Senpukugaoka and Subashiri Elementary Schools meet WEC
FIA World Endurance Championship reaches out to the local community
Forty local children from the Senpukugaoka and Subashiri Elementary Schools near to Fuji International Speedway got a taste of the FIA World Endurance Championship as part of a special programme between the school, circuit and WEC.
As part of the build-up to the 6 Hours of Fuji race action, the Senpukugaoka school pupils, aged between 10-11, visited the track on Thursday and Friday where they enjoyed an exciting and enlightening programme with visits to teams, meetings with drivers and engineers and even participation in the pre-event press conference to grill he drivers with their questions.
The programme started on Thursday with a presentation and question and answer session, explaining the FIA World Endurance Championship, its technology with an insight into the races which take place, with particular reference to this weekend’s penultimate round of the championship.
Next, there was a visit to the FIA scrutineering area to receive an explanation of the rules and regulations that govern the high technology cars that participate in WEC by ACO Chief Pitlane Marshal, Jérôme Marchetti.
Following this, the pupils visited team garages across the classes, visiting local heroes Toyota Gazoo Racing and D’Station Racing, as well teams from further afield with Corvette Racing, Iron Dames and WRT all hosting the budding students.
Highlights from the garage tours included the pupils being shown around the Toyota garage and GR010-Hybrid by none-other than Kazuki Nakajima, with one lucky student even getting to sit behind the steering wheel of the car.
The school party also visited the Corvette Racing garage where Tommy Milner showcased the intricacies of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R steering wheel. Also on hand was Laura Wontrop Klauser, the Sports Car Racing Program Manager at General Motors. She spoke to the pupils about the challenges of managing a modern manufacturer team as well as about her career in engineering.
At D’Station, driver Satoshi Hoshino as well as a team engineer showcased the Aston Martin Vantage AMR, whilst at Iron Dames the pupils had a presentation and got to see the Ferrari 488 GTE EVO up close. At WRT, driver Ferdinand Habsburg guided the children through the garage as well as giving each pupil their own stint behind the wheel of the Oreca 07 Gibson.
Next it was time for some photos in the pit lane, where the lucky students even got to meet WEC MAN!
On Friday morning the Subashiri pupils were once again on track to participate in the pre-event press conference, as hosted by noted and esteemed motorsport author, journalist, broadcaster and WEC expert, Sam Smith.
With a panel of drivers consisting of Ryo Hirakawa, Sebastian Bourdais, James Rossiter, Miguel Molina, Henrique Chaves, the students were able to ask their own questions and put the drivers on the spot.
Finally, the pupils then got to experience the cars on track as the 6 Hours of Fuji got underway with FP1.
With thanks to James Moy (TOYOTA GAZOO RACING ), Andrew Lofthouse (D'STATION RACING), Brecht Decancq (WRT) & Richard Prince (CORVETTE RACING) as wells as WEC official photagraphers Gaby & Harry.
