Seiji Iwaki vs Thunder Fire

The battle between Seiji Iwaki and Thunder Fire is the first battle of Initial D: Second Stage. This is an anime-only battle.

Prior to the Battle
After Takumi Fujiwara's victory over Ryosuke Takahashi, a new threat alerted racers throughout Gunma. A band of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution drivers. They call themselves Team Emperor whom crush every team and decorate their team stickers on their spoilers each time they win.

During the Battle
At an unknown pass, a driver from Thunder Fire was ￼under pressure and the Evo IV driver overtakes him with ease. He is revealed to be Seiji Iwaki.

After the Battle
The Thunder Fire driver gave his team sticker to Seiji, who cuts in half and sticks it on his spoiler. Seiji then taunts the defeated driver, stating that cutting out the sticker in the Evo is like "pilots marking kill marks after downing enemy planes". Kyoichi Sudo then tells the defeated Thunder Fire team that they are going to see Emperor rule over Gunma, as they claim themselves as "king of the mountains".