Team Toyo racers have taken first and second place in the world’s (unofficial) premier drift competition, Japan’s D1 Grand Prix championship, beating competition from the US, Japan, South-east Asia, Europe and Scandinavia.
Both first- and second-placed Team Toyo drivers used Toyo’s Proxes R1R tyres to outperform international rivals in the final leg of the 2013 D1GP championship in Tokyo.
Winner Masato Kawabata’s efforts handed him the overall D1GP championship win, while second place was enough for teammate Akinori Utsumi to take out third overall.
The D1GP series tests tyres as much as it does drivers. At first glance, using sticky tyres seems to be at odds with powersliding, but huge amounts of grip and control are needed to maintain the speeds necessary to perform long, graceful drifts.
Because D1GP regulations require teams to use road-legal rubber, the Team Toyo drifters opted for the grippy Proxes R1R tyre, which delivers track-ready performance in a DOT-compliant, street-legal tyre.
Toyo’s drivers used the Proxes R1R throughout the D1GP season, with Masato Kawabata outshining opponents who used competing tyres from the US, Europe and Japan.
To even roll up to the D1GP start line, competitors already have to be at the top of their game in their region’s top drifting championship, such as Formula Drift in the US or the European Drift Championship, before taking on the other top 99 international drivers in D1GP.
Renowned drift racers such as Tanner Foust, Vaughn Gittin and Rhys Millen have competed in D1GP since it began 13 years ago.
