Fuji Thursday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***All 31 FIA World Endurance Championship cars have arrived in Japan for this weekend’s Six Hours of Fuji. There are a number of previously documented driver changes, as well as revised Balance of Performance for GTE cars.

***The No. 31 Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda has been repaired following Ed Brown’s accident at Circuit of The Americas, caused by brake failure. “The guys did a great job,” team owner Scott Sharp told Sportscar365. “They got through a big hunk of it at COTA before it was loaded and were able to finish it off here. It was a good turnaround.”

***Nick Heidfeld misses his first race with Rebellion Racing for the first time since 2012, with the German electing to sit out of the Fuji and Shanghai rounds in order to focus on his Formula E commitments. Heidfeld is scheduled to return to the No. 12 Rebellion R-One AER for the season finale in Bahrain.

***Toyota Gazoo Racing heads into the weekend undefeated at Fuji Speedway, although the Japanese team, racing on home soil, will have its toughest challenge yet to keep that streak alive. The majority of Toyota’s focus has already shifted towards development of its all-new 2016 car.

***A documentary profiling gentlemen drivers in sports car racing is being produced. The feature-length film, titled “The Gentleman Driver” from Austin-based Velvet Cartel, will profile the lives of drivers Ricardo Gonzalez, Ed Brown and Mike Guasch, at and away from the track.

***Pegasus Racing will make its FIA WEC debut next month in Shanghai with its Morgan-Nissan instead of the previously planned Ligier JS P2 Nissan. Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng have been confirmed as drivers for the one-off in China, with both drivers here this weekend as part of the Asian Le Mans Series season-opener.

***A total of 13 cars are set for the first round of the Asian LMS, with a two-hour race on tap for Saturday afternoon. Pierre Kaffer, Christian Reid and Rui Aguas will pull double-duty between both races this weekend.

***Stephane Sarrazin and Romain Dumas both competed in last weekend’s Tour de Corse World Rally Championship round. The LMP1 drivers faced mixed results in Corsica, with Sarrazin finishing 9th and Dumas retiring after suffering a water leak.

***FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu and Porsche’s Brendon Hartley joined Bahrain International Circuit Chief Executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa for a media event last week to launch the 2016 event. The Six Hours of Bahrain serves as the season finale of the championship, and will also feature a support race from GP2 and GP3.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John