Giuliano Alesi “not losing hope” amid trying year

Ex-Components 2 racer Alesi stepped as much as a prized GT500 seat within the #36 TOM’S GR Supra alongside reigning champion Tsuboi, whereas additionally stepping as much as Tremendous Components full-time as a substitute for the now-retired Kazuki Nakajima.

Nonetheless, Alesi has solely completed contained in the factors as soon as up to now in six Tremendous Components races, ending eighth within the second spherical of the season at Fuji Speedway.

In SUPER GT he has struggled to match the tempo of teammate Tsuboi, though the pair did not less than get a podium end in Could’s second spherical at Fuji that was reduce quick by Nissan driver Mitsunori Takaboshi’s enormous crash, scoring half-points.

• Stream each qualifying session and race of the 2022 SUPER GT season solely on Motorsport.tv.

Whereas admitting that his second marketing campaign in Japan up to now hasn’t lived as much as expectations, Alesi believes {that a} turnaround in kind stays inside attain.

“It hasn’t been nice by way of outcomes, I might have needed extra and so would the staff,” Alesi advised Motorsport.com forward of this weekend’s fourth spherical of the SUPER GT season at Fuji.

“It’s all about simply determining the place we will discover some laptime and particularly extra consistency. I’m not dropping hope, I stay assured that I’ve the flexibility to ship the outcomes.

“TOM’S has all the time been about profitable prior to now, so I feel we’ve got the package deal; it’s nearly optimising the whole lot and placing the whole lot collectively. 

“There’s all the time been one thing incorrect and that’s affected the outcomes. We have now to maintain working and I’m certain we’ll get there.”

 

Alesi’s woes in Tremendous Components have been compounded by the sturdy type of his teammate Ritomo Miyata, who has scored 40 factors with a string of constant finishes in comparison with Alesi’s tally of three.

However the Frenchman mentioned he was in a position to take encouragement from the latest Tremendous Components race at Fuji final month, the place he was operating contained in the factors just for a gearbox downside throughout his pitstop to curtail his race.

“It was not excellent nevertheless it was a step ahead and I used to be comfortable about that,” he mirrored. “We have now been making an attempt to vary a couple of issues [on the set-up], nevertheless it’s higher to not change an excessive amount of as a result of the behaviour of the automotive can change quite a bit. 

“It’s a really delicate automotive, so it’s simply small steps we have to make. We simply have to put the whole lot collectively after which I feel we’ll be there.”

Alesi picked up a drive-through penalty in the latest SUPER GT race at Suzuka for overtaking underneath yellow flags, however feels he’s steadily getting nearer to teammate Tsuboi.

“I had bother seeing the yellow flag to be trustworthy,” he admitted. “I really feel the penalty was a bit harsh, however clearly I apologised to the staff, as a result of no matter whether or not you see it or not it’s the tip outcome that counts.

“I really feel like I’m lacking one thing in qualifying nonetheless, which is quite a bit to do with the sensation on [new] tyres, however the race tempo feels prefer it’s getting higher and higher.”

 

Alesi and Tsuboi head into this weekend’s Fuji SUPER GT race carrying 27kg of success ballast on their GR Supra, and the GT500 rookie feels {that a} maiden victory is achievable at Toyota’s dwelling venue. 

“It’s about maximising what you will have on the time,” mentioned Alesi. “If we will do this right here, we must be battling for the victory. It’s our responsibility as drivers to place that collectively.”