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Ferrari days tipped to break lap record

Lap record at Sydney Motorsport Park is under threat from 2010-specification Ferrari F1

Ferrari F1 test driver Marc Gene will only have a 2010-specification Ferrari at his disposal for the Ferrari Racing Days, but is still likely to threaten the existing benchmark time set by Aussie hero Dan Ricciardo last month.

Ricciardo re-wrote the record in in the lead-up to the Australian Grand Prix when he lapped a Red Bull RB7 in 1 minute 13.08 seconds, undercutting the previous benchmark time set by Mark Webber - also in an RB7 - in 2013 by six-tenths of a second.

Gene is not promising an all-out attack but tells Carsguide there is always a temptation when he straps into a grand prix car. "We are racing drivers, we always push. Sometimes you do the lap record," Gene tells Carsguide.

"The car is run by the Formula One team and very much as it used to race. It's more-or-less three years old, so a 2010 car." Gene and the F1 missile are the star attraction at the Racing Days, a two-day event that's being run for the first time in Australia with everything from a debut appearance by the LaFerrari supercar to a children's activity area. But there will be as many as eight Formula One cars in action, most driven by wealthy owners who purchased the cars once their grand prix careers were finished.

"All Racing Days involve a Formula One demonstration. There are hot laps and also a pitstop," says Gene. "I'm really enjoying it. I know it might be one of the last shots I have."

Gene is an official test driver for Ferrari but his work has been severely limited since F1 test days were cut back. He is now mostly involved with track days and demonstration runs, including the Racing Days program that has already visited Malaysia this year.

"Nowadays, I'm enjoying it a lot more than seven or eight years ago, because there are no tests these days. I'm doing 15 or 20 laps and really enjoying it."

Gene promises all sorts of action, from the violence of a full-scale race start to the smoking craziness of donuts. "It's an exhibition. Of course, I try to put on a good show. So you do things that you don't normally do, like sliding and donuts."

But he also knows he has the car and speed to go for the record, something he has already achieved at the Laguna Seca circuit in California, USA.
"I have the lap record at Laguna Seca. That shows that all of us, whichever teams do an exhibition, can achieve. "We'll see (in Sydney). It depends on the car. I'm too experienced to take any risks. I would regret it big time."

Gene says there has been a huge response to earlier Racing Days, particularly in Japan. "There are many reasons. One of them is the cars. There is no other brand that is able to do such extreme cars. It is a car that people dream to drive," he says.

"There is no other brand in the world that is about to sell F1 cars and have a program for very special clients who own these cars."

This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover