Masato Kawabata

Masato Kawabata

Profile and Legacy
Masato Kawabata, born on 15 October 1977 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, is one of the most decorated drivers in D1 Grand Prix history. A three-time D1GP overall series champion (2007, 2013, and 2015), he has amassed 18 D1GP round victories throughout his career. Renowned for his clinical precision in solo runs (Tanso), Kawabata was the first driver in D1GP history to score a perfect 100 points across three consecutive solo runs. He also clinched the inaugural FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup title in 2017. Beyond driving, he heads the tuning outfit "TRUE MAN RACING" in Shijonawate City, Osaka, bringing profound expertise to race car fabrication and chassis setup.

From Touge Roots to D1 Champion
Kawabata's passion for drifting was sparked during his junior high school days after watching "Video Option" tapes. An avid motorcycle enthusiast in high school, he met his mentor—famed D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi—whilst working part-time at a petrol station, marking his entry into the drifting scene. Upon getting his driving licence, he immediately bought a Nissan 180SX to hone his craft. In 2002, he won the "Advan Drift Meeting" at Ebisu Circuit, earning his D1 competition licence, before making his D1GP debut in Round 4 that same year.

In 2004, Kawabata was signed by Team TRUST to pilot a Silvia S15, breaking into the tandem battle (Tsuiso) stages by the second half of the season. He climbed to 5th overall in 2005, and clinched his maiden career win at Fuji Speedway in 2006—delivering the first D1GP victory for the TOYO TIRE stable.

Maiden 2007 Title and the "Keiichi Tsuchiya Award"
The 2007 season served as Kawabata's breakthrough year. After a runner-up finish at the Ebisu season opener, he suffered a heavy high-speed crash with Daigo Saito during the Best 8 tandem battle in Round 2 at Fuji, which wrote off the car and left him with a mild concussion. Returning in a freshly built car for Round 3 at Suzuka, he scored a perfect 100 points in all three solo runs—becoming the first driver in D1GP history to pull off the feat—and bagged the inaugural "Keiichi Tsuchiya Award" along with a 100,000 yen cash prize. He followed up with back-to-back victories at SUGO and Autopolis, ultimately edging out Nobushige Kumakubo by a single point to secure his maiden series championship.

Second and Third Championship Titles
In 2013, Kawabata dominated both the Ebisu and Odaiba rounds by sweeping the solo and tandem events, sealing his second overall series championship and becoming the first driver in D1GP history to claim both the Solo Run and Overall titles in the same season. In 2015, behind the wheel of a 1,000 hp 35RX D-Spec Nissan GT-R, he took two victories and two podium finishes, wrapping up his third overall championship title early at the Osaka Maishima round.

Guinness World Record and Inaugural FIA Title
In 2016, driving a 1,380 hp GT-R specially built by Nismo, Kawabata set a Guinness World Record for the "Fastest Drift" at a blistering 304.96 km/h. In 2017, he entered the inaugural FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup at Odaiba and took top honours, cementing his place in history as the first champion of an FIA-sanctioned drifting event.

Race Car Builds and Recent Outings
Kawabata's motorsport career has always been closely intertwined with vehicle builds. In 2019, he became the first driver to field a Toyota GR Supra in D1GP, initially running a 2JZ-GTE before swapping in a 3UZ-FE V8 unit late in the season. In 2022, he transitioned to a GR86 built by WISTERIA, winning the Fuji season opener to hand the GR86 its maiden D1GP victory, eventually finishing the season as overall runner-up alongside his third Solo Run Championship. He followed this with a round win at Ebisu in 2023 and a 3rd-place finish at Tsukuba in 2024.

D1GP China Exploits
Kawabata was equally formidable in the D1GP China series, claiming victory at the Beijing round for three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, including a clean sweep of both solo and tandem categories in 2018. That same season, he secured another tandem victory at the Hangzhou round, completing a dominant double-round sweep across Beijing and Hangzhou.

2026 Rally Campaign
In 2026, Kawabata ventured into rallying, driving for "FLEX SHOW AIKAWA Racing with TOYO TIRES" under team principal Show Aikawa. In February, paired with co-driver Masami Nakata in a Mitsubishi Triton, he tackled the Hokkaido Blizzard Rally and finished runner-up in the XC-2 class, marking the team's first mid-winter outing and finish. Having fine-tuned tyre pressures on his TOYO winter tyres and adjusted damper settings ahead of the rally, he delivered trademark Kawabata pace across treacherous ice and snow. His campaign continues with the ASMA ATTACK in August and Rally Hokkaido in September.