Hello and welcome to Fuji, Japan, for the 2020 Japanse V~Prix as we kickstart this season at a thrilling circuit. My name is Neil Allenby and you join me here for the pre race grid walk. It's cold, there's some cloud cover but we aren't expecting rain. At the front, we've got something that will become quite familiar this year, a Mathershaw Porsche front row lockout. I'm now walking down the grid, gosh it feels good to be back. Plenty of excitement, the race officials are talking to Nic Morley, you can see the winners trophy there. Just crossing the starting line, you can see the two Coca Cola sponsored cars, Mathershaw have got them both ready early and the advantage of that is Ruiz seems to be free - just going to slide in...
Enrique, new car, new team and you're on pole position! This move has worked out quite nicely for you hasn't it? “It’s good! The boys have built a good car, and I’m confident in my abilities to make the most of it. I think this is only the beginning too, so I’m excited to see how the race goes for sure.” You and your teammate Adrian Simon are looking very competitive. The two of you on the front row. How are you two handling that? Is it a McLaren 1998 situation where the first person to lead into the first corner gets the prine strategy? “Adrien is a good competitor as well, and that shows with him right behind me on the grid. We both know the other is not going to do anything stupid - I’ve raced with him often enough to know that - but both we and the team also know neither of us will just lay down and sit if there is an attacking opportunity, so there are no official orders.” Thanks Enrique, good luck for the race. I won't trouble Simon as he seems busy so next up we have the two Downtons, van Snelheid ahead of Powers, both of whom are busy, so we'll move on but I have to say, I think if anyone can beat the Mathershaws, Klaas can. We've got Halvosen a super fifth and I can see Nick Forrest talking to Adam Blocker, probably about whether he can a Ford the engines... sorry. Anyway I'll grab a word with Nick. Nick, just one question, I know you're busy. Ine of your cars is on the 3rd row on the grid, you must be pleased with that? "Oh, definitely, it's far better than we'd expected after testing! We were thinking we'd end up probably somewhere on the fringes of the top ten at best after practice, and then Johan pulled out an absolute stunner of a lap to get us up in P5 ahead of the FIRSTs and the Lopezes. There's no points for Saturday, though, and having taken a look around at the tyre strategies the rest of the grid seem to have gone for, I think it might be a challenge for us to stay there, but we'll give it everything we have, as always." Alright, we'll see you later. Beyond Halvosen we've got this wide range of cars, we have FIRSTs, Lopezs, Ocelots, Ingrams, a Phoenix, it's like a colour palette. Most people are avoiding my eye, but there's two people talking, looks like our only true rookie Zvironas with Ahmed Cheema, pardon me while I butt in. Welcome to FV Dominykas, coming here as the reigning VWRS champion. You have a good chance here of getting points on debut, are you relishing the challenge? "Hi Neil, yes it’s been tough but like you said it’s good to be here and I’m hoping we can deliver something to the fans out there! Today is an important day but as you mentioned me and Hunter have to take on this challenge." Your teammate Hunter isn't very experienced, just one year here in FV, how has it been adapting to the new machinery, new series, new atmosphere? Has it been tough? "Yes it’s been tough but not something we can’t handle, me and Hunter may lack experience but we have that hunger that some older veterans may have lost." Thank you Domij- Dominka- erm, just thank you. And Ahmed, quick word with you as well. That's your best result in ever in a qualifying session, congratulations. How happy were you with that and how did it compare to expectations? "Thanks a lot, yeah it was a welcome surprise, we weren't expecting a lot coming into this weekend but we did our best and that was the result. It's important that we've hit the ground running and we now need to sustain that over the next few races - but first we need to get through today." What are you think strategy wise? There's a mix of tyres across the grid, you've split strategies for your drivers, anything you can tell us? "Honestly it's a massive unknown, it's pretty cold so we went softer, but a couple have gone medium and hard so we'll have to see how it all pans out. We've never raced here before so it's slightly trickier for us but we're fairly sure we have at least one driver on the right tyre. Either way there's nothing we can change about that now, we've just got to the best we can." Cheers, see you after the race. I'm now running out of time so I'll venture back up the grid, there is someone I would like to talk to before the race, trying to see if I can find her... yep she's there and there's one of the surprises of the decade, I'll quickly talk to them. Hello Lilly, it’s great to see you back on the grid with Westwood - I won’t keep you long as I know you’ve got to head off to the commentary box soon! Surely it doesn’t get much better than this feeling right now, with the season ahead of you, anything is possible. What have you missed most about having a team in FV? "Hi! I appreciate that! The thing I've missed most is definitely the anticipation. Nobody knows what's about to happen and I love that!" You’ve got Karl and Puccio both on the softs today like the majority of the field, are you worried about the medium runners at all? "We've run all of the simulations and got all the data we need. Whilst theoretically the mediums could be the faster tyre, the circumstances required for that are very precise. The soft tyres will definitely pay off as the safer bet." Nice, best of luck for the race. And Enzo! It's been a while my friend, welcome back. Did you think you’d actually return to FV, especially after a year out after IndyVirtual ceased to exist? "Thank you! For sure, it was, err, a very difficult time for me, especially when there were no more spaces available. But I got the call from Jamie and it was a big shock, for sure." It was five seasons ago, back in 2015, that you last started a race in FV - how do you think the series has changed in that time and how does it feel to be lining up for Franklin, the team you once battled against for the title? "Yes to line up for Franklin is a big honour and err, for the race we push as hard as we can for a good result." It's great to see you back, thanks Enzo. Well that's all I have time for today, the national anthem will play now and then I'll hand you over to Bradley and Lilly.
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