Keisuke Takahashi vs Smiley Sakai

The battle between Keisuke Takahashi and Smiley Sakai is the twenty-eighth battle of Initial D.

Prior to the Battle
After the drivers introduce themselves, Keisuke asks Sakai about his car's engine. Smiley replies that he has retrofitted a turbocharger.

During the Battle
Sakai leads the race as both cars start the uphill. Keisuke is surprised by the Integra's traction. Sakai waits until Keisuke had gotten used to his rhythm and swears to avenge Daiki. As Keisuke chases, he is thrown off guard by a braking feint from Sakai and loses boost, allowing the latter to pull ahead easily. Keisuke's rhythm is further disrupted when Sakai suddenly accelerates before the second corner. Copying the Integra's movements, he realizes that he is entering the corner too fast. He reacts by intentionally oversteering to reduce the FD's speed, avoiding a collision.

Determined, Keisuke enters the next hairpin without braking in an effort to close the distance. Sakai notices that Keisuke has caught up and moves to the inner lane in order to shorten the line at the exit of the fourth corner. Keisuke seizes the opportunity to pass and nudges the rear side end of the Integra, forcing Sakai to alter his line and move sideways while Keisuke rides his car upto the sloped bank of the corner. Soon after the corner they reached an uphill slope section which required them to be in a low gear section. As Keisuke got the better line and Sakai being unable to put power down due to front wheel driver's weakness in low speed, low gear corners, this results in Keisuke overtaking Sakai.

After the Battle
Project D returns to Gunma after beating their course records, unaware that the Todo School is intent on revenge by summoning their recent graduate, Tomoyuki Tachi to defeat them.

Battle Stage 2

 * Welcome People - Mr. M
 * Don't Stop The Music 2006 - Lou Grant

Special Stage

 * Big In Japan - Robert Patton

Trivia

 * Keisuke vs Smiley wheel error.png was an animation error in one scene where Keisuke's FD's front left wheels doesn't render for a moment.