo makes a little mistake and understeers, the advantage goes to Kowabata. The second run Kowabata is forced into an error and goes wide. It’s one more time sudden death, but Kowabata is leaking oil after hitting the cone. Under D1GP rules he is given 5 minutes to repair it, but it seems he’s damaged the core of the oil cooler so that was the end of his day and Kumakubo takes the GDB Subaru into the top 4. Kazama v Tanaka: The Californian sun has gone down now and the track starts to get colder, so before each run the tyres need more warming. Tanaka leads, Kazama effortlessly left foot brakes to control the car within inches of Tanaka’s back bumper then calmly ducks the nose of his S15 into Tanaka’s line at the hairpin taking a 7/3 advantage. In the second battle Tanaka exits off the banking with very high speed but goes wide in the latter stage of the course giving Kazama opertunity to confirm his place in the final. Samual v Kumakubo: Sam leads , pulls massive lead but faults because he didn’t align the car correctly in the run up to the first corner, they go again, Kumakubo is glued to Samuals Viper despite hitting the clipping cone. On the second run Sam is really close but spins on the final corner making the final all Japanese. Final Kazama v Kumakubo: Kumakubo spins on the practice run with new cold tyres, but if your going to do it then that’s the time. Kazama leads, Kumakubo is immediately inches away from his rear quarter panel, infact he’s less than inches as he hit’s Kazama on the banking, Kazama is unfazed, but Kumakubo has upset his own line and spins on the straight. Advantage Kazama. In run 2 Kumakubo brake checks Kazama at the final hairpin, but once again Kazama show’s his experience and by some miracle keeps the car under control whilst still with massive angle. For the judges it’s an easy decision and they rightly decide that Kazama wins the first round of the 2006 D1GP. |
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