Nobuya Yamanaka gears up for the first round of ELMS at Paul Ricard

Having made his debut on the international stage in the Asian Le Mans Series, Nobu is continuing his development as a driver and continuing towards his ultimate objective of competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The first round of European Le Mans Series takes place at Paul Ricard, home of the French Grand Prix. The event will be Nobu’s first on European soil. Located in southern France near Marseille, La Castellet opened in 1970 and has undergone various revisions to the original layout over the decades with the most recent changes being made over the winter to include a new pit lane entry.

It remains a challenging circuit to this day, dominated by the Mistral straight as well as the distinctive high friction run off areas and it is a circuit that Nobu is looking forward to racing on for the first time.
 
“I am so excited to join the first race of ELMS at Paul Ricard with Nielsen Racing,” Nobu said. “It will be great to work this summer with my partner driver James Littlejohn. This is my first experience racing in Europe and all of the circuits that are new to me, but I will enjoy the new experiences and I very much appreciate ACO, Nielsen Racing and James for having me join them this year.”
 
Nobu and the team will take part in the two-day test on 8-9 April ahead of the race weekend which gets underway at on Friday 12th. Sunday’s four-hour race starts at 12:30 CET.