“It’s on my bucket list to drive at this track. I’ve always wanted to race at Suzuka, it’s just a cool track. I think it’s great and there’s just something about the track and I’m very excited.”
Although McLaughlin cut his teeth in tin tops and went on to become one of the best Supercars drivers, winning three championships and a Bathurst 1000, it’s been a few years since he’s spent any quality time in a tin top. The last time was back in January at the Daytona 24 Hour.
“I’ve only done a little bit of simulator time for Suzuka, so basically it’ll be just jumping into the car at the first practice session.
“Obviously, Alex and Nicky are pretty sorted with the car, so it’ll be kind of nice that I’ll probably be able to jump in and do a few more laps than those guys and get myself up to speed,” he said.
Like all great race car drivers, McLaughlin is looking forward to the challenge of racing a completely different car from his day job. Some might say it still has four wheels on the tarmac, but at the elite level there is so much more to it than just accelerating and braking.
At that level of the sport a few tenths of a second can mean the difference between qualifying in the top five and the bottom five and winning and losing the race.
“It’s a little bit heavier than what I’m used to and a little bit less power, but the aerodynamics and stuff I’ve been used to in the IndyCar. I guess it’s [GT3] more than the Supercar but less than the IndyCar.
“I still right-foot brake in the Corvette, but in the IndyCar I left-foot brake just because I sort of have to. The biggest thing for me is probably getting used to the ABS and understanding that.
“It frustrates you a little bit because everyone’s basically got the same capabilities under brakes, so you can’t make any time up there, but that’s part of the GT stuff. But yeah, they’re fun cars to drive and they’ve got a lot of settings you get to play with. I enjoy tinkering with different settings and figuring out what’s good and what’s okay.
“Ultimately, we [co-drivers Sims and Catsburg] drive the same sort of car setup-wise, but obviously I can change different ABS settings, and if I want the car to be like a little looser, sometimes you turn the ABS down or whatever. It just depends on what sort of balance you’re after,” he said.
Qualifying starts on Saturday at 8.05pm, with the race starting on Sunday at 3.50pm and expected to last about six and a half hours.