Tom had his first taste of a sportscar during a two-day test at Magny Cours in France this week driving the Zytek LMP car

This was Tom’s chance to show the team what he could do and came away from the test very pleased and excited by the experience;

“ I loved it basically. It was the first time I’ve driven a car with real downforce and carbon brakes. That was quite hard to get used to at first, but on the second day I felt a lot more comfortable and could push quite hard. “

It was also Tom’s first time at the Magny Cours grand prix circuit and his first drive was in the dusk of Tuesday evening, so he had a lot of new factors to contend with;

“ I learnt the circuit pretty quickly and the visibility wasn’t a problem for me, it was a buzz driving in the dark. The circuit doesn’t flow very much, it is quite a stop – start sort of track with three first gear corners and a top speed of 275 kph. The most exciting part is the first sector. A flat out left hander where you take 6th gear at the apex, then it dips downhill into a tighter right, all this is very quick – 210 kph –  and it took a few sessions to get used to the car’s capabilities trough there. “

Tom was sharing the car with regular driver Hayanari Shimoda, who drove it to victory at Spa two weeks ago.

“ It was good to have Hayanari there, we got on well and he helped me a lot with some of the technical aspects of an LMP car. He has been racing this car for three years now and knows it inside out. I was really pleased that I managed to get within a second of his fastest time on worn tyres, but I need to find a bit more on new tyres. The difference between us really came down to my confidence with committing the car into the high-speed chicanes, I need a little more time in it to fully exploit the downforce and huge grip, I’m not used to that after the low grip levels of a touring car. ”

So Tom was certainly smiling after the test, but what was the team’s reaction? Zytek boss Trevor Foster gave his impressions;

“ Tom did a very professional job for us. Considering this was his first ever experience of these kind of brakes and downforce levels, his performance was admirable. He made a lot of progress over the two days, gave some useful feedback and I’m sure that with a bit more experience he will be right on the pace. “

Tom is now hoping that he will be asked to partner Hayanari and drive the car in the next American Le Mans Series race at Mid Ohio on May 22nd.