2016 Virtual Americas Racing Series champion Gabriele García will make his first appearance of the 2017 season during Japanese V-Prix practice, replacing Alesky Nowosinki in the second North Star for the Friday session. "Definitely, this is an amazing opportunity they've given me," García told reporters, "I'm super excited to see how the new car drives compared to last year's, and I really hope I can get a good lap time out of it. Might give the other guys in the VWRS something to think about!"
Judson Sikes will run alongside García on Friday, after admitting his and the team's confusion over his lack of pace in Malaysia, following from scoring North Star's maiden points in the opening round of the season. He explained to the press, "I don't know if it was the tyres, or the suspension, or just that the balance was all wrong, we were totally mystified by how slow we were. We want to get as much running as we can in practice this time out, so hopefully we can have a better race, and a better chance of scoring more points." Sikes appeared dismissive, however, of suggestions that sitting out Friday practice would affect his teammate's preparations for the rest of the weekend. "I don't think so, he seems to be happy enough with the car," he replied. "The team decided that we would try to work out here why I didn't have the pace in Malaysia, and if that works, and I end up behind Aleksy again, hopefully he gets out of my way this time." Nowosinki, who will return to the car for qualifying and the race, appeared eager to express his dissatisfaction with the decision. "I was getting ready for Japan, expecting to run on the Friday, and then it turns out I'm not, so I'm obviously not happy about that," he stated, "I really don't understand why Judson needs any extra help from the team. If he's not fast enough, then he's not fast enough, is how I see it." North Star team principal Nick Forrest was unavailable for comment.
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