Takumi and Iketani are having very different days: Takumi’s hand is taped to the Eight-Six’s steering wheel as Shingo bumps into him at high speeds. Iketani’s hanging out with a pretty girl.
Plot []
With Takumi's emotions getting the best of him, his evolving style begins to surface after Shingo bumped him. He pushes the Eight-Six pedal to the metal, rides the gutters and intentionally hits the guardrail to reverse the drift to get closer to Shingo. Shingo then gets under tremendous pressure fearing revenge will be brought upon him. One of Takumi's furious driving came close to hitting one of the spectators realising he lost his cool. Nakazato's theory why this happened was due to how furious he got provoked, his innate driving skills and instincts allow him to perform a deadly form of driving at a subconscious level and would improve each time he gets angry as opposed to average drivers would make mistakes and speed would suffer. Nakazato predicts Takumi to win due to how much Shingo enraged him resulting to driving faster. With the 5 hairpins approaching, Takumi makes a move on the inside with his usual gutter run frightening Shingo believing he is going to bump him back. Takumi regains the lead much to Shingo's surprise. Further back, Iketani and Kenji became relieved for Takumi to have gotten far off believing he is leaving Shingo to panic. With no options left, Shingo can no longer try and pass the Eight-Six and tries to finish the race in a tie by trying to nudge him again without realising they are approaching an upcoming corner. He attempts to attack him again but Takumi dodged it by entering the corner sending his EG6 crashing while the Eight-Six drifts away from his failed attack.
A NightKids spectator nearly got hit by Takumi's aggressive drifting at the finish line. A guilt-ridden Shingo realised how much he wrecked his car. Iketani and Kenji get closer to the scene of Shingo's accident. They offered Shingo a lift to the hospital. He declined at first and asked if he can make a phone-call on his cell phone but Iketani still insists in helping him despite being bumped by him earlier on. Shingo now gains profound respect for Takumi. Back home, Bunta wakes Takumi up after being flustered with his emotions. He scolds Takumi for scraping the fenders from when he rode the guardrails. A shocked Takumi thought it was Bunta's doing and suspected who would have done such thing. Bunta punched Takumi hard on the head to put sense in him. Takumi finally remembers and explained what happened in the race. Bunta tells him he would not have been that reckless when he was Takumi's age and calls him a beginner in comparison to him. But Takumi told him he won regardless of his recklessness. The following morning back at the hospital, Itsuki was doing push-ups on his hospital bed with Takumi and Natsuki visiting and heard of his victory against Shingo. Takumi explains to Itsuki that he won since he was motivated to win which would imply he is slowly getting into racing. Natsuki lays a new bouquet of flowers and lies that Saori wanted to tell Itsuki "hi". Itsuki then suggests to do another double date. Outside the hospital, Natsuki revealed Saori left him due to bad memories from that crash. Itsuki already realised that Saori dumped him and decided to go with the SpeedStars slogan "racers don't need girlfriends".
At the gas station, Bunta realised Takumi is getting faster and evolving his style. Yuichi couldn't understand how due never witnessing him race. Bunta knows how since he feels the car each time he takes it out. After filling up with gas, he invites Yuichi for a drink someday. The next morning, Iketani has a day out of his own and spots a woman with car trouble. Being stunned by her beauty, Iketani stops by to help her out. As she opens the bonnet, she saw that he is a street racer after noticing his SpeedStars sticker. While he fixes her engine, Iketani notices love at first site and gets nervous at the same time. The woman then stares at the car and Iketani's repairs were a success. She then asks for his phone number but got off the subject and told how he fixed it without responding to her request. Iketani then in his mind scolds himself for spacing out. Before he leaves, she hands her phone number to him and introduces herself as Mako Sato. She offers him a day out someday and Iketani begins to fall in love.
Takumi: Alright! That was intentional. Now I'm really pissed! I swear I'll never lose to a cheating degenerate like you!
Takeshi: Usually an ordinary racer who gets furious his chances of victory would fade. He would start to lose his sense and his speed suffers. However, the guy in the Eight-Six is no ordinary racer. His innate driving instincts take control of him at a subconscious level. Allowing his car to perform at full throttle. Shingo, this race will cost you!
Shingo: How about we end this race with a DOUBLE CRASH! (tries to crash into Takumi but Takumi narrowly avoids the crash and Shingo crashes his Honda Civic instead.)
Bunta: You raced last night and your emotions got the best of you, I count three scratches that were made by swiping the guardrails.
"I didn't drive the damn car it all, yesterday! You're the only one who had it, see? Would I have scratched the bumper and fenders?!" —Bunta Fujiwara
Differences from the Manga[]
Natsuki and Takumi's trip to see Itsuki in the hospital doesnt happen in the manga, as his crash was exclusive to the anime
Iketani does not meet Mako until after Takumi's battle with Ryosuke in the manga, as the anime changed the battle order.
Notes & Trivia []
When Takumi regains control his right hand can be seen not taped to the wheel.
Nakazato's statement of Takumi getting faster when aggressive and angry proved true in this battle.
