13 May 2022 – Le Mans – France

Ayumu in the morning session was seventeenth, getting the time of 1’43.680. In free practice 2 he managed to lower his best lap by a second, getting 1’42.678. 29 laps completed in the two Friday sessions. Our Japanese driver has a delay from the leader of the combined classification D. Foggia of 0.998 s.

John made an excellent return to the track, finishing eleventh in Friday’s combined standings two months after his injury. In Free Practice 1 our rider managed to finish fourteenth, with a time of 1’43.528. During the afternoon session John completed fifteen laps, managing to improve on his best lap and obtaining a 1’42.732, with which he posted a gap to the leader of 1.052s. His best lap was initially cancelled, but in the afternoon the race management, looking carefully at the footage, gave John back his time.

Here are the words of the protagonists of this first day at Le Mans.

AYUMU SASAKI : “We made a step forward today after a little bit of a difficult start in FP1. In fact adjusting my riding stile and also the setup, we managed to improve in FP2.. The good thing is that we are improving, and we know exactly where we want to improve tomorrow. Together with the team we are working hard. Tomorrow we need another step forward to be in the front, but we really can make it. Hopefully we will have a good FP3 session, being ready for qualifying.”

JOHN MCPHEE : “It has been so nice to be back, working together after such a long time. I felt quite comfortable on the bike in FP1, even though I was still a little bit uncomfortable in some areas. Overall I think we have done a good job! Wehave improved lap by lap and we managed to get a good time. It was a solid day 1 and I am happy with the progress. Now we have a night to sleep on it. Tomorrow we will continue to work hard.”

MAX BIAGGI – TEAM OWNER : “This first day on the Bugatti was quite unusual, as the rain never made its appearance. In fact the weather was pretty good. As for the performance of our two drivers, Ayumu in FP2 managed to improve his time, reaching the top ten. John after the injury managed to achieve 11th position n the combined ranking and this is a great result.”

Results SHARK Grand Prix de France 2022 – Combined FP1 – FP2

1. Dennis FOGGIA (Honda) 1’41.680, 10. Ayumu SASAKI (Husqvarna) 1’42.678, 11. John MCPHEE (Husqvarna) 1’42.732.