The Mazda booth, located in the village at the Circuit de la Sarthe, is almost complete. Official qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours begins today, bringing many spectators to the circuit and livening up the atmosphere in front of the Mazda booth.

Maintenance has been going well for the Mazda 787B prior to the first of its two demonstration runs, scheduled to take place before official qualifying gets underway on Thursday. Because the Mazda 787B has traveled a great distance, it will be thoroughly checked for any damage or missing parts etc. before being allowed out on track. Proper amounts of radiator fluid, oil etc. will then be poured in, and the tyres set up in preparation for the runs. Many onlookers came to gaze at the crews working on the car from outside the booth, and a number of them came back for repeated visits. Some wore Mazda-branded jackets and caps, and a few even had Renown Charge-liveried sweatshirts, bringing a nostalgic touch. There were also fans hoping to get autographs of all the ex-Mazdaspeed drivers in their photo albums and on 787B model cars.

Just a few minutes before official qualifying got started at 7pm, the R26B engine was fired up for a final check and warm up. In this country steeped in motorsports culture, kids inserted ear plugs or put on headphones to protect themselves as soon as the start-engines announcement was made. The R26B ran in warm-up mode for about five minutes. For the first few minutes, the inside of the booth was filled with white smoke, totally blocking out any visibility as remaining oil in the engine was burned off. However, nobody left the booth during this time, and when the engine was shut off, a huge applause arose amid shouts of appreciation.

Mazda promotion staff, who are here from today, were soon giving out Mazda 787B postcards in the Mazda booth. (I have to get and bring back autographs from all the drivers…) Pierre Dieudonne, David Kennedy and Patrick Dempsey will all be here tomorrow after attending the Friday Press Conference. We met Johnny Herbert, here working for a TV broadcaster, and asked him to attend the press conference. “I'm looking forward to seeing everybody,” he said, giving his typically memorable and mischievous smile.