Fuji International Speedway. The ‘SUPER GT x DTM Dream Race’
event has begun with the first test sessions being held at the ‘Fuji
International Speedway’ (JPN). Before taking to the track in his #4
ZF BMW M4 DTM, Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) had already completed some
laps around the circuit with his handcycle. ‘Fuji International
Speedway’ will be the venue for the para-cycling competitions of the
2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games (JPN). Zanardi has a good chance of
qualifying for the games.
At the 2012 games in London (GBR) and 2016 in Rio de
Janeiro (BRA), Zanardi won a total of four Paralympic gold medals and
he is 12-time para-cycling world champion. Participation in the Tokyo
games is his big target for 2020. Before the Dream Race event started,
Zanardi had the opportunity to experience the circuit with his
handcycle and gather first information of what to expect at a possible
start at the ‘Fuji International Speedway’.
“Now I have a
very good idea of what I have to prepare for,” said Zanardi. “I’ll
bring home important information that will help me to prepare both
technically speaking, because I am planning to develop a new bicycle,
and also physically speaking. Each track has its own requirements and
you can adapt your training procedure to the different courses you are
going to race on. It is going to be a very interesting event. The
track is beautiful but really hard. You never have a flat section, you
are always either climbing or descending and I think it will also take
some skill as far as approaching the turns because there are many
areas where you have to brake hard and to steer in in the right moment
with the right line. So I hope that my driving skill will help me a
bit in those sections but there is a lot of work to do because this
scenario is quite different to the ones on which we have competed up
to this point. It is exciting and I am very grateful to BMW for
offering me this opportunity, for sure mainly for the wonderful BMW M4
DTM I am going to be driving over the weekend, but also for this
reason.”
Now, Zanardi is fully focused on his appearance
in the ZF BMW M4 DTM. On Friday, the free practice sessions for the
Dream Race will be held, while for each Saturday and Sunday, one
qualifying and one race are scheduled. Zanardi forms the BMW M
Motorsport ‘Dream Team’ with Marco Wittmann (GER) and Kamui Kobayashi (JPN).
