Our friend Yuri (our last years GT TV lady) had this good idea and convinced us in trying a bit of woman training with her  pro trainer friend Emi….

By chance, on my way there, I met my team mate Juichi at some crossing. small world!! Told him to come with us and together with JP we had good fun cause we cant stay serious for these kind of things but still I could feel the good effect of that type of training. Will try more…maybe… hehe

I thought I was young when I tried a rally car for the first time when I was 11. It was a Ford escort Cosworth group N. I’ll try to find the TV footage made about me doing it… I was on the TV news… 1993

But this kid… thats some serious stuff! cant believe it! He’s ON IT!

Gearing up together with some great tours around the pretty french provence for our big target, the Le Mans race with Audi!

The country side and the wether around here is so nice! Great for cycling! Feeling great!

For us its naturally easier to look stupid then good… We stopped trying since long time…

Driver change practice and some fun in France!

Normally I was suposed to fly out of Japan on monday but, like many other people, I was a victim of the vulcano ashes and had to sit and wait for a day….

I then decided to chill and visit my friend Raudia from Bali! I took my mom to who was visiting me for 10 days. Was a super idea, had some nice chats and a great afternoon!  She was in the country at her dad’s house. This house is very special, the land is amazing, so spiritual and positive energy! Has A beautiful garden in the hills of this nice and famous country side arround kamakura,  It’s a small city and a very popular spot. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Eastern Japan. Kamakura offers many temples, shrines and other historical monuments. In addition, Kamakura has some beaches .

last weekend we had our first Formula Nippon race of the season held at Suzuka.

It was ok for us. A 3rd place is not to bad but looking at our pure potential we could have been up there.

in qualifying I was first in Q1 and Q2 but then I hit some traffic in Q3 which held me back to 3rd.

For the race my start wasn’t great, to much wheelspin so I lost a spot.
I lost a lot of time behind the 3rd placed car while the top 2 took off. Having difficulties to overtake, I then diceded to pit early arround lap 13 to try to pass which worked out!
From that point on it was just a mad dash to catch up the +\- 15 sec delay I had to the lead. The car was awesome and I could put one qualy lap after the other. In the end I caught the leaders to arround 2 sec behind but unfortunatly the 37 lap race was finished.

It’s good to know that we had everything to win but disapointing that we didn’t put it all together.

Looking forward to the next FN race @ Motegi.

Last night I was invited by Audi japan for their amazing event, the 30 years anniversary of QUATTRO.
Over 1500 people showed up! We had live music, Dj’s, racing simulators, casino, cars on display etc,… and live drifting by me… heheh
They prepared a track in the underground parking lot and the plan was to drive the brand new TT RS around but I though drifting it would be much more fun… People loved it and my passengers are still dizzy I think… was a great event! Well done Audi!

They event had their legendary mad sounding S1 rally car driving to. This car revolutionized the rally world in the 80’s with their Quattro (all wheel drive) technology and turbo engine. Today, Audi and the rally world still follow this spirit and technology.

Profetional photos made by my friend Cedric Leherle (skyphot@mac.com)

http://www.audi.co.jp/jp/brand/ja/Special_Offer/Campaign/quattro_night.html

Ill be there drifting the new Audi TT – RS! Should be a great event!

The new Audi R15 plus claimed a dominant victory on its debut in the Paul Ricard 8 Hours.

Audi drivers Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello led all but two and half laps of the opening round of the Le Mans Series on the way to a five-lap victory over the Aston Martin Racing Lola driven by Stefan Mucke, Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat.

Im really looking forward to my first race with the team at Spa – Francorchamps (Belgium) May 8-9!

My mom came to visit me  in Tokyo for 10 days! Right after we landed , we went straight to the park and could still see some of the famous cherry blosoms, the Sakura! Gotta  follow a bit the japanese traditions…. No worries, I have been here a while now but I’m not turning japanese… Love to live in this country though!!