Pierre Ragues has enjoyed his first taste of the 4.563km Fuji Speedway race track in today’s collective test at the Japanese circuit. All teams and drivers have been given an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the track layout ahead of the race weekend which gets underway properly with free practice on Friday. 

For Pierre, the test gave him the chance to learn the complexities of the track and to begin set-up work with the #26 G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan Oreca 03 car. The team completed 79 laps despite power steering problems and gathered useful data throughout the morning and afternoon sessions.

The track’s long straight means that teams will be looking for the optimum compromise from their cars to maximise top speed down the long main straight as well as performance and downforce through the corners.

Pierre will be hoping to repeat the level of competitiveness shown in many of the races this season when the G-Drive squad has been regularly on podium and LMP2 lead pace.

Pierre said: “It’s been a very satisfactory day for us here at Fuji Speedway as we get the first laps of this fascinating track under our belts. We completed 79 laps but we did run into some trouble during the day with our power steering, something we will be investigating as a team. We were still able to carry out lots of work on set-up, aero and tyres to make sure that we can harness the potential of our #26 car to meet the specific characteristics of this track with its very long straight. It’s going to be an interesting weekend, I think, so Friday’s practice will be useful and important to carry on with the work started today.”