MOVING BACK UP THE ORDER IN GERMANY
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE REPORT: FIA GT1 World Championship,
Round 6 - Nürburgring
August 29th, Nurburgring (Germany)
After a tough Saturday the Nissan GT-Rs started to move back up the order in the FIA GT1 World Championship at the Nürburgring today. The No.22 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes was the top-finisher in eighth place, closely followed by the improving No.3 Swiss Racing Team Nissan GT-R of Karl Wendlinger and Henri Moser in tenth.
Michael Krumm and Peter Dumbreck had an action-packed race from the back of the grid to take 15th place and Seiji Ara and Max Nilsson finished in 21st after Nilsson briefly lost power during his run.
Warren Hughes had a strong run in the early part of the race, moving up from 16th on the grid to ninth before the pit stop.
"Both Jamie and I had good stints," said Hughes. "I pitted early as I was behind another car and I wanted to get into the clear air. All in all we had a good race but it's no good if you start from the back so we need to sort qualifying out as soon as we can."
"We had the pace today but its hard work when you start from 16th," added Campbell-Walter. "We picked up points which is great but now we need to get on top of qualifying. We have a test between now and the next race though to work on that. Everything went well during my stint and we had a great pit stop so we know what we need to do now."
Henri Moser took the wheel of the No.3 Swiss Racing Team Nissan GT-R after Karl Wendlinger had put in a great drive from 14th through to eighth, and then to fifth briefly before he pitted. Henri continued the good job that Karl started and brought the car home in tenth place.
"I'm very happy with the result today," said Moser. "I struggled with cold tyres for the first couple of laps of my run but after that I could push very hard. I had some drama when the No.5 Ford tipped me into a spin but he got punished later with a drive through. We are much more on the pace now and have definitely made some good progress so all in all we are happy. It is always good to score World Championship points."
Michael Krumm had to start his race from the back of the grid after yesterday's accident. He made good early progress, making up a few positions.
"It is tough at the back," said Krumm. "Your brakes get hot as you have no clear air and you get hit from all sides so your aero is affected too. The car was good though when I was running on my own. I made up a few places in the first few laps but then I got hit going into the Mercedes Arena. I rejoined quickly and made the places up again. It has been a frustrating weekend for me. I tried very hard and I hope next time will be better. I'm also glad that No.22 scored some points."
The final Nissan GT-R, the No.4 Swiss Racing Team car, came home in 21st place after running much higher up the order, as Max Nilsson explains.
"I was fighting really hard and then when I went to put the power down out of a corner nothing happened," he said. "I coasted along for a while, pressing every button to try to get the power back but nothing worked. Just as I was about to pull off the circuit it fired up again and was absolutely fine until the end!"
"I think we are much closer to the pace now," said the Swiss Racing Team Principal, Othmar Welti. "Our target this weekend was to be on Sumo's pace and we achieved this. The drivers were very happy with the car in the race today so now everything is moving in the right direction. We will work even more on qualifying though as it is always better to race from higher up the grid."
"The pace of both Sumo Power Nissan GT-Rs was good in the race today," said Sumo Power GT Team Principal James Rumsey. "I'm pleased with Warren and Jamie's eighth place but with a better qualifying performance and no accidents in race one it would've been good to see where we'd have finished. It's always hard to come from the back but I think we made the best of it today."
| Pos | No | Machine | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Aston Martin DB9 | Turner / Enge | 1:00:59.709 |
| 2 | 24 | Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S | Kox / Haase | 1:01:09.256 |
| 3 | 13 | Corvette Z06 | Hennerici / Margaritis | 1:01:12.727 |
| 4 | 10 | Aston Martin DB9 | Piccione / Hirschi | 1:01:13.891 |
| 5 | 8 | Aston Martin DB9 | Nygaard / Mücke | 1:01:14.818 |
| 6 | 1 | Maserati MC12 | Bertolini / Bartels | 1:01:16.201 |
| 7 | 9 | Aston Martin DB9 | Makowiecki / Clairay | 1:01:19.634 |
| 8 | 22 | Nissan GT-R | Hughes / Campbell-Walter | 1:01:24.543 |
| 9 | 34 | Maserati MC12 | Longin / Pier Guidi | 1:01:24.807 |
| 10 | 3 | Nissan GT-R | Wendlinger / Moser | 1:01:40.143 |
| 15 | 23 | Nissan GT-R | Krumm / Dumbreck | 1:01:55.959 |
| 21 | 4 | Nissan GT-R | Ara / Nilsson | 1:02:51.377 |
Swiss Racing Team:
No.3: Karl Wendlinger (AUT) & Henri Moser (SUI)
No.4: Seiji Ara (JPN) & Max Nilsson (SWE)
Sumo Power GT:
No.22: Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB) & Warren Hughes (GB)
No.23: Michael Krumm (GER) & Peter Dumbreck (GB)
For further information on Nissan in the FIA GT1 World Championship please contact Lindsay Morle on +44 7971 481078 or at lindsay@morle.com.
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