Late and missing!
The woes of global logistics continue with several WEC teams still awaiting much of their pit equipment on Thursday afternoon. HERTZ Team JOTA, TF Sport, both Aston Martin LMGT3 teams and United Autosports were amongst those awaiting the technical and garage kit that was sea-freighted to Japan from Interlagos.
Whilst the cars and much of the high-value engineering kit are already on-site having been air freighted, there was a fair degree of thumb-twiddling underway until the delayed containers arrived last night.
Also missing vital equipment is Michelle Gatting, whose review of Lufthansa’s baggage handling would have made a sailor blush!
At present the Danish Iron Dame is sporting spare overalls from teammate Sarah Bovy – and the pair recreated the infamous ‘Two Spidermen’ meme on pitlane. When asked by DSC when the missing bags should arrive, the response was that they were still in Barcelona!
Happy to be here
Despite the travel schedules and logistical challenges, it goes without saying there’s little doubt that the vast majority of the paddock are delighted once again to be here in Japan, with several of the teams marking the event with a healthy dose of cultural appropriation! TF Sport were amongst several team adopting a Japanese theme to its team photos.
As always the Japanese fans are out in force with their tradition not only of looking for the prize autographs of their heroes, but often going above and beyond to reciprocate with gifts! Here’s our favourite so far. Long-time DSC reader Tomoko Kobayashi and her good friend Maki presenting Christian Ried with a batch of shortbread cookies – featuring the highlight-tactic portrait picture of a (then!) young gun back in 1999!!
JOTA puts CoTA woes behind it
HERTZ Team JOTA tested the #12 Porsche 963 on Fuji’s ‘Gymkhana’ track at the start of the week to ensure it correctly identified and solved the mystery electrical fault that marred the car’s CoTA run. Will Stevens ran a rollout test with the car, with no further dramas encountered. The car has been untroubled in practice so far. Also of note, the #38 sister car is back in its regular livery this weekend, aside from the Japanese spelling of JOTA being placed on the front of the car.
Fan area ready for the big crowd
The traditional fan area at Fuji features, as always, a live stage, with driver interviews and entertainment. Manufacturer displays include Toyota, Porsche (with a 963 on display), Lexus, Alpine and Peugeot. Ticket sales for the weekend are understood to be very healthy despite the high temperatures and high humidity forecast. Sadly, low cloud since Wednesday has seen very limited views of Mount Fuji since the teams arrived.
Local racers gather
Representatives from multiple Super GT teams and manufacturers have been spotted in the paddock this week, including Kondo Racing, Team Le Mans and senior staff members from Nissan NISMO. Beyond that, a small delegation from a team further afield was spotted by DSC and is believed to be making active enquiries to join the privateer Hypercar marketplace in the future. More on DSC next week…
Fuoco downbeat ahead of Qualifying
Ferrari AF Corse struggled for outright pace with its 499Ps in Fuji 12 months ago. On the face of it, there’s reason to believe that its second visit may yield better results as the recent Joker update – focused on brake cooling and aero efficiency – was originally expected to be most effective here and in Bahrain. However, the mood within the camp is not as positive as you may expect.
“It’s clear already after FP1 that this is going to be a tough weekend for us. I don’t expect the Joker change to make a big difference,” #50 driver Antonio Fuoco told DSC.
“We should be ok for the top 10 for Qualifying. But I think it’s going to be a long race. It’s a matter of staying out of trouble and doing the best we can in a very deep field.”
Lotterer: Porsche’s “task doesn’t change” despite title battle
Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre finished on the podium last year in Japan in the #6 Porsche and hope to build on that performance this weekend.
With the Drivers’ title at stake, a win here would prevent their slim 12-point lead in the Drivers’ standings from shrinking further ahead of the finale in Bahrain.
“This is one of the tracks that suits our car better, which is good because it’s an important race to do well,” Lotterer told DSC. I haven’t thought too much about the title before this weekend because you need to take it race-by-race.
“We’ve been strong and consistent and found ways to extract the maximum out of our package, especially in the last two races when we lacked speed. Ultimately whether or not the title race is on your mind the task doesn’t change.”
Team orders may be required at Toyota.
Securing the manufacturers’ title may be Toyota’s number one priority, but with the #7 full-season duo of Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in the fight for driver’s honours, team orders may be required between the two crews on Sunday to ensure it is best positioned to claim both championships.
“The #7 will get more support to secure points if they are in the position to continue to fight for the championship,” team director Rob Leupen admitted.
“It’s important. But if anything happens then we will push the #8. It’s a team effort and we will work with both cars because they need to support each other.”
