Daigo Saito

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 Formula DRIFT USA and World Championship series for Achilles Radial and RDS. He was the first driver to win the two drifting majors, D1GP in 2008 and Formula D in 2012.

Daigo Saito
斎藤太吾
Nationality Japan
Born (1980-03-07) March 7, 1980
Saitama
D1 Grand Prix career
Debut season2004
Current teamダイゴ
Wins6
Best finish1st in 2008
Previous series
2006D1 Street Legal

Biography

From an early age he was into motorbikes as his father was, and got his motorcycle license at 16. One night when he was out riding with his friends they stumbled upon a drift meeting in the hills of Karuizawa, there he saw a white Mercedes-Benz saloon drifting. From then on he wanted to drift himself and he wanted to drift a saloon. As soon as he was 18 he got his drivers license, his father did not want him to drift so bought him a Mini Cooper as his first car. At this time he did not know that it would not be a good car to drift so he tried, and ended up writing it off. He then bought a Nissan Silvia S13 without asking his parents and set about practicing, his first practice session lasted 36 hours only stopping for food and fuel. He learned a lot from this first practice session though he totalled the Nissan Silvia S13 a couple of weeks later.

In 2005, Saito won the title for privateers.

He started competing in the D1 Grand Prix in the third round of the 2004 season in his red Toyota Mark II JZX90 since then he has improved steadily, winning the championship in 2008.

Formula Drift (America)

For 2012, Saito joined the Formula Drift series in the Achilles Radial Lexus SC430 powered by a Toyota 2JZ engine. He got his first podium finish in his first event of the series at the Streets of Long Beach. He followed that up with another 3rd-place finish in Round 2: Atlanta and then a 1st-place finish at Round 3: Palm Beach and a 4th-place finish at Round 4: Wall Speedway. He won the championship and was rookie of the year after winning 1st place at Irwindale, Round 7.[1]

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 will campaign 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 does the same in year 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
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

References

  1. "Formula D Series 2012 Standings". Formulad.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-07-25.

Sources

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