At the non-championship D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition at Irwindale Speedway in December 2005, we saw the series first non-Japanese winner for both car and driver: Vaughn Gittin Jr. with his Ford Mustang GT. At the following season opener in March 2006, Samuel Hubinette with his Dodge Viper SRT/10 took things further by making it into the best 8 by beating Gittin in a sudden death tsuiso battle, Hubinette made it to the semi-final when he defeated Takahiro Ueno, only to be beaten by Nobushige Kumakubo in his Subaru Impreza GDB. Kumakubo then went on into the finals to be beaten by Yasuyuki Kazama, who won his third successive first round championship event.
In 2006, the D1GP ventured into the highly lucrative Asian market by hosting a feeder series in Malaysia, as well as in New Zealand, both who are currently only running a drivers search event, which gives the drivers who do well in any of the national series' a chance to compete at the final non-championship event held in Irwindale......
