TRUST Event Coverage from D1GP Rd.3 Autopolis

Qualified #1 Position Tanso, Top 8 Tsuiso Finish

2014 Series Ranking: currently 12th

The 2014 Round 3 of the Gran Turismo D1 Grand Prix series was held at Autopolis on July 26-27th.  The long straight of the the circuit played into the hands of Masato Kawabata and the 1000+hp GReddy 35RX Dspec GT-R of the TRUST Racing X Team Toyo Tires Drift Team.  Debuting a new Artfactory Metallic Blue livery for the event, and coming off a Exhibition match win at the Ken Block Nagoya Experience, Kawabata won the top Qualifying position with a 100.41pt score in the dry.

However Sunday's competition day, again brought bad weather, with rain and fog.  Because of this, the event was shorten to start with a Top16 field of cars.  The first round win came again the Team Mori with Goodyear Athlete in the wet.  In the next round against eventual winner Kunny's, a power-steering issues a raised to stop the day short.  All in all it was a very positive round, which showed the potential of Masato Kawabata in the fairly new R35 Drift car.  Next round is dangerous but exciting Ebisu Circuit in August 23-24. 

Tanso Video from Rd.3
Tsuiso Video from Rd.3 

TRUST Event Coverage from D1GP Rd.2 Suzuka

Round 2 of the 2014 Gran Turismo D1 Grand Prix series was held at Suzuka Circuit.  The Suzuka course layout is the fastest of the series, with a very long straight-away going into the famous Turn 1.  The key to this round is speed and a having a good line to take advantage of the speed.  Teams that can achieve this, will gain high scores.  The obvious weight handy-cap we faced in round one, was far less important on this high speed track, since we could use the raw horsepower of the GReddy-powered VR engine.

 
In Saturday's first pre-qualifying session, Kawabata was able to take advantage of the 35RX's power with an exciting, high speed run scoring 101.40pts (the highest score ever recorded in D1GP,) placing him in 1st.  Kawabata was faster then all the top teams and was clocked at speeds in excess of 227km/h (140+mph.)  The team was feeling confident and aimed to better the speed and score in the Qualifying finals (Tanso,) unfortunately it was just over the limit and a slight mistake, placed the Team in the 22nd position for the tandem battles. 

In Sunday's Tsuiso round, Kawabata faced Tokita of Goodyear Racing.  Kawabata manged to keep an impressive proximity to Tokita and received a decisive victory to move on to the next round.  Unfortunately car troubles, which could not be repaired in time, forced the team to retire and miss the next battle.

Round 3 - Autopolis is scheduled for July 26-27th


22 in the final run 1st ■ The single qualifying run ■ single [ dry : sunny road surface ( Sat ) Weather May 24 ]

[ May 25 (Sun) Weather: Fine Surface: dry ] ■ ■ Tsuisou qualifying victory Tsuisou final ( last 16 ) retired

TRUST Event Coverage from D1GP Rd.1 Fuji

The start of the 2014 D1 Grand Prix series starts at Fuji Speedway. We have returned to the D1GP with the GReddy 35RX Dspec GT-R we revealed with Toyo Tires at the 2014 Tokyo Auto Salon, back in January.   The official team name is " Team TOYO TIRES DRIFT TRUST RACING "


Last year D1GP Champion, Masato Kawabata had solid runs through out practice.  In Tanso (single car) Qualifying a slight miscalculation in speed cause a slight straightening.  The result a 20th place in qualifying.

Heavy rain fell on the second day of competition for the Tsuiso (twin drift) rounds.  Kawabata in the new car, and Saito, in his IS struggled in the heavy rain with the win going to Saito in the first round, before the rest of the competition was cancelled because of the rail.

The team faced a lot of challenges and learned a lot from this first event at FUJI DRIFT.  Round 2 is Suzuka.  Thank you for your continued support!


[ March 29 ( Sat ) Weather: Fine Surface: dry ] 
    ■ 20 of the final run single Tanso
[ March 30 (Sunday) Weather: rain road surface : wet ] 
    ■ 1 round knockout defeat Tsuiso, Tsuiso qualifying canceled due to bad weather
[ 2014 ] Series # 22 ( 1.5 points)

GReddy R35 GT-R for Drift Competition

At the 2014 Tokyo Auto Salon, it was revealed that GReddy would return to D1 Grand Prix Series in 2014 with the purpose built...
   Team Toyo Drift X GReddy R35 RXspec D Concept GT-R (TAS Best Concept Car Award Winner)

At the wheel of the front-engine, rear-wheel drive R35 will be none other than 2007 D1GP Series Champion Masato Kawabata.  The aggressive aero is new Rocket Bunny R35 Aero Kit.  Other technical partners include: Rays, GP Sports, OS Giken, Endless, Prodrive, Bride, TRS and Buffalo.

See more on SPEEDHUNTERS.com

For more see our GReddy USA Blog.

http://greddy-usa.blogspot.com/2014/01/greddy-vehicle-highlights-from-2014.html