Kazuhiro Tanaka
Kazuhiro Tanaka (田中一弘, Tanaka Kazuhiro, 4 July 1970, Ibaraki) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Orange and Yuke’s.
| Kazuhiro Tanaka | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Japan |
| Born | July 4, 1970 Ibaraki |
| D1 Grand Prix career | |
| Debut season | 2001 |
| Current team | Team Orange |
| Wins | 2 |
| Best finish | 8 in 2003, 2004 |
He first discovered drifting when riding in a friend's Toyota AE86 and he became hooked, as well of being part of Team Rough World which is more commonly now under RWB. As soon as he got his licence he bought a Toyota AE86 of his own and began practicing in the mountains, unluckily he soon had a nasty crash which almost caused him to give up drifting altogether. The next car he bought was a normally aspirated automatic Toyota Mark II with no LSD thinking that he wouldn't be able to drift it, he soon discovered he was wrong, and decided that he was just meant to drift. He then bought a Toyota Chaser JZX81 and soon started to enter competitions, eventually it ended up with many battle scars, and he was known as the guy with the broken down Chaser, but he didn't care as he adored the car. As well as being a D1 driver he works for M Sports, a well known body kit manufacturer and also competes in R/C car drifting competitions.
He entered the D1 Grand Prix in the first round in 2001 and did well gaining his first win in 2003. He is a member of Team Orange with Nobushige Kumakubo and Naoto Suenaga and enjoys working on close tandem driving with them. He currently drives a Subaru Impreza converted to rear wheel drive which he can drift just as well as his old Nissan Silvia, though in 2007 he has not had a very good season.
Complete Drifting Results
(key)
D1 Grand Prix
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Rough World | Nissan 180SX | EBS DNQ |
NIK DNQ |
BHH |
EBS TAN |
NIK |
0 | ||||
| 2002 | Team Orange | Nissan Silvia S15 | BHH |
EBS DNQ |
SGO 2 |
TKB TAN |
EBS TAN |
SEK TAN |
NIK TAN |
17 | 18 | |
| 2003 | Team Orange | Nissan Silvia S15 | TKB 3 |
BHH 1 |
SGO TAN |
FUJ TAN |
EBS 16 |
SEK 10 |
TKB 16 |
8 | 38 | |
| 2004 | Team Orange | Nissan Silvia S15 | IRW 6 |
SGO 16 |
EBS 7 |
APS TAN |
ODB 9 |
EBS 6 |
TKB TAN |
8 | 32 | |
| 2005 | Team Orange | Nissan Silvia S15 | IRW 13 |
ODB 16 |
SGO 4 |
APS 10 |
EBS 10 |
FUJ TAN |
TKB TAN |
13 | 20 | |
| 2006 | Team Orange / Yuke's | Subaru Impreza GDB | IRW 3 |
SGO TAN |
FUJ 16 |
APS TAN |
EBS 7 |
SUZ 6 |
FUJ 9 |
IRW 1 |
6 | 59 |
| 2007 | Team Orange / Yuke's | Subaru Impreza GDB | EBS 12 |
FUJ TAN |
SUZ 10 |
SGO 14 |
EBS TAN |
APS DNQ |
FUJ DNQ |
22 | 5 | |
| 2008 | Team Orange / Yuke's | Subaru Impreza GDB | EBS 3 |
FUJ TAN |
SUZ 10 |
OKY 9 |
APS 5 |
EBS |
FUJ |
7 | 47 |