Fomula D Wraps Up With Lexus on the Podium
Even if you don’t like drifting, what Daigo Saito has accomplished as a sportsman is worthy of mention. This guy is a rookie to the Formula D series in the us, but he’s already accomplished something pretty incredible at the closing competition at Irwindale Raceway.
Despite his rookie standing, Daigo Saito claimed the points lead for the 2012 season of Formula D. He edged out his competitors weekend at Irwindale Speedway, leaving Vaugn Gittin Jr. and Rhys Millen to claim second and third (respectively). Neither one those guys are exactly newbs to drifting, so the question is: How did Daigo manage to take them out in his first season? The answer, of course, is practice.
Daigo is well known name to those familiar with drifting. He’s a veteran. He placed second in the D1 Grand Prix in Japan last year and won the whole thing in 2008. This year he won the Formula D Asia league outright. His previous experience (and awesome antics) make this win less surprising, but still impressive. Again, Rhys Millen and Vaughn Gittin Jr. are not pushovers.
His car is a Lexus SC430. Well, it looks like an SC430 anyway. Underneath the skin is a tubeframe chassis and a lot engine. We’ve featured the car on the site before, so we won’t bore you with technicalities. Still, it’s cool that he won the championship in a Lexus. In Japan he uses a Chaser, which for Toyota car nerds, is about equally as cool as this racey SC.
Check out some footage from the weekend below.
