Our main man out of Tokyo found this laying around on a Japanese website. It looks like we won’t be able to enjoy NOB back in Formula D doing some demo’s for us throughout the year. A big bummer I think for the Americans as it was a treat to see him in Atlanta and Summit Point during last season. I guess we will just have to grab our NOB Taniguchi fix in Option DVD’s for now.

“After nearly a two year absence, it looks like former champion Nobuteru Taniguchi will be returning to the D1 Grand Prix in Japan. It had been rumored for a while and Taniguchi himself finally confirmed it on his blog yesterday. According to the blog post, he will be competing in the second round of D1 next month at Fuji Speedway as part of the HKS team. His machine(s) will be the well-known pair of HKS drift-spec Altezzas.
Due to scheduling conflicts with Super GT and other events, he will be running a limited D1schedule for now. In the post, he talks about the dealing with the limited number of weekends in the racing season where it is nearly impossible to avoid schedule conflicts with other events. Nonetheless, he seems quite energized to be back, stating that the level of D1 drivers been getting higher and he is anxious to compete again.

His fans had long been hoping for his return to D1 and it looks like their wish has finally come true. There are nearly 30 comments from fans on his post saying things like “We have been waiting!”.

In addition to Round 2 at Fuji Speedway, there is also talk of a June D1 exhibition event at Odaiba, Tokyo where he would also make an appearance.

D1 at Odaiba again?With Taniguchi?

Sounds like the good old days. I can’t wait to see what happens with this.”