One notable thing about the Motegi test was how slow the lap times were on the whole, slower even than last year's post-season carbon neutral test .
But, looking at just the 2024 cars for the moment, Nissan looks to be in the best shape, and not just because the #230 Z NISMO shared by Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda set the fastest time of the three development cars. But in the second session, which lasted three hours, there was a marked difference between the three manufacturers. Nissan managed to get 75 laps in the books, more than a couple of the 2023 cars in that session, versus 59 for Honda and a mere 19 for Toyota.
For the final session, none of the three manufacturers did any more long runs, although it should be noted the Toyota test car completed a much more respectable 57 laps, more than either Honda or Nissan .