Formula D Diaries - Ryuji Miki - Import Tuner Magazine

Ryuji Miki
The '04 D1 Champ went LHD and placed 14th in his inaugural Formula D season. Will his D1 skills be enough to take Formula D?

Long Beach was a tough event for me last year, so I had a rough image of what to expect. This year, by tuning the suspension's height and spring rates differently for the course, I was able to create a better image of running the course and practice went without a hitch.

During the qualifying round, I took a conservative approach on the first run and my speed was not too fast and resulted in an average score. The second qualifying run was very nerve-racking as I only had one more run to guarantee a Top 16 spot. During this run I had miss-shifted going into the final turn and was not able to run a clean line. It was up to the score from the first run to get into the tandem rounds. After qualifying, it was rough for me, I felt very disappointed in my runs, but with the support and encouragement of my team I was motivated going into the tandem rounds.

For the first round, I was up against none other than last year's series champion, Tanner Foust. So with this in mind, the challenge was to keep up with him on the straight and challenge him in the first corner. I kept up with his pace, however, followed too closely, hit the brakes and lost my drift going into the first turn. From there I knew I would be at a disadvantage. I knew even if I ran a solid second run, going up against a seasoned driver like Tanner Foust, I could only hope for a "one more time" sudden death round. Unfortunately, my second run was not good enough and the mistake I made in the first run would be the determining factor of our ' 08 Long Beach event. It was a mistake on my part, and I still have much to do in order be more competitive.

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