Takuma Sato will drive for OAK Racing in the World Endurance Championship races at Fuji and Shanghai.
He tested the Oak/Pescaroo LMP1 car at Magny-Cours yesterday and will share it at the Asian races with Bertrand Baguette and Dominik Kraihamer.
Here’s what Sato had to say:
Working with OAK Racing is an opportunity that has really excited and motivated me. I’ve spent my entire career racing single-seaters and obviously the LMP1 feels different to those, but my initial impressions are very good and I am thrilled by this whole new experience.
I’ve known Seb [Philippe] for a long time, since he was racing in Japan actually, so it will be great to work with him again and that gives me a lot of confidence in the team.
Thursday was only a shakedown of the OAK-HPD LMP1 package but everything went to plan. As well as the new engine the team has an updated aero package to evaluate, so there will be plenty of work to get through on Friday and then during testing at Fuji on October 10.
I’ve got a lot to learn before the race but I am really looking forward to the weekend and seeing the very enthusiastic Japanese fans. The team will receive a great following there and it will be fantastic to race in front of my home crowd again.
