Ayao Komatsu

Then because I know he's a passionate guy, I really wanted him to enjoy what he's created.

So that's the first and foremost.

So like, come on, drive it while you can.

So that's why I really wanted him to drive.

And also then I thought, secondly, for people to see

the enjoyment, smile on his face, you know, how much of a passionate guy he is, both internally and externally, I saw that be really, really positive, because lots of team members don't see that, like I said, let alone the fans, it's amazing, so we did a shakedown at Silverstone, because he was worried, I said, look, Gene, don't worry, we'll make it as simple as possible, we did a shakedown at Silverstone, and then, uh,

make sure you're comfortable with seat all the controls and everything else then did it and then when he got out of the car in this silverstone shakedown and he was just beaming with smile and he said thank you to every single mechanics and shook their hand that never ever happened

Even that alone was, for me, worthwhile doing because our guys, the guys actually building the car, realized, oh, wow, this is Gene, the side of Gene that they've never seen.

And then we actually went to Goodwood.

And then exactly the same, he was beaming with smile, enjoying it.

You know, he had a lot to say about driving the car.

And then again, you know, said thank you to everyone, should come with everyone back.

Like when the fans were there, like at Goodwood, as you know, fans can get really close, which is brilliant about Goodwood.

I said to Gene, there's fans out there, do you want to take some pictures?

He'd never ever do that here, like race weekend.

But he took so many pictures together.

So he signed so many autographs, interacted with fans.

That's the side of Gene that you don't normally see.

I was so glad we got that out of him.

And then people from our team experienced it.