News arrived yesterday that D1GP front-men Keiichi Tsuchiya and Daijiro Inada have confirmed that they are no longer to be working for the D1 machine in Japan. The full press release reads as follows –

“Thank you so much for always supporting D1. Today I have an announcement to make.

I, Keiichi Tsuchiya, and Daijiro Inada, the founder of D1GP will resign from the D1 Corporation.

This decision was made due to the irresponsible management such as ignoring fans, participants and sponsors. In order to make the D1GP beneficial to everyone, we have persistently asked for improvement but they have rejected our demands and have come up with this unwilling consequence.

Please accept our heartfelt apology and forgive us for our act. We will restart our career and do our best for the future of drift.

We plan to realize drift events so that fans, participants and sponsors could all be satisfied with. We appreciate your everlasting support and understanding.

We will continue to provide information about further activities through our homepage.

Sincerely yours,

Keiichi Tsuchiya”

Taken from Kei’s personal blog he explains the decision –

“We ( Inada and Tsuchiya ) wanted to make improvements to the series but were met with resistance from other members of the group. Unwillingly, I have decided to cease my involvement in the series. I am sorry to the fans and sponsors. We are going to start from zero and create a new future for drift in Japan.”

Although vague on details at the moment, we can only anticipate that whatever direction they take it will be popular and succesful with fans –

“We are considering a drift event which fans, sponsors and entrants can get satisfaction from…”

Many will agree that this seems to be the end of ‘D1’ as we know it as many drivers and fans are likely to stay loyal to the powerful and respected combination of Inada and Tsuchiya. Heres hoping their future is a bright one without the tarnish that D1 suffered from of late.

Written by Jordan Butters Writer, freelance photographer. Follow @jordanbutters on Instagram Writer, freelance photographer. Follow @jordanbutters on Instagram