Another podium for us!

I had a fairly good weekend with a very tight qualifying on Sat., missing pole position by 2/100th.

Starting second on the right side in the rain was not the best deal, specially due to the more wet and slippery surface. I lost a couple places after it went to green but mostly lost positions until 6th place because my paddle shift was not working and had to shift gears manually. After 1 lap I found my  way to drive around the problem and managed to recover until 3rd place. Shame we had this problem, better result was possible! Just need a smooth weekend and we’re on top!

My big highlight is next! The Le mans 24h!

THANKS TO NORIAKI for the great photos! ( Nrak photo agency)

Got my new Formula Nippon helmet, will have the sa,e for Le Mans, wanted go to more black and refine some details. came out nice!

Thank you HIDECKS japan. http://www.hidecks.com/

Got my new wheels delivered straight from Japan and mounted my new Bridgestone Potenza tires. Enkei and Bridgestone are partners of my team Tom’s in japan and they offered me those nice items as a present for my GT title 2009. Got them painted in black to mach the car. looks great! Thanks Enkei, Bridgestone and also PFC brakes who offered me the upgraded brake discs and pads! Having a lot of fun with it!

Like last year, with Lexus and Gazoo Racing, I had the oportunity to participate in one of the most challenging races for man and mashine, the 24 h of Nurburgring.

We call it the green hell… which it basically is with its 25km of narrow high speed track around the german hilly country side.

So many cars on the track and lots of unpredictable situations with accidents and weather changes.

We experienced some problems during the race so we coudlnt compete anymore for a nice position but the most important for us was to finish. I realy enjoyed the time with the hole team and we had a lot of fun with my japanese colleges.

Well done to Lexus for the nice new looking car. LExus LF-A

Right after Spa we all went to some lost place in east Germany to prepare Le Mans with some more pitstop practice and simulations etc,…  Busy busy but good to be with the team!

Also got to try the R8 LMS  which was fun!

MOV09741

Installing lots of new parts and a new exhaust with Ben, good to get our hands dirty sometimes. Maybe we need better tools and a real garage…

Our fans from japan prepared a flag for Ben and me to support us for our highlight in Le Mans. We displayed it our garage. Allan Mc Nish got jealous and requested one to….

So nice! Arigatooo!

Super GT race in Fuji is done and now I’m back home in Belgium getting ready for this week end’s race, the  1000km of SPA Le Mans series.

It will be my first race race with Audi Sport at a circuit I can call my home track, I raced there only twice but the track is just 1h away from where I grew up and I have been going there so many times since I was a little kid, my father had a race team and he always took me there with him. I was playing around the hole area with the team’s quad bike. Lots of great memories as a kid around Belgium’s nicest country side, the Ardennes. Later on, even my Go-Kart engine tuner (Marechal Racing) was also based inside the circuit on a little Go-Kart track, so I went there to practice a lot to. Anyways, all that to say that it’s special for me and I’m very exited to race this week end.

Check it out, my new car got delivered so I’ll even roll up there in style… Audi S5

FOLLOW THE RACE

The 1,000Km of Spa are scheduled to start at 11:30 am on Sunday, May 9.

Visit www.lemans-series.com for live-timing

TV Broadcast times: ● Eurosport International – Live 11:15 am – 12:00 pm; 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

 Eurosport International – Delayed 5:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Also check out the Audi Sport Iphone Application, great to follow news and lots of multimedia in it, pretty cool!

Click pic to link to Itunes store, its free!

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