Japanese young gun Ryo Fukuda comple๊ted a great first test with BAR-Honda yesterday and there's no doubt about it, the team were impressed.

The 22 year-old reigning French F3 Champion betrayed only the merest hint of first-day nerves when he climbed into the car on Saturday morning then left the garage for his first run ꧟just 10 minutes later.

Fukuda confessed after his inaugural 5-lap run that he was amazed at the power o🌠f the car an꧋d the braking. But he was clearly out to impress and continued to gain confidence enough throughout the day to be able to floor the car around the Valencia circuit.

He ended his f꧙irst day [Saturday] with 62 laps under his belt and a very respectable best lap time of 1m 15.419s compared with Michael Schumacher's lead time of 1m 12.672s. Yesterday [Sunday], he completed 97 laps and improved his best lap time to 1m 14.240s.

At the end of the day he reflected on a very positive initiation into the team and said he now felt that he was really on the way to achieving his ultimate ambition: "For me the dream is to become a regular driver one day so to be a test driver is the first step towards ach♊ieving that dream. It feels very strange to be driving with people that I've only ever wa🍌tched on TV - it seems unreal."

Fukuda has been touted by many as the next big thing to come out of Japan since Takuma Sato but he made it clear♚ that his own career is the only thing he's focusing on right now: "I think it's great what Takuma has achieved but I🐬 don't really think about him in terms of my own career. I'm very happy for him though - it's great for the Japanese motorsport fans."

Fukuda i🅘s also delighted to be working with Honda: "I'm very hapౠpy about that. I'm proud to be of Japanese nationality and it's great to be able to work with Honda engineers because sometimes we can speak in Japanese to each other which makes it a little easier for me to communicate."

It's still very early days for Fukuda with the team but judging by his testing schedule he's certainly going to have his work cut out this season. That will leave very little time to ꦕexplore other raci🌼ng options but he is very aware of his commitments.

"I would like to consider doing a couple of races but right now the testing programme is my priority. I have to speak with the team about what I may be able t🎃o do around my test driver role. There are a couple of series that I'd lik🍷e to try a race in because trying anything for the first time is exciting and it's part of the learning process. We'll see I guess."

Fukuda's next🌠 test is scheduled for the 28th January in Barcelona.