Daigo Saito
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Daigo Saito 斎藤太吾 | |
---|---|
Nationality | ![]() |
Born | Saitama | March 7, 1980
D1 Grand Prix career | |
Debut season | 2004 |
Current team | Fat Five Racing |
Wins | 16 |
Best finish | 1st in 2008 2016 |
Previous series | |
2006 | D1 Street Legal |
Daigo Saito (斎藤 太吾, Saitō Daigo, 7 March 1980, Saitama) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for ATR Radial / Monster Energy / Sunoco and RDS GP for AIMOL Racing / Sailun Tires. Formerly competing in Formula DRIFT USA and World Championship series for Achilles Radial. He was the first driver to win the two drifting majors, D1GP in 2008 and Formula D in 2012.
Biography[edit]
From an early age, Siato gained an appreciation for motorborbikes, and motorbike racing, a hobby and sport his Father had exposed him to. Saito then gained his motorcycle license at the age of 16. One evening, when Saito was going for a ride on his motorbike with his friends, he stumbled upon a drift car meeting in the hills of Karuizawa. There he saw a white Mercedes-Benz saloon drifting. From then on he wanted to take part in drifting, and drift a saloon style car. Upon turning 18, he gained his drivers license, though his father did not want him to take part in drifting. His Father bought him a Mini Cooper as his first car, a vehicle which is generally not capable of performing the high speed maneuvers required for drifting. Saito attempted to drift the vehicle anyways, and ended up getting it written off in an accident. He then bought a Nissan Silvia S13 without asking for permission from his parents. Saito immediately began practicing. His first practice session lasted 36 straight hours, with Saito only stopping for food and fuel. Saito began to develop his skills in the vehicle, but crashed it only a few weeks later. In 2005, Saito won the title for privateers.
Saito started competing in the D1 Grand Prix in the third round of the 2004 season in his Toyota Mark II JZX90. Saito improved steadily, winning the championship in 2008. He then updated his car to Toyota Mark II JZX100 and he won the championship again in 2016.
In 2015, he worked on the first Drift specification Lamborghini Murcielago.
In 2018 he won the rear-wheel drive class at the Gymkhana Grid.[1]
Since 2019, he drives Toyota GR Supra in D1GP.
Formula Drift (America)[edit]
In 2012, Saito joined the Formula Drift series in the Achilles Radial Lexus SC430 powered by a Toyota 2JZ engine. He achieved his first podium finish in his first event of the series at Long Beach. He followed this win up with a 3rd-place finish in Round 2 at Atlanta, and then a 1st-place finish at Round 3 in Palm Beach and a 4th-place finish in Round 4 at Wall Speedway. He won the championship and was rookie of the year after winning 1st place at Irwindale, in Round 7.[2]
As part of the Achilles Radial Drift Team, his car is maintained and transported by Bridges Racing.
Saito finished in third place during his second season in Formula DRIFT USA. He won three rounds (Atlanta, New Jersey & Irwindale) and second place at West Palm Beach. A crash during practice at Seattle and vehicle issues in Texas effectively removed him from the chance of winning back-to-back championships.
Saito debuted a 1,200 hp Nissan GTR in April 2015 at the Formula DRIFT Streets of Long Beach event, and campaigned the car for the 2015 Formula DRIFT USA season.
Saito did not participate in Formula Drift 2016, concentrating (and winning) on D1 Grand Prix series instead. He did the same in 2017.
Complete drifting results[edit]
(key)
D1 Grand Prix[edit]
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Position | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Toyota Mark II JZX90 | IRW |
SGO |
EBS TAN |
APS TAN |
ODB DNQ |
EBS DNQ |
TKB 16 |
- | 0 | ||
2005 | Toyota Mark II JZX90 | IRW |
ODB DNQ |
SGO TAN |
APS DNQ |
EBS DNQ |
FUJ DNQ |
TKB 16 |
32 | 1 | ||
2006 | Toyota Mark II JZX90 | IRW |
SGO 5 |
FUJ 16 |
APS 16 |
EBS 16 |
SUZ 16 |
FUJ TAN |
14 | 24 | ||
Toyota Chaser JZX100 | IRW 9 | |||||||||||
2007 | Toyota Mark II JZX90 | EBS 15 |
FUJ 7 |
SUZ TAN |
7 | 41 | ||||||
Toyota Mark II JZX100 | SGO TAN |
EBS 6 |
APS 6 |
FUJ 6 |
||||||||
2008 | Team 22 | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | EBS 14 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ 4 |
OKY 4 |
APS 1 |
EBS 7 |
FUJ 4 |
1 | 114 | |
2009 | 週刊コミックバンチ DRIFTプロジェクト | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | EBS 3 |
APS 7 |
OKY 1 |
OKY 12 |
EBS 10 |
EBS 11 |
FUJ 15 |
FUJ 9 |
8 | 82 |
2010 | フナッツ | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | ODB TAN |
APS 2 |
FUJ 7 |
OKY TAN |
EBS 4 |
EBS 7 |
FUJ 3 |
6 | 79 | |
2011 | プレミアムジャパン with ダイゴ | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | ODB 3 |
ODB 9 |
APS 2 |
SUZ 1 |
OKY 2 |
EBS 4 |
EBS 1 |
FUJ 6 |
2 | 207 |
2012 | ダイゴ | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | ODB 1 |
SUZ 2 |
CEN 1 |
|||||||
2019 | FAT FIVE RACING | Toyota GR Supra A90 | TKB |
TKB |
TKC |
TKC |
EBS |
EBS |
APS |
14 | 41 | |
2020 | FAT FIVE RACING | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 16 | EBS 2 |
EBS 13 |
APS |
APS |
EBS 13 |
TKB |
TKB |
9 | 64 |
2021 | FAT FIVE RACING | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 12 | 66 |
D1 Street Legal[edit]
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Position | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Toyota Chaser JZX100 | SEK |
EBS TSU |
SGO 8 |
FUJ 5 |
APS 6 |
EBS TSU |
SEK |
10 | 31 |
Formula Drift[edit]
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Position | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Bridges Racing/Achilles Radial | Lexus SC430 UCF30 | FDLB 3 |
FDATL 3 |
FDPB 1 |
FDNJ 4 |
FDNW Top 8 |
FDLV Top 8 |
FDIRW 1 |
1 | 548.50 |
2013 | Bridges Racing/Achilles Radial | Lexus SC430 UCF30 | FDLB Top 16 |
FDATL 1 |
FDPB 2 |
FDNJ 1 |
FDNW Top 32 |
FDTX Top 32 |
FDIRW 1 |
3 | 510.50 |
2014 | Bridges Racing/Achilles Radial | Lexus SC430 UCF30 | FDLB Top 32 |
FDATL Top 8 |
FDMIA DNQ |
FDNJ Top 32 |
FDNW DNQ |
FDTX Top 16 |
FDIRW 1 |
14 | 224.00 |
Russian Drift Series GP[edit]
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Position | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | MRW 3 |
ATR |
NRING 3 |
SOC 4 |
SOC 3 |
RRING 4 |
PRM 2 |
2 | 1021 | |
2019 | AIMOL RACING RUSSIA | Toyota Altezza | MRW 9 |
ATR 6 |
NRING 6 |
ADM 16 |
RRING 14 |
SOC 5 |
8 | 718 | |
2021 | AIMOL RACING RUSSIA | Toyota GR Supra A90 | MRW 27 |
NRING DNQ |
IGORA |
ATR |
RRING |
ADM |
SOC |
41 |
References[edit]
- ^ Gymkhana GRiD 2018 smashes record as Saito and Kristoffersson win in South Africa - Wheels24, 7 December 2018
- ^ "Formula D Series 2012 Standings". Formulad.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-07-25.