Masato Kawabata

Masato Kawabata
Kawabata (left) with Maciej Polody, Silverstone Circuit, June 2006
Nationality	Japan
Born	October 15, 1977 (1977-10-15) (age 34) Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
2011 D1 Grand Prix
Debut season	2002
Current team	GP Sports & Toyo Tires
Wins	4
Championship titles
2007	1

Kawabata's S15 Silvia with 2005 livery

Masato Kawabata (川畑真人, Kawabata Masato^?, 15 October 1977, Osaka) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo.

Biography

Kawabata first received his license at 18 he bought the Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until he met late D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi who started to teach and advise Kawabata. At age 19, Kawabata entered a drift magazine sponsored contest and took first place. At 21, GP Sports started to sponsor Kawabata with a full line of aero parts. Kawabata and first appeared in the D1 Grand Prix in round 4 of 2002. ^[1]

Kawabata took his first win at Fuji Speedway in 2006^[2] and went on to finish 4th in the overall points. In 2007 he did even better however winning two rounds and the overall title by one point over Nobushige Kumakubo.

2007 Fuji Speedway accident

In 2007, at round 2, held in Fuji Speedway, during a tsuiou round against Daigo Saito, Saito dipped into the inner apex of the 300R corner, causing his car to understeer and collecting Kawabata's Silvia onto the tyre barrier in the process, severely destroyed both cars. Kawabata had to be taken to hospital for treatment for whiplash injuries. He won the round which he was unable to continue, leaving Atsushi Kuroi without an opponent. For the following round, he returned with a new car and took the win at the next round at Sportsland SUGO.^[3][4]

Complete Drifting Results

(key)

D1 Grand Prix

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Position	Points
2002		Nissan 180SX	BHH	EBS	EBS	SGO DNQ	TKB DNQ	SEK	NIK			0
2003	Silk Road	Nissan 180SX	TKB DNQ	BHH DNQ	SGO DNQ	FUJ TAN	EBS TAN	SEK	TKB DNQ			0
2004	Silk Road	Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86	IRW TAN								23	4
	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15		SGO TAN	EBS DNQ	APS 9	ODB DNQ	EBS 16	TKB DNQ
2005	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	IRW 16	ODB 4	SGO 9	APS 7	EBS TAN	FUJ 3	TKB 5		4	55
2006	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	IRW 5	SGO 16	FUJ 6	APS TAN	EBS 4	SUZ 8	FUJ 1	IRW 16	4	69
2007	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	EBS 2	FUJ 4	SUZ 6	SGO 1	EBS 5	APS 1	FUJ 16		1	100
2008	GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan 180SX RPS13	EBS 1	FUJ TAN	SUZ 15	OKY 11	APS 3	EBS	FUJ		6	54

References

1. ^ J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2006)
2. ^ [ D1GP/D1SL NEWS REPORT ] J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2006)
3. ^ [ D1GP/D1SL NEWS REPORT ] J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2007)
4. ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself

External links

• JDM Option
• Employer's site
• D1 Supporter profile

Preceded by Nobushige Kumakubo

D1 Grand Prix Champion 2007

Succeeded by Daigo Saito

Persondata
Name	Kawabata, Masato
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 October 1977
Place of birth	Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
Date of death
Place of death