Ryuji Miki
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is a racing and drifting driver from
Tottori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, least populous prefecture of Japan at 538,525 (2023) and has a geographic area of . ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Miki was the
D1 Grand Prix The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled ''Professional Drift'', is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of '' Option'' magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and ...
champion driving the
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Silvia S15. Miki also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the
Toyota Altezza The is a compact executive car ( D-segment in Europe) sold by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota, since 1998. The IS was originally sold under the nameplate in Japan from 1998 until 2005 (the word ''Altezza'' is Italian for 'height' or 'high ...
between 2005 and its final season in 2006(unknown title)
and is nicknamed Doki-Doki kun due to his drifting style. Ryuji Miki started in the series in his own S14 Silvia, before switching to the
Top Secret Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...
modified S15 for the season. During the season, partway through the season when
Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting (motorsport), drifting driver who currently competes in the Super GT racing series. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" (first three letters from his name, meaning "No One Better") or "The Pimp" as a ref ...
switched to the
Toyota Altezza The is a compact executive car ( D-segment in Europe) sold by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota, since 1998. The IS was originally sold under the nameplate in Japan from 1998 until 2005 (the word ''Altezza'' is Italian for 'height' or 'high ...
, leading to a sudden change of fortune, as many felt that Miki was fortunate as he also managed to get score his sole win at
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, allowing Miki to finish the season with the title that year, beating Taniguchi by 28pts, currently the widest margin of the series. For the season, following the opening
Irwindale } Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,472 at the 2020 census, 1,422 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, which i ...
round, Miki switched to a
Top Secret Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...
modified Fairlady Z Z33 powered by a RB26. He was unable to follow on his successes of the previous season as he only managed to scrape 16 pts. Much of it was, at the time, the Z33 was still in development to be fully competitive in drifting, due to its weight, one of its reason why it befell many of its drivers. His last win was at the
Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...
exhibition event in his old S15, that year was to be his last season in the series. For the season, rival Youichi Imamura's team and title sponsor, A'PEXi withdrew from the series due to a redirection in the company's business strategies, leading him to take over Miki's Z33. As of 2007, incidentally, Miki would compete in
Formula D Formula DRIFT (also known as Formula D or FD) is an American drifting series, and was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that introduced D1 Grand Prix to the ...
driving with Imamura's previous D1 sponsor, APEX'i (partnering with Bergenholtz Racing) and driving a white FD3S. Throughout the 2007 season, in light of issues he faced with adapting to driving a left hand drive car for the first time, not to mention within a full season of racing, Ryuji managed to finish the Formula D season impressively. Reaching the rank of top 16 within 4 events, Ryuji finally adapted to the car within the 6th and 7th rounds finishing 14th overall for the season. Continuing on in 2008 with major backing by Bergenholtz Racing, Nitto Tires, and MAZDA, Ryuji Miki will continue to pilot the APEX RX-7 with plans to potentially unveil a new car for 2009. According to Keith Covey and Chuck Griffice of APEX Integration's R&D department, the new setup on the 2008 car has been completely redone and Ryuji will be adapting to what essentially amounts to a new car.


Complete drifting results


D1 Grand Prix


Formula D


Notes


External links


Official siteYahoo! BlogFormula D profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miki, Ryuji Japanese racing drivers Drifting drivers 1975 births Living people D1 Grand Prix drivers Formula D drivers