Chapter 012

Veteran vs. Rookie (ドッグファイト, Doggufaito, "Dogfight") is the twelfth chapter of Initial D.

Plot
Keisuke is baffled as to how Takumi could have caught up to him so effortlessly.

At the top of the mountain Iketani tells Itsuki about Bunta, and that he thinks Takumi is the one who beat Keisuke the week prior, but Itsuki can't believe it.

Ryosuke thinks to himself that the Eight-Six is nowhere near as powerful as Keisuke has described, but that it's driver must be exceptionally skilled.

Takumi is continuously able to gain ground in the corners, while falling back on the straight-aways.

The lookout calls up to the top of the mountain, and tells them that the Eight-Six is right behind Keisuke. The SpeedStars celebrate, while Ryosuke is surprised he hadn't known there was such a good driver on Akina.

Takumi continues to wow the crowds, and realises that the best location to overtake is in the five hairpins.

Ryosuke calls down to the lookouts, asking them to give him a play-by-play of the race as they head into the next section.

Japan

 * February 3rd 1996 (Tankōbon, Volume 02)

Chinese

 * February 1st 1998 (Tankōbon, Volume 02, Sharp Point Press)

English

 * July 16th 2002 (Tankōbon, Volume 02, Tokyopop)
 * April 17th 2019 (Digital re-release, Volume 02, Kodansha USA)

French

 * March 26th 2009 (Tankōbon, Volume 02, Kazé)

Italian

 * March 28th 2023 (Tankōbon 2-in-1, Volume 01, J-Pop)

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * Keisuke Takahashi
 * Takumi Fujiwara
 * Itsuki Takeuchi
 * Koichiro Iketani
 * Kenji
 * Ryosuke Takahashi
 * Fumihiro

Cars (in order of appearance)

 * Mazda ɛ̃fini RX-7 Type R (FD3S)
 * Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)