Daigo Saito

Daigo Saito 斎藤太吾
Nationality	Japan
Born	(1980-03-07) March 7, 1980 Saitama
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

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.

Since 2019, he drives Toyota GR Supra in D1GP.

Formula Drift (America)

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.

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

(key)

D1 Grand Prix

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

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

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

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

Sources

• JDM Option
• D1 Grand Prix
• Formula Drift
• RDS GP

External links

• D1 Supporter profile
• D1 Supporter profile (D1SL)
• Daigo Saito official web site