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Sonoma

今日はなんだかもの凄い一日でした。昨日の１１時半にSAMAX Motorsportsのオーナーから電話が入り、急遽きてくれとお願いされもう寝る気満々だった所から飛行機の予約や荷物のパッキング・・・、レンタカーの予約等をして寝床に着いたのは１時近く。朝６時の飛行機だったので３時半に起きて飛行場に出発。サンフランに７時半について９時にサーキット入り！なんとか最初のセッションに走行できるかなと思ったら、ドライブシャフトが壊れてしまったみたいで走行できず・・・。色々とチームの作戦面を考えて何故か自分が予選アタッカーへと抜擢！？！“あの〜・・・、まだ１周も走ってないのに予選アタッカー”って聞きたい所ですが、１５分の予選走行時間でも少しでも走行をしなくてはいけないので止む得なく予選は捨てモード！？！１５分のうちに車も慣れてアタックなんてと思いつつ、予選中にペースが上がった所でちょっと調子をこいたらスピンをしてしまい、後ろに走っていた車から衝突されてそのままセッション終了・・・。ガックリです。しかもGrandAmのルールでは予選中に赤旗中断の原因を起こすと最後尾からのスタート・・・。まっ、ある意味作戦通りと言う事で明日のレースは頑張ります。チームメートのTomasEngeともデータ比較しても５周の間にドライビングの部分もかなりぴっくあっぷ！！このDaytonaPrototypeの車はけっこう癖があるんでね・・・。どちらにせよぶっつけ本番のレース頑張ります！！

It was a real strange day! I got a call last night at around 11:30PM from the team owner of SAMAX Motorsport and he has asked me to drive his car during this week end’s race at Sonoma. I obviously was eager to drive so I immediately said yes and went online to check for the flights and rental car reservations. By the time I got done with packing it was already 1am…and had to get up at 3:30am to make the 6am flight. Fortunately I was at the track by 9am and thought I was going to make the practice session but the drive shaft was broken and was not able to get out. Although I haven’t done any lap yet…I had to go out for qualifying to get some track time…so I was the qualifying driver for that 15min session. As the session has started, I took the first several laps to get acquainted with the car and the track and towards end of the session, I started to drive harder. And than oops…I got too greedy with the throttle and ended up spinning at turn 2. What was even worse was that the guy behind me had no where to go and ended up shoving my tail end of the car which I felt bad for that driver and my crew who have to fix the car overnight. Nevertheless, for causing yellow, we will have to start last. Oh well, we just have to play catch up tomorrow. Looking at the data, I think I know what to do when I get back in to the car tomorrow! I will do my best and hopefully we will be in top 10 by end of the day.