Youichi Imamura (今村陽一, Imamura Yôichi, 11 May 1976, Yamanashi) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently serving as a judge in Formula Drift Japan after he stopped competing in 2019.

Youichi Imamura
今村陽一
Nationality Japan
Born (1976-05-11) 11 May 1976 (age 48)
Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture
D1 Grand Prix career
Debut season2001
Years active2001 - 2019
Former teamsMMM Racing, OTG Motorsport, Nichiei Racing, Auto Produce BOSS, Top Secret with ORC, A'PEXi, I.C.B.M.
Wins16
Championship titles
2003 2009 2010 20114

He has always enjoyed driving, so drifting was a natural thing for him. His other passion is flowers as his parents ran a florist business and he has always helped them out. So he has always known that he would be a florist, when he is not drifting he is working in a florists in Yamanashi called Silky House. His favourite time of the week is when he and his wife drive out to collect stock, Sometimes he cannot make it as he is at a photo shoot or a D1 event, so he uses the internet to check up.[citation needed]

He has been competing in the D1 Grand Prix series since it began in October 2000. His first successful year was the 2003 season where he won the series title in his A'PEXi Mazda RX-7 (FD3S). After A'PEXi left the series he switched to ORC and has been working with the team to improve the performance of the Nissan Fairlady Z coming in sixth in the 2007 series. In 2008, he switched to the newly formed team Auto Produce Boss with Potenza D-1 Project, driving their Nissan Silvia S15 which was actually Yasuyuki Kazama's 2005 Championship car. He went on to win the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Series Championship in this car, making him the only driver with the most championship titles at four, the first driver to win titles in consecutive years, the second driver with the most wins at 16 after Daigo Saito. He remained compete in D1 driving for Nichiei Racing, OTG Motorsports and MMM Racing, he stopped competing after 2019 season and now became one of the judge for Formula Drift Japan.[citation needed]

Like rival drifter who he was team mate to, Ryuji Miki, he also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the Toyota Altezza between 2005 and its final season in 2006,[1] his racing antics were documented twice on Video Option.[citation needed]

Complete drifting results

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Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Last 4 [Semi-final]
Blue Last 8 [Quarter-final]
Purple Last 16 (16) [1st Tsuiou Round OR Tandem Battle]
(Numbers are given to indicate Top 10 finish)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
(Given to indicate that the driver has been stripped of their position through disqualification)
White First Round (TAN) [Tansou OR Qualifying Single Runs]
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
  • When driver's position are highlighted in blue, this indicates either the driver earned 100pt or 100pt tansou (solo run) bonus has been awarded, with the latter being in use for Pre-2005.


D1 Grand Prix

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Position Points
2001 I.C.B.M. Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 EBS
1
NIK
6
BHH
8
EBS
5
NIK
2
2nd 66
2002 A'PEXi Toyota Altezza SXE10 BHH
TAN
EBS
TAN
SGO
TAN
5th 54
Mazda RX-7 FD3S TKB
1
EBS
7
SEK
8
NIK
1
2003 A'PEXi Mazda RX-7 FD3S TKB
4
BHH
3
SGO
2
FUJ
1
EBS
1
SEK
16
TKB
2
1st 106
2004 A'PEXi Mazda RX-7 FD3S IRW
16
SGO
6
EBS
6
APS
ODB
2
EBS
1
TKB
1
3rd 78
2005 A'PEXi Mazda RX-7 FD3S IRW
2
ODB
9
SGO
5
APS
16
EBS
5
FUJ
16
TKB
1
3rd 68
2006 ORC with Top Secret Nissan Fairlady Z Z33 IRW
16
SGO
9
FUJ
8
APS
TAN
EBS
SUZ
FUJ
16
IRW
8
15th 19
2007 ORC with Top Secret Nissan Fairlady Z Z33 EBS
DNQ
FUJ
12
SUZ
3
SGO
10
EBS
TAN
APS
3
FUJ
4
6th 51
2008 Auto Produce Boss with Potenza D-1 Project Nissan Silvia S15 EBS
7
FUJ
14
SUZ
5
OKY
1
APS
4
EBS
FUJ
3rd 70
2009 Auto Produce Boss with Potenza D-1 Project Nissan Silvia S15 EBS
2
APS
1
OKY
6
OKY
8
EBS
4
EBS
6
FUJ
3
FUJ
4
1st 130
2010 M7 Boss SGC with Dunlop Nissan Silvia S15 ODB
1
APS
5
FUJ
1
OKY
3
EBS
6
EBS
1
FUJ
13
1st 122


Sources

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References

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Preceded by D1 Grand Prix Champion
2003
Succeeded by