My first visit to Suzuka has left even more of an impression that I thought it would, and even before we’ve taken the start lights, it’s clear that I have a new favourite race circuit!

I arrived back to Japan with my father and grandfather early in the week, and we joined the team on Thursday to explore the circuit on foot, in persistent rain that only cleared as Friday dawned for testing.

Three 1-hour sessions were the order of the day, and I felt immediately comfortable back behind the wheel of the SLS after recent racing in the V8 SuperTourers and the Fastway Racing Porsche in the South Island enduros at home in NZ.

The natural high speed flow and committed nature of the Suzuka circuit were to my liking, and I finished the session quickest by half a second from the nearest FIA GT3 spec car, the Kondo Racing Nissan GTR.

I sat out the second run while my team mates experimented with car changes and negotiated the 50-car field, making a clear lap hard to come by and causes a bit of frustration for all in the quicker class of cars.

In the third, we bedded new gear for qualifying and my last effort before handing over to my team mate had our #28 PETRONAS SLS 1.2 seconds clear of the nearest car.

It all bodes well for a big push for pole position tomorrow, before two 60-minute ‘mini enduros’ on Sunday in support of the World Touring Car Championship.

Follow my progress on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks to CRC motornews.co.nz for their support!