FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Fuji - Friday Afternoon Notes

As keen DSC readers will know we are a man down here, David ‘Doris’ Downes has been rather poorly and whilst he’s on the mend he’s not well enough to travel either here to Fuji or to Shanghai.

His ‘brothers’ in the photographic community though have remembered him here and two teams are carrying their colours, the #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan and #55 JWA Avila Porsche both sport vinyls that were intended to celebrate the ‘Four Musketeers’ first combined trip to Japan.

We’ve remembered him too, on the rear of our hire car – suitably doctored of course!

Things we didn’t know about Fuji Speedway before today #1 – Shinji Nakano has never raced at Fuji before

The JWA Avila Porsche also features another characterful vinyl, this time remembering the late and much lamented James Hunt who, of course, clinched the 1976 Formula One World Championship here at Fuji Speedway.

Things we didn’t know about Fuji Speedway before today #2 – Despite the fact that the cars hybrid system was developed and built here the Toyota TS030 had not run here until the test day on Wednesday.

Howden ‘H’ Haynes engineers a car for the first time since Le Mans this year when he was in charge of the #4 R18 Ultra . It’s his first time back with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen since Sebring and his first time engineering a hybrid.  #2’s regular race engineer Kyle Wilson-Clarke is best man at a wedding this weekend.

It has been noted that there are a LOT of Porsche people in attendance here at Fuji – The data and intelligence-gathering process prior to their entry into LMP1 is truly in full swing.

An evening reception with local dignitaries saw Audi UK’s Teresa Pass entering into the spirit of things – Reporting that she felt “impossibly glamourous” Mrs P did reveal that her “thong was killing her” – This may or may not have been referring to her footwear.