ThunderAsia made their racing debut at Okayama over the Easter weekend. The first non Japanese team to enter, first Mosler in the series, a lot to prove. With delivery of the newly developed car being just the week before it was going to be a testing time for all.
Here are some thoughts on the weekend from Raja Zaini, Team Manager with ThunderAsia:
"We arrived in Japan with mixed feelings. Happy to be there and at the same time, I know that everyone hearts was trembling. There was a major problem with the team; acclimatizing to the weather. Mind you, we came from a tropical 32' C average temp. The moment we arrived in Japan, it was 2' C. The track temperature in Fuji when we did the rookie test was a -2'C. It was snowing!
The boys worked hard, together with Luke and Pat from Mosler Europe. We passed the technical inspection on Friday without an issue. Thereafter it was the driver's job to do their best.
The car had minor issues. These can be solved given time. We also had issues with the correct gear ratios. This hampered the driver's progress to chalked up good times. With the 300bhp that we have, the ratios really played an important role.
We qualified within 107% but in Super GT that was not enough. The top ten were separated by a second. It is a very professionally run series."
Tim Sugden said "The car feels well balanced. There are problems but these are easily solved. Most importantly, the car is reliable. I'm also very happy to be able to race in Japan. I'm speechless with the reception and the fans are just amazing."
Melvin Choo added, "Overall, I'm happy with the weekend, this is the first time we are in Japan and we should not expect too much since the car is very new. We need to put in more test miles in order to get the best out of the car."
Raja Zaini; I'd just like to thank Martin (Short) and his crew, the GT Association who accepted our entry and are very cooperative and helpful towards us. We will be up there, that's for sure.
On the result; well, we could have finished the race but we were disqualified due to an outside assistance.
With thanks to M. Kobayashi for the pictures.
